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.

A Day on the Blackfeet Reservation

2019-09-12 Thursday

We woke up early this morning, and by 10:00 or so, we had packed up, hooked up the Jeep, dumped the waste tank, filled the water tank, and were on the road south to Browning, MT. I wrote on Tuesday when we drove through town that Browning is the seat of the Blackfeet Indian Authority, and although no one would consider it large by New Jersey standards, it is sizeable enough to have a NAPA store for auto parts, and at least one car mechanic.

The drive down here (the alternative to US 89 we should have taken on Tuesday, and would have taken had we known about it) was really beautiful. The mountains around here are gorgeous, especially with the foreground of golden fields of wheat and grazing land. The combination is simply wonderful and I never get enough of it.

When we arrived in Browning, we decided that we’d go to the NAPA store first, on the theory that they would know who in town we should ask about looking at the Jeep brakes. They sent us back up the same road we’d just come down, and we were fortunate to find the garage--it was off the main road, on an unpaved road, in what looked basically like a beaten-up garage, and the signs all said “towing.” (Quite honestly, all too many of the buildings in this town look about the same, and at least half of the streets are unpaved.) Anyway, we were greeted by a young guy named Donny, who is the mechanic. We unhooked the Jeep so he could look at the brakes, after he told us that the parts would probably not be availabe in town and would have to be ordered from the NAPA.

A few minutes later, the owner Allan came out to chat with us. He said that Donny was the mechanic--that he (Allan) just drove the tow truck! We discussed what our problem was, and Donny was available to fix it, but again, probably not be finished until tomorrow. This was, frankly, what we’d sort of expected would happen. Allan eyed the RV and asked us if we had a place to stay for the night. We said “we’ll find someplace,” and I could see him thinking. Then he said that if we wanted, we could stay next to the garage, and they could “hook us up” for the night. We thought this was exceptionally nice, although there were two signs saying “beware of dog.” Also, quite honestly, the place looked like a pile of automobile discards and it would basically be like staying in a junk yard. I really was grateful for the offer (which Allan repeated later), but I just felt uncomfortable about the whole thing.

Meanwhile, the decision was that the Jeep needed a total brake job, basically--the rotors (whatever they are) were damaged, etc. I don’t know... I wasn’t up for a lesson on brakes. But what happened was, we drove in the RV back to the NAPA store, where we bought what we needed which they had in stock, they ordered the rest (“it will be here by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow”, they promised) and then we drove back to the mechanic with the boxes of stuff they already had. I could see the Jeep was already on a lift, with the tires off. Allan came outside again and said he would “get Donny working on the job,” and reiterated the offer to stay if we wanted. We told him we had laundry and whatever, so we would be keeping busy for the day. He nodded and we said goodbye.

By then it was about 1:30 pm-- amazing how time goes by while dealing with this kind of thing! We decided to go to the laundromat (Allan recommended the place I’d found on google) and eat, then do laundry. So that is what we did. Although unprepossessing from the outside (i.e. it looked like a shed, again), it was a new laundromat with new machines and a nice lady in charge. I dragged our stuff in, and got to work. Meanwhile, Joey had projects too. He had already replaced a back-up tail light on the RV after the first NAPA stop. While I did laundry, he climbed on the roof of the RV and installed a new vent cap, which we’d picked up a number of days ago (we’ve been missing one for a while, and we needed it to prevent back-flow odors from the waste tank when we drove.) That took about the same amount of time as my laundry.

We’ve also been having electrical issues with our “house” battery, which has not been holding a charge. Joe figured that since it was only 4pm, he wanted to see if the NAPA store had a battery of the right size--if it did, he wanted to put in a new battery. He’s tired of not having the charge we should have (the old battery was a year old.) So we drove back to the NAPA store for I think the 3rd or 4th time. I waited outside while he went in, looked at batteries; came out and did some more research; went back in, came out again and removed our old battery, and then came back with a new one (at least this time, the young guy in the store carried it for him.) He put in the new battery, and came inside, really exhausted from all the exertion.

I could see he was pretty much done for the day, so we drove from there to the grocery (the distance between the laundry, grocery, and NAPA was about a half mile on the same main drag through town--we just kept driving up and down!) We went over our list, then I went inside and did the shopping while he rested. When I came out, it was 6:00 and we had to decide about where to spend the night. Neither of us felt that comfortable taking Allan up on his offer, but there seem to be no campgrounds in this town. One is closed already for the season, and one other (allegedly 2.5 miles away) did not exist when we went to see it.

I had the idea of checking out the large casino I had noticed two days ago when we drove into town. It is right next to the Museum of the American Plains Indian. So we drove there. The place was really hopping! I figured we could ask if we could stay, and at least eat something while we were there, because I could see Joey did NOT want to be cooking. So we ate dinner in their “restaurant” (a glorified snack bar with slot machines.) Then we asked at the desk if we could park in their lot in the RV overnight. The security guard came to talk to us, and said that we might be better off next door at the museum. I asked him specifically if it was posted with “no overnight parking,” and he said it was not. So that is where we are. It’s dark here, and pretty quiet, and we should be fine.

We are about a half-mile from the NAPA, and Joey seems determined to get there at 9am to pick up the last brake parts, so Donny can finish up his work and we can be on our way. Although today went about as expected, and fairly smoothly, I am not so sure it will be that fast tomorrow. However, our route from East Glacier to West Glacier/Kallispell planned for tomorrow would have run through Browning in any case, so we are at least not out of the way. It just may take a bit longer to get out of town. We’ll see what happens when the time comes.

Meanwhile, although we were “stuck” getting the brakes dealt with, we used our time very productively, getting the laundry and other repairs done, and grocery shopping. We have limited wifi, so I can upload these blogs, although it doesn't seem to be supporting my photo uploads, which will have to come later. I was able to pick up some phone messages, and So I can’t say that today was a waste in any way, and it was kind of interesting spending a day on the Blackfeet reservation. I am sad that it does not look more prosperous, but we did our best to pump dollars into the economy!

Driving to Glacier

The road ahead

2019-09-10 Tuesday (slow upload--photos to follow)

I’m planning for this to be a very short blog today. For one thing, all we did was drive. For another, I can’t upload it, because we are camped in Glacier National Park, and there is no phone service or wifi service.

We left Great Falls this morning at around 11:00, as usual. Joe usually is awake early, but I tend to be up late blogging, and sleep later in the mornings. Also, Joe was not happy with the electrical system in the RV again, and he was investigating various things to see why the “house batteries” were not charging properly. We actually drove for about 20 minutes today with both the generator and the Jeep turned on to charge things up.

However, other than worries about electricity, we drove all day on US 89 from just north of Great Falls, all the way to St. Mary, Montana, which is one of the gateways to Glacier NP. We didn’t take a lot of photos, although the rolling ranch land and herds of cattle we passed were beautiful. There were several stunning vistas ahead--unfortunately I was driving at that point, and Joe is not good at getting the camera out fast for a photo. He did take a couple, though, and I’m hoping to get a chance to add them to this.

US 89 passed through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation through much of our trip, including the town of Browning, which was large enough to have a community college. The town is also the seat of tribal government. We were happy to be able to buy gasoline as well. Then we turned north toward Glacier, and that was when things got hairy.

There is a lot of construction on US 89 between Browning and St. Mary. And when I say construction, it’s not like you’d see anywhere else. We drove on dirt roads that were barely wide enough for two cars, with lots of bumps and potholes (are they potholes on dirt roads? Or just holes?) It went on for miles, and there was just the lightest misty rain at the time, so it was muddy as well. Also, although there were orange cones lining the roads in some places, in many places it was just a dirt road with no people actively working on it (it was early afternoon on a weekday.) We passed machinery and supplies, but no workmen. I also wondered where the workmen might come from-- if they didn’t live on the reservation, they’d have to drive at least an hour from the nearest town--which was nothing at all, just a few dozen buildings. Life out here is just so DIFFERENT than the east or midwest. So much empty space, and a US highway is dirt for miles.

US 89 under construction

About 10 or so miles from St. Mary, the road finally went back to being paved, and we descended a long road to the valley and the park entrance. The campground I wanted (St. Mary Campground) still was not full, so I stopped to talk briefly to a ranger at the Visitor Center (it was surprisingly busy--a lot of people coming in and out!) and then we headed for the campground. The sites here are a bit closer together than we would prefer, but we did have a choice, and found one level enough so that we would not have to use our levelling blocks. We detached the Jeep, and then drove the RV around to the campground entrance again to use the dump and fill the water tank. And then we drove back and rearranged our vehicles yet again.

We have paid for 3 nights here, meaning we will have all day Wednesday and Thursday in the park. The weather for the next two days is not too bad (of course, it’s raining on us now, but that is no surprise, frankly.) I’m a bit worried about being cold, though-- I probably should have packed a couple of fall jackets, but all I brought was sweatshirts. It was hard to imagine being COLD during that miserable spell of 100 degrees in mid-August when we left home. I hope it’s nice anyway... we had really miserable weather last time we were here, in 1980, and that’s one reason we haven’t been back. It was not our favorite park. We’re hoping for better this time--we will be doing a lot of driving, and we don’t want to be doing it in the rain.

Views of St Mary Lake

Anyway, our plans are to go to Canada tomorrow, and the Going-to-the-Sun Road on Thursday (the best predicted weather.) Glacier’s full name is Glacier-Waterton Peace Park, and it is actually an international park. We’ve never been to the Waterton part of the park, and that would be fun. We just have to find out about what the requirements are for bringing Cassie. We have all her paperwork, but we need to be sure. We’ll ask at the Visitor Center before we drive the hour up to the border. We’ll be gone all day, and don’t want to leave her that long. I guess we’ll find all this stuff out tomorrow. For now, we’re eating dinner early for us (7:00 pm) and then I’ll relax, read my book, and go to bed early!