Sloway for a Day – August 2019

I am back at Sloway Campground in western Montana with Clifford after having traveled to Wallace, Idaho, to see family, and further travels west with my daughter Becka to see long-time friends. I will only be here at Sloway a couple of days before Becka and I head east to see her sisters (my daughters) Ang and Merri and then north to see her brother (my son) Matt.

Clark Fork River at Sloway Campground in western Montana

During these couple of days, Clifford and I work on our projects. I walk about taking photos, sometimes by myself, but sometimes with Clifford, which is always enjoyable.

Walkabout with Clifford
Tansy in bloom

Clifford takes out his new smaller drone and flies it near our campsite when no one is camped near us.

Clifford with small drone

One day a big thunderstorm moves through causing us some concern about the awning, but it is weighted down and does okay. However, we heard later that serious damage was done to the east with high winds and we met a fellow camper whose new truck was dented by hail. Guess we were lucky not to have suffered damage here at Sloway.

Thunder clouds move on

One especially enjoyable moment is when I look out the door and see Clifford talking to his new friend. About the same time, he also spots several very large beaver on the opposite shore of the river. They are busy working on trees that have recently been cut down to keep the railroad above clear.

Clifford with his new friend

Although the train is loud when it goes by, it is only a momentary disturbance, and in this section of the campground, the nearby interstate traffic is scarcely noticeable. The days here are relaxing and peaceful.

Playing with tansy – photo editing to bring out essence

Back to Sloway – August 2019

Thursday August 8: My daughter Becka and I have had a great time visiting long-time friends in Pasco, Washington, but she needs to get back to her summer job in Wallace and it is time for me to see how “holding-down-the-fort” has gone for Clifford at Sloway Campground in western Montana.

When Becka and I leave Pasco, she takes a scenic detour that takes us to a self-serve produce stand where we buy melons, blueberries, and honey, and then to a produce store full of good-to-eat food, where I buy more honey. What a fun detour.

Self-serve produce stand

When we get as far as Coeur d Alene, Becka takes me to this cool place along Coeur d Alene Lake where we sit on a platform above the water to have our very extra delicious lunch and adult beverages. My goodness, traveling with Becka is So.Much.Fun!

A cool place along Coeur d Alene Lake

Back in Wallace, we unload stuff at my daughter Katie’s Bernard Building, as Becka and I will be moving over there from the 4th Street house where she has been staying. Her apartment is next to the big central kitchen and I will spend tonight in a smaller, but very sweet apartment, just down the hall. Becka’s apartment is topsy-turvey at the moment, full of stuff from the previous owners/tenants. I spend the afternoon, while she is at work, cleaning and reorganizing, so by the time she gets off work, it looks quite nice and homey.

Daughter Merri is also in Wallace, working this weekend as a cook at the same place where Becka works. When the girls get off work, we go up on the roof of the Bernard Building, four stories up, relaxing in the cool of the night as we share a bottle of orange muscato. Too late, too tired for anything else, we soon all go off to bed.

Wallace, Idaho

Friday August 9: Becka makes a really great breakfast for me, Merri, and herself. (Katie is sick, so couldn’t join us.) We run errands around town and had planned to go out to eat lunch before I leave for Sloway, but every eatery is either closed or too busy. We buy food at Harvest Foods and have a picnic in Becka’s front room instead, which worked out just fine.

On the way back to Sloway, I stop at the artesian well, Elmer’s Fountain, not far from Wallace. The water there is so good and the place has a pleasing ambiance. I notice a trail that I have not seen before and am tempted to follow it, but instincts tell me that I should head on back to Sloway.

I have a relaxed drive over Lookout Pass, back to Montana, where Clifford is eager to hear about my travels. Traveling was fun, but it is also good to be back “home.”

Clark Fork River at Sloway Campground in western Montana

Sloway to Wallace – August 2019

Friday August 2: Today is a day of walkabouts taking photos, mostly of the Clark Fork River at the Sloway Campground where Clifford and I are camped, just off I-90 and a little east of St. Regis, Montana. Since we have had several travel days, I have a to-do list of things that were put on a back-burner, and most of these are taken care of today. Clifford has his project list, mainly ham radio and playing his dulcimer.

Campsite at Sloway Campground
Clark Fork River
Clark Fork River
Clark Fork River

Saturday August 3: This morning I take coffee and journal and go to the picnic table by the river to sit in the sunshine while I sip and write. After breakfast, I work on more of my projects, including backing a day pack for my trip to Wallace, Idaho, to visit my daughter Katie and her family, and daughter Becka, who is spending the summer in Wallace, working and visiting Montana/Idaho family.

View as I sit and write in the journal

Although I had planned to leave for Wallace tomorrow morning, my daughters convince me that I should come over this afternoon, as there will be a live band playing on the streets this evening. So, I finish packing and getting things ready for Clifford to be on his own for a few days.

It is a lovely drive to Wallace, I-90 winding its way through the Coeur d Alene and St. Joe Mountains and over Lookout Pass into Idaho. At Wallace, Katie and her husband Jeremy show me around the three-story brick apartment building that they have just purchased. It has an interesting history in that a large family lived there and then the building was apparently abandoned with food still in the cupboards, clothing still in the closets, dishes and books and other personal items still in place as if the family expected to return any moment. While there may be a perfectly ordinary explanation, the place has an ambiance of intrigue.

I do laundry while Katie and Becka finish their evening jobs, then we listen and dance to music until the bands wrap things up – late!

Katie and Becka

I stay with Becka at Katie’s 4th Street house, which happens to be the house where Clifford and I lived in the upstairs apartment when we lived in Wallace a few years back. There is a bit of nostalgia in being in Wallace and staying in the 4th Street house. And I love having this time with my girls!

Heading West – July to August 2019

Monday July 29: After Clifford and I leave the Hardtimes Bluegrass Festival venue in the Bitterroot Valley, we head to Missoula for multiple errands, including new tires for Cougar at Les Schwab, and then spend the night in the Bretz RV & Marine parking lot. We bought Cougar here exactly a year ago, so it’s kind of a fitting one-year celebration.

My car, which I only use during the months in Montana, is making a nasty sound when I use the brakes, so we take it to Les Schwab on Tuesday for an inspection, and as we expected, new brakes are a priority for safety. They can do the work tomorrow morning if I am there before opening, so we spend another night at Bretz.

Wednesday July 31: I set the alarm, make coffee, and leave for Les Schwab, arriving before opening and being the first person in line. It is a good thing I am armed with cell and journal and an AARP magazine to read, as it is three hours later when my car is finally ready.

Clifford and I leave Bretz by noon and meet my daughter Ang in Alberton, thirty miles west of Missoula. It is great to have a bit of time to visit with her and we share a really good pizza before continuing west to Quartzflat Campground, another twenty miles to the west. This is a very convenient stop for travelers along the I-90 corridor, right at the exit to the rest area. We are spending the night here and we make our way to the back loop furthest from the highway and overlooking the Clark Fork River below.

Overnight at Quartzflat
Evening at Quartzflat

Thursday August 1: This morning we leave Quartzflat and continue another ten miles west to the Sloway exit. This is the first time we have camped here, and we pick the more open loop with pull-through spots, more convenient for setting up and also easy access to the Clark Fork River.

The Clark Fork River in western Montana
Camping at Sloway
Easy access to the river from our campsite

Shortly after arriving, my daughter Becka calls; she and her sister Katie and Katie’s boys are at St. Regis, only five miles further west, and they are coming here for a picnic. What a fun fun fun surprise! I am delighted to see my daughters and grandsons. We have a great potluck picnic, mostly yummy stuff that the girls brought, as we sit at a picnic table right near the river. What a happy start to camping here at Sloway.

Picnic with five of my most favorite people in the world
Afternoon light on the Clark Fork River

The rest of the day, I explore and take photos, and then finish edits to Ang’s second trilogy, Emperors and Exiles, (a good read for those who love epic fantasy), while Clifford sets up his ham radios and delves in to flying software.