Friday the 13th Went Smoothly

I loved this billboard at the main intersection of Browning.

2019-09-13 Friday

Sometimes when I start to write this blog, I have trouble remembering what happened early in the day! This is one of those times, although we didn’t do THAT much today, I suppose.

Last night after I blogged that we were in the parking lot of the Museum of the American Plains Indians, I started being unhappy with that decision. It seemed that there were a lot of people coming through that parking lot, using it as a meeting place, a hang-out place, and a short-cut through to and from the Casino next door. I started feeling uncomfortable about it, and I woke up Joey. I reminded him that “they” say that if you feel uncomfortable in a place, follow your instincts and move someplace else. So I wanted to move--but as mentioned yesterday, there were not a lot of choices around here. Then he remembered our friend Dan had mentioned that hospitals are a good place to stay--as far as anyone knows, you are there visiting someone sick! And Joey remembered seeing a sign for a hospital (which made perfect sense--as I mentioned, Browning is the seat of the Blackfeet Council and Reservation.) So we looked on Google, and found our way to a very modern-looking hospital with a very large parking lot! We pulled into a space there, and, feeling a lot less vulnerable, went to sleep.

This morning, we got going earlier than usual, since Joe wanted to pick up those brake parts at the NAPA store and get them over to Donny, so the whole repair could get finished. I went out to give Cassie her walk, and discovered that there was a really great sculpture nearby made of scrap metal and old auto parts. It was of an Indian, with a bull elk, a bear, a bison, an eagle, and a wolf. I tried to take a photo, but because of the angle of the sun, it isn’t great. I took some close-ups though, which came out better.

The Bison's eye is a hubcap!

As soon as Cassie was walked, we drove to the NAPA store, grabbed the brake parts, and drove back to the shop. They told us it would take about two hours to finish up. So after some discussion, we decided to go back and see the Museum of the American Plains Indians. The parking lot seemed a lot friendlier in daylight, with several RVs and cars parked there .

The museum was quite small, but was actually excellent. It is a combined museum and art center, so there was a room with art by contemporary Indian artists. There was also a short film giving an overview of the experiences of the Plains Indians. But most of the museum was a presentation of the clothing and belongings of the people, demonstrating the extraordinary craftsmanship. The displays were curated VERY thoroughly and carefully, with each object being identified as to type, the tribe it came from, the date it was made, and its provenance (i.e. who donated it to the museum.) 

A selection of costumes--beautiful!

Clothing and accessories

 I spent a long time looking at the clothing--each mannequin was dressed in a total outfit which usually included at least four items of clothing, and each item was described in total, such as “cloak--Hudson Bay wool blanket, seed beed embroidered arms, ermine fur fringe, horse-hair knots at shoulders.” And then there would be a description of the accessories, the gauntlets around the calves, the moccasins, a head-dress or hat if there was one, and any items the mannequin was holding. The variety of crafting techniques and materials was really quite fascinating, and absolutely beautiful. Nearby was another display describing how different techniques were done, and their varieties. I studied the quilling, for example-- how they used porcupine quills (they were soaked or moistened, then flattened by being drawn between the teeth! And then woven in various patterns.) Like I said, it was fascinating to me as a used-to-be crafter.

Examples and descriptions of quilling and beading

By the time we finished in the museum, it was just about noon, time to go check on the Jeep. When we arrived, we could see it was sitting outside, all finished. So we paid and thanked Allan and Donny. We then had to 1) drive back to NAPA to turn in the used calipers--we got a refund of $128 for doing that; 2) top off the gas tank of the RV; 3) stop at the post office to mail the postcards I’d bought at the museum; 4) reconnect the Jeep to the RV; and 5) have lunch. I drove the Jeep and, using the walkie-talkies as reassurance, Joey followed me around town for the first three errands, and then we returned yet again to the Museum parking lot, this time to take advantage of its large size, to hook the Jeep back up. We did that, and, after having some lunch, finally left Browning after more than 24 hours living among the Blackfeet Indians.

(BTW, in case you are wondering, I learned at the museum that it is perfectly fine to refer to them as Indians-- that it what they call themselves! The display I read said that it is not “pejorative,” but saying Native American or Native is fine as well. We went past a school this morning which proclaimed it was the “Home of the Indians,” so obviously they were okay with it. The word Indian was used throughout the museum’s displays, as well as, obviously, in the name of the building.)

Our destination for tonight and tomorrow night was Kalispell, MT, just on the other side of Glacier National Park. We are still heading west, but we wanted yet again to have a more urban area to facilitate the football game viewing. We had no reservations, and every time I looked, I couldn’t find anyplace that seemed both nice (i.e. state park, county park, Corps of Engineer park) and near enough to the small city of Kalispell to supply decent TV choices. When we were passing through Columbia Falls, 10 miles from Kalispell, we passed an RV park which was one of those large “slot-style” places, but which would surely have a shower and some connectivity. The sign said “Vacancy.” So we decided we’d stop (I was pretty tired, and it was 4:45pm) and check it out. Sure enough, they had room, and despite being expensive, we decided to come in for a landing for a couple of nights. Since our past six nights cost a grand total of $30, we figured we could balance it with a ludicrously expensive place (although not as expensive as the Hot Springs place in Bozeman!)

So we are slotted in at the Columbia Falls RV Park, with indeed a lot of cable TV stations and a VERY nice shower! Also full hookups, making dumping when Sunday comes very easy. I think tomorrow morning I will use the laundry room to wash the linens (I didn’t do them yesterday); the football game is 2pm local time; and there are several ice cream places to check out in town afterwards. So that’s the plan.

PS: Photos have been added to the O Canada and Driving to Glacier blogs.