Helena and Great Falls, Montana

Although it seems a lifetime ago, it was only two weeks ago when we spent a week in Helena visiting with Mike and Darlene before moving north to Great Falls to position ourselves for departure to Alaska.  The weather was miserable the whole time we were in Helena and we didn’t get so much as a glimpse of the sun.  It rained nearly every day which only added to the flooding problems around the state.  And put us even further into a dark blue funk.  New snow appeared regularly on the nearby mountains.

Skies were still leaden when we arrived in Great Falls with more or less constant rain.  Our campground is very near where the Sun River joins the Missouri and some of the lower-lying areas are under water.  Last week the Corps of Engineers opened the spillway at Ft. Peck to release some of the Missouri, which guarantees that areas of North and South Dakota will flood.  We hope that all our full-timing friends are out of harm’s way.

On our first weekend in Great Falls, the sun came out just long enough for us to visit the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center east of the city.  However, I was feeling unwell and Howie ended up pushing me through the facility in a wheelchair.  It’s an interesting museum and it was a disappointment not to be able to enjoy it.  

We also made a quick stop at Giant Springs State Park to see the world’s shortest river.  The springs themselves are remarkably clear, offering stark contrast to the turgid Missouri just beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

We wanted to take advantage of the rare day of good weather and go around to see all the falls that make Great Falls great but I wasn’t feeling up to more travel.

By Sunday I was feeling extremely weak and unsteady so Howie took me to the emergency room at the local hospital.  Long story short, I spent the next week flat on my back tethered to an IV device while the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with me.  White blood cells were all cattywumpas but there was nothing to indicate an obvious culprit.  Blood work done yesterday shows everything pretty much returned to normal, a virus was blamed and so I’ve been cleared to make the trek to Alaska after all. 

Meanwhile, our traveling companions, Bill and Carolyn, have arrived from Colorado and we’ve been roughing out an itinerary and schedule.  Thank heavens Carolyn is highly organized and motivated so it has fallen to her to put the bits and pieces together.  We’re supposed to meet up with Russ and Rochelle somewhere along the line but we’ll have to play that by ear since they’re starting out a week later than we are. 

So the Great Alaskan Adventure is about to start.  Stay tuned for all the highlights.