Our original plan of spending the month of August in Montana was put into high gear as the smoke became worse by the middle of the month. There were so many areas we wanted to visit but the heat, smell of smoke and the obscured beauty of the mountains made us move a little faster than we wanted. Rather than climbing a pretty steep grade to camp in Helena, we decided to stay near the town of Garrison at Riverside RV Park and do day trips out to nearby towns.
Our first stop was Deer Lodge, MT just 30 miles south of us to see the Old Montana Prison and Auto Museum, quite a combination of sights. There are five museums in town with one fee covering them all. We started with the car museum and planned to join a guided tour of the prison the next morning.
The car museum was amazing! A collection of over 150 cars and one of the top ten Car Museums in the country. There was the Detroit Electric car from 1913 to Paul's 1965 Corvette, and everything in between.
The next morning we returned to Deer Lodge to join a guided tour of the Old Prison. The "Old Prison" served as the Montana Territorial Prison from 1871 until Montana became a state in 1889, then continued on as the primary prison for the entire state until 1979. Scary stories of life inside...over crowding, antiquated facilities and an explosive riot in 1959 that lasted for 36 hours and was quelled by the national Guard storming the building. We had a fantastic young guide who spent two hours leading us through and bringing the history to life, almost a little too much!
After a picnic lunch in the little city park we next went to see the Grant Kohrs Ranch on the north end of town. A fun couple of hours wandering all around this well preserved ranch built in the 1850s and still maintained today as a working ranch. There were docents around the ranch to tell the history and explain the use of the much of the equipment. Even cowboy coffee brewing near the chuck wagon.
The next morning the skies were cloudy so we took a drive to small mining town of Phillisburg and on to Anaconda, MT. By the time we got back to the RV, the rain was heavy which helped knock out the smoke for the next few days. Nice!
Monday morning we were up early for the one hour drive east on US Hwy 12 over the MacDonald pass, 6300', in the car, not the RV. Gorgeous scenery across the mountains with ranches and rocky outcroppings all along the way.
Lots to see in Helena: the Capitol Building, a city train tour, the original Governor's Mansion and the beautiful Montana Historical Society Museum which featured Charles Russell's western art.
We were heading to the History Museum when we noticed the Last Chance Train Tour just pulling away, but since it was going to swing back by the capitol building we joined it for a fun overview of the city and its history. The tour passed the boyhood home Gary Cooper, the amazing mansion district many built by silver mine owners, the Cathedral of St Helena, and a miner's village; such a fun way to see the beautiful and historic Helena.
We still had enough time to visit the Montana Historical Society Musuem and enjoy a room full of art by Montan's "Cowboy Artist" Charles M. Russell. The exhibit included about 80 art pieces including major oils, watercolors, bronzes, sculptures and even illustrated letters.
Instead of moving the next morning, we decided to stay just one more night and return over the mountain pass to take a guided boat tour of the Gates of the Mountains, 20 miles north of Helena. It follows the Missouri River and we learned of the Lewis and Clark explorations of the area. The towering rock formations on both sides of the river appeared to block their further passage of the river, but as we reached that area the walls seemed to open gradually, with a bend in the river. In his journal Meriwether Lewis called the place "Gates of the Mountains" and the name has stayed for over two centuries. We had a spectacular day on the two hour ride, warm and clear.
Returning back towards the marina, we also had a look at Indian pictographs painted on the rock waslls. But the scenery was the most amazing!!!!! So happy we'd decided to return to the area.
Well, it WAS a nice day until we started back up MacDonald Pass on our way home. Car was doing just fine then all of a sudden enormous fumes came pouring out of the engine and into the car...scared us to death! We jumped out thinking the car was on fire and at the same time a very helpful Montanan turned his truck across the highway to help us. We happily realized that the car was not on fire, but we'd done some damage to the radiator. The rancher said he'd take us to town to rent a car at the airport while AAA towed the car to a local repair shop and then we'd be on our way back to the RV and Foster; still about an hour away. But...turns out there was not a single car to be rented in all of Helena! And, it seems there were no cars in this entire half of the state. We kind of figure that the upcoming eclipse in Wyoming might have had something to do with it. So, rather than drive ourselves back to Garrison, we joined the rancher and his wife for spaghetti dinner at his cousin's house. Once dinner was over, the rancher drove us all the way back to our RV. Poor little Foster had been in the RV for most of the day, poor baby. Oh, how happy he was to get out!
So...a little change in plans! We'd had the SAAB towed to Helena but after talking to the repair shops (way to busy to even look at it for days) and with no way of getting back there ourselves, we decided to have the tow company bring it back to us in Garrison. Paul rolled it up on the dolly and by Friday we were ready to haul it with us all the way to a mechanic in Boulder.
