Forsyth, Montana: The storm last night delivered us clear and smoke-free skies this morning! Finally - the first day since we left Portland two weeks ago.
The little town we camped in last night - White Sulphur Springs, Montana - has a museum inside an old abandoned mansion situated at the top of a hill above town. We visited on our way out of town this morning. The Castle was built in 1892 by the Sherman family. It was the first house in the area with hot and cold running water, indoor plumbing, indoor radiator heating - and electricity. The family abandoned the castle, but their heirs decided to rehabilitate the three story mansion, and locals from far and wide returned lost furnishings, and brought their own antiques to fill the house with period pieces. The result is a house that could require a month to inspect, instead of the hour we spent on a guided tour. Our tour group included the two of us and a mom with three little blonde girls - which made everything more entertaining - especially when the "possibly haunted" closet housing an ancient spooky doll was shown!
I can't get over how one can stop in the teeniest of towns in America and find treasures. Every little town has one or two. Or at least an interesting character. The only way to find them is to drive the backroads.
We continued east on Highway 12, but we are no longer following the Lewis & Clark Trail. We lost them basically after they arrived near Helena on the Missouri River, and continued on foot to Lolo where they walked over the Bitterroots, carved canoes, and continued to the Pacific Coast via rivers. We will continue east without them. Meri and Will be missed. Until we meet again?
Our route today followed east on Highway 12 to reach Highway 93. It was a beautiful drive much of the day. No cell service, but when we did reach a pocket of service, my phone blew-up with photos of a tree branch broken off onto our roof in La Quinta. Ooops.
The limb landed on the roof above Leo & Lucile's room at our house. Our house sitter was at our house Tuesday and our gardeners took this photo this morning (Thursday). Assume it must have happened overnight Wednesday or our neighbors would have informed us. The HOA is in charge of the plants/lawn in front of our house, so we tried to inform them and tried to contact our house sitter, but with no cell service, it was a comedy of errors. Between the concierge at our club contacting the HOA gardeners, and our gardeners sending photos and our house sitter confirming there were no puncture wounds on the roof - it seems it is just a nuisance. No big damage.
We continued on through mile after mile of grass/hay/alfalfa fields. We would occasionally see small groups of Pronghorn, deer, one dead porcupine, and a massive eagle standing on a sandbar in the middle of a river! Some of the (very few) towns on the route were cute, but so many seemed to be abandoned.
And then our pretty drive turned into a jumble of bumbles over a construction zone. Did we just have the suspension beefed up? Would not know it on this drive. We may as well been driving through the bush in Africa. When we reached Forsyth, and met Highway 93 we decided to stop for the night if we found a campground - and we finally had some cell service!
As we drove through the cute town, we saw a city sign promising camping, so we followed the route, and hit some sort of rivet so deep the (currently unused) Dish Network equipment fell out of the cabinet behind the television! OMG the CLUNK! Happily we had Cal Thorn install this system in our RV two years ago after purchase, so it all just hung from the cabinet on a web of wires and cables. Nothing was harmed. We stopped and tossed it all back behind the pop-out TV, but were so surprised as to how HOT the unused equipment was! It was all still wired-in.
As soon as we situated ourselves in a $20 full-hookup campsite in the county fairgrounds, I went up there (footstool deployed) and unplugged every cable and wire I could find from the old satellite TV system. The abandoned system was still sucking up electricity. Still keeping the cabinet behind the television hot. We have not used the Dish TV since we have started using the Starlink. The Dish Network bill has been suspended. Should we just have the dish removed from the roof? With Starlink, all one needs is a smart TV.
I made a hybrid version of Twice-Sauteed String Beans, with a little ground chicken. Served with rice and icy cold watermelon, it was a good ending to a strange day.
in a paper bowl.
Another small town in Montana to explore tomorrow.
Until my next update, I remain, your unplugged correspondent.
Campground Information: Rosebud County Fairgrounds