~Sunday, August 30, 2020~
Day 77 (Travel Day)
Well, no hair washing today (usually a Sunday “mane” event--ha, ha). We had to get back on the road today, leaving wonderful Wallace. Loaded up with water for our upcoming 5 days of boondocking at Montana Chickee’s place. I’ve really been looking forward to this stay.
Before we left, I wanted to make sure we were booked for our east Florida stay at Suwanee River Hideaway in Old Town, Florida. And we’re good to go. Next….booking our stay in Eastern and Southern Florida, and our stay in Savannah, Georgia.
The drive was beautiful as we drove through Northeast Montana, with the drive taking us about 2-½ hrs. The openness of everything with the backdrop of the Rockies is just stunning.
And then we came upon Flathead Lake, which looks enormous. Patty and I were staying in touch about our arrival time and felt better that we arrive after she got back to her place. When we got into Polson, I had a hamburger joint in mind for us to stop and have a late lunch, but when we found that it was a drive-in, we had to come up with an alternate plan. So with the dreaded U-turn through a hotel parking lot and exiting through a deep ditch (scraping the metal brackets on the underside of the trailer), we made it through. Plan B was Mackenzie River Pizza in Polson. Delicious, and beautiful views of the lake while we dined outside. Sadie enjoyed a few morsels from mom and dad’s fish taco and pork sandwich lunch. We had a near catastrophe when Sadie, still tethered to the table, got up and yanked it nearly knocking all of the glassware/plates onto the ground. Whew!
Patty’s place is right off Hwy. 93, close to downtown. She told me to look for her orange ATV at the front of her property, to lead us in. Her home is in front with horse pasture behind. The neighbors have 2 horses that seem to like me, though she asked us to make sure Sadie didn’t go in as the horses can be a little skittish around dogs. Sadie was curious at first, but quickly went back to her relaxed business. Patty and Jeff were trying to strategize the best place to put our trailer, with another RV family already here. Jeff wanted us to have the mountain views from our bedroom, with the dining room facing the lake in the distance. It was perfect. After we got all situated, Patty invited us to a campfire around 8:00 at her place. So sweet of her. I asked her how long she and her husband had lived on this scenic property. According to her Boondocker’s Welcome page, it shows “Patty and Rick”. But sadly, her husband passed away 2 months ago. Oh gosh, how awful, and to have this big piece of property to take care of all by herself. They had a place in the foothills close to this property, but because of the hilly terrain wanted something flatter. When this property came up for sale, they pounced on the chance to buy it, and then he became ill with heart issues. They were able to travel in their new RV for 6 months before he passed away, so she is grateful for that. One of the reasons she became a Boondocker host was to meet wonderful people, and to stay busy. And we’re so lucky that she is willing to share this “Little Piece of Heaven” with all of us. Originally we had tried to stay at Flathead Lake campground, but there was no availability. And just like so many places we’ve stayed, the second or third choices are ending up better than the first choices. We met the fellow RVer’s from Three Rivers, CA (near where my grandparents farmed in Exeter). This couple is RV’ing full-time looking for a place to live in Coeur d’Alene possibly. Wow, being from California, that’s pretty gutsy with how cold the winters are.
Not long after we arrived, all of a sudden, something hit me like a freight train. I really wasn’t feeling well, and had been feeling a little “off” since our bike trip, with sharp abdominal pain and fatigue. So I told Jeff I was just going to lay down for a ½ hour so before our campfire, but don’t think I woke up until the next morning until around 10:30 a.m. thinking maybe it was a little food poisoning. I’m sure Jeff took advantage of a little alone time last night.