Trout Creek, Montana

 

We arrived in Trout Creek, Montana on June 17. We planned to stay there 3 days before moving on to Washington state to visit some family. I would like to report that we filled each day with adventure, but that would not be true. Kim caught up on laundry and I did a few domestic chores, but mostly we did nothing. We watched movies on Netflix and just relaxed. The Trout Creek Motel and RV park is very nice. Kim met the owner and she told her that her husband is constantly working on the grounds and expanding the park. It was fairly quiet even though we were not far from the road. Here are a couple of shots of our site:

You know it is not going to be a very exciting post when I start with pictures of our campsite. I still like to document the places we go and the places we stay. We have been on the road for 6 months on this trip. We have stayed at 36 campgrounds. We often talk about an incident that happened to us and then try to remember the name of the campground. They are usually pretty funny conversations.

We are in a valley that has been cut by the Clark fork that ultimately flows into Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced Ponderey) and then becomes the Pend Oreille River. That river is the only river in the US that flows south to north. It goes into Canada, makes a U turn and then south into the US. When it enters the US, it is the mighty Columbia River.  Lake Pend Oreille is one of the deepest lakes in north America. It has places that are over 1000 feet deep. There are places that have over 2000 feet of silt in them, making it over 3000 feet to the bedrock from the current lake levels. Why would I write about all of that? Well, the area we are in, has a very interesting history and the Clark fork is part of that history. I will explain that in future posts as we work our way down the Columbia river.

The Columbia river has always held a special place in my heart because I was born in the town of Richland, Washington which sits on the banks of the Columbia river. In many ways, this is a very personal part of this journey. I left Washington state when I was 7 years old and have only been back a few times for short visits. I have a strong interest in learning more about where I am from. I think we all have that kind of a homing instinct. Kind of like the salmon returning to where they were born. Of course, the salmon go there to die. I would prefer to continue this journey. I will write more about all of this as we go.

The good news is that after 3 days of rest, my back felt much better. We were now ready to cross northern Idaho and head into Washington. My next entry will be about an awesome weekend with family. Some of which I had never met. I will just tell you now, it was awesome.

I think the message here is to learn more about the world around you. There is a reason why things are the way they are.