Saturday 11Sep 21. No more Teardrops
11Sep21
Last night around two in the morning I went to the bathroom. The window was open and I could hear it raining pretty hard. When I got back to bed I saw a flash of light and then some thunder off in the distance. There were a couple more bolts then all of sudden there was a brilliant flash and immediate thunder. It literally shook the whole place for a couple of seconds. So much for Wiggin sleeping in the kennel. The poor boy freaks out just in a strong wind. I put one of the towels where I thought he would lay but apparently he didn't like the color!
Around 7:45 I got up and took Wiggin for a walk around the neighborhood. When we got back to the place I just put him in the car. I then went back to the room and took a shower. After getting dressed I gathered everything up and was able to get everything to the car in one trip.
I drove around Ronan unsuccessfully trying to find a restaurant that was open. I drove by the auto repair shop Total Automotive that had replaced the alternator on aRTy a few years ago. I was really impressed by the owner Adam Granley. He didn't even wait for the engine to cool down before he had the old alternator off and the new one installed. Fast, very reasonable and the alternator is going strong to this day.
I finally decided to drive on to Polson and found a 4B restaurant on the south side of town. I had bacon and eggs, hash browns, rye toast and of course coffee. After breakfast I got back on the road driving east on Montana Highway 35 which drives around the east side of the lake. I was hoping to find a fruit stand selling huckleberries. There were several stands but all of them were closed for the season. Just before I got to Bigfork Montana I found one that was still open, Bowman Orchards. They didn't have any fresh huckleberries however. The lady there informed me that they'd had their last batch a couple of weeks ago. She said that possibly a stand up north on the road to Glacier NP, US Highway 2 might still might have some huckleberries. I got back on Highway 35 and headed north until I came to the junction of 2 where I turned right headed towards Glacier. Along the way I came across a sign for a 911 Memorial service. I followed a sign and drove down a lane past a farm house to an area in a field that had been roped off for parking but there was only one truck parked there. I assumed the event had happened that morning so I just got back on the road and drove on. I drove all the way to Columbia Falls but I never found a fruit stand.
In Columbia Falls I came across a winery. I have always been curious so I decided to check it out. Inside there was a couple off ladies sitting at a table apparently tasting wine of all things! There was also a bar to sit at so that is where I went. I informed the server that I had never done a tasting and so he filled me in on the process. Basically I had to pick five wines from a fairly extensive list. I told him I wanted only local wines and asked him for suggestions. He suggested five and proceeded to pour each into small glasses that he placed on a serving board. In all honesty I didn't care for any of them. At some point a guy came from the back and said that they were going to press some grapes in a few minutes and we were welcome to watch. It is a pretty straight forward process utilizing a hydraulic press. They poured us a sample of the resulting grape juice which was better than any of the wine I had just tasted.
After the wine tasting I noticed a food vending trailer that was selling Texas Barbecue. The owner was from Beaumont Texas. Alison's Grandmother Nana was from there. Alison and her two siblings would go there every summer break. Many years later Nana became such an amazing part of Zackary's early life. She was the first person Zack said, "I love you" to.
I ordered some ribs, baked beans and potato salad. It was all very good and the most tender ribs I've ever eaten. I gave Wiggin the bones.
After I finished eating I got back on the road heading back to the lake to find tonight's Airbnb. On the way I noticed that there were now hundreds of cars parked at the 911 Memorial Site that I had seen earlier. After driving around a bit I finally found a place to park. A lot of people were just starting to walk back to their cars so I headed in the direction they were coming from. There was a stage and probably 100 chairs set up but the program had concluded a few minutes earlier. A couple hundred yards beyond the stage was a red barn and in front of it were 15 rows of flags. On each flag there was a tag with the person's name who was being moralized by that flag. I think there were 15 flags in each row. On the opposite side of the stage there were tables set up for a buffet. I think it was a chicken dish. Since I had just eaten I passed but I did have some coffee. As I drank my coffee I met an elderly man and his wife. Tom and Christina. They had been married for 53 years. They informed me that a wealthy family in the area has had the memorial every September 11th for many years.
After visiting the memorial I got back on the road and drove to the Airbnb. I drove past it a couple of times and finally got on the Airbnb App to get more specific directions. I was finally able to find the tiny trailer in some woods behind what I assume was the host's cabin. After checking it out I walked back to the car and fed Wiggin. After he finished I put him back in the car, offloaded my mountain bike and went on a ride. Just as I got started I came across a doe and her two fawns. I rode on about three miles to a marina. It was located in the mouth of a river and protected from any high surf from the lake. There were a lot of boats still there and it made me wonder if the lake freezes. I believe it does so I assume all the boats will be loaded and hauled off in the next couple of months. When I got back to the area of the trailer I rode on down to the private beach. I sat down in one of the chairs and after a few minutes a man and woman came up. She had lived there before but got frustrated with all the traffic and moved to Libby Montana. I was surprised that she thought the traffic was bad and told her she should never come to Northern Utah. I must admit that the East Side of Flathead Lake had gotten very populated and had lost a lot of its charm. She was an RN and so we talked a lot about Covid. She said she'd had the virus and it was very bad in her case. She had also just gotten the first dose of the vaccine recently and it brought back a lot of the congestion and tightness that us long haulers suffer from. Today was a particularly bad day for me. It is so unpredictable. One day I feel very congested the next day perfectly fine. After talking to them for quite a while I decided I should go check on Wiggin. I found him sleeping soundly but woke him up for a potty break. We wound up walking back to the beach. The same couple was there. The guy told me they were staying in a tiny cabin and it cost them $120 a night which seemed outrages. To top it off the bed was an air mattress.
Wiggin and I got back to the parking area after dark. I grabbed the quilt from the car and walked the 50 ft or so to the trailer. There was a small backpacking sized blue tent about 5 feet from the trailer's door. When I first saw it there was a light on but it was off when I looked out after getting settled in bed. Speaking of the bed, that is all there was in the trailer except for about a 10 inch floor in front of the bed.
I have a friend that at one time had plans to manufacture teardrop trailers. Several years ago He bought an RV swamp cooler from a company that was trying to sell the business. He planned to buy the business and offer the swamp coolers as an option on the teardrops. Ultimately he changed his mind on the whole business idea.
The mattress is/was comfortable and so off to La La Land I went.