Whitefish, Montana- part 2

August 14, 2017- Travel Days 9-12

We arrived in the Whitefish area last Friday and spent the rest of that day setting up camp, wrestling the satellite dish aiming ritual to a successful standstill, and relaxing. Glacier Peaks Storage and RV Park is a no nonsense park. No real extra amenities here, just full hookups and the shade of tall conifers. The park is easy to find if you know what to look for…. 😉

This is What to Look For!

Saturday we joined Jil’s sister’s family down at their cabin near Rollins on Flathead Lake. Their abode used to be part of a Methodist camp that featured several small cabins that stepped down a hillside towards the lake. Most of the cabins have been upgraded to make them more comfortable. A sandy beach with a boat dock is shared by all of the homeowners. Two boats, a bunch of kayaks, a stand up style paddle board, all with assorted safety paraphernalia are close at hand. Two Quik Shades offer relief from the very warm sun. We meet the in-laws, and their kids. The group totals about 14 folks. The kids go swimming, kayaking and exploring while some of the adults just yack. After several hours Jil and I take our leave.

Kim and Dave’s Grandkids               Jil (Eva) and Kim (Zaza)

We are hungry but don’t find a shady place where we can leave our muttzo in the truck. We look for a place where we can take out food. We are not successful until we reach the little village of Somers. Somers Bay Cafe is willing to accommodate us. I order two burgers, one with a side of fries, the other onion rings. Only one order for one person is ahead of mine so this should be quick. I occupy myself by walking around the small cafe admiring the photos of old time Somers back when it had a thriving lumber company. Today the village is just a nice place to visit if one is looking for a place that serves good food that happens to be right next to a wonderful hardware store. Which by the way, are the only two businesses in the old downtown district. I won’t count the mom-and-pop store-turned-casino a block down the street. The hamburgers come out after an extraordinarily long wait (didn’t seem long, it was really, really long!). They are scrumptious, as are the fries and onion rings- well worth waiting for. Mission accomplished- we are full!

Somers Bay Cafe/ Old Barn Near Downtown Somers

It’s Saturday, our tummies are full and it’s hot, in excess of 90 degrees. We look forward to relaxing in our nice, cool RV. Ugh, it’s hotter inside the coach than out! The A/C has failed. What to do? Aha! Call the many area mobile RV repair folks. I call one- “leave a message”. I call the next- “leave a message”! I call the third- “leave a message”! Ai Caramba. So I went out and bought a fancy hazza gazza of a floor fan to move solar heated air around and around inside the coach…… it helped but is not the same as refrigerated air.

Sunday the heat breaks- Thank You Lord! Rain clouds come in cooling the afternoon air to the mid 70’s. It rains some off and on. We drive around the Whitefish area exploring, unknown to us, territory. We visit Whitefish State Park on Whitefish Lake. It’s beautiful but the sites are too small for our trailer. At least the smoke has lifted some…….

We drive out US 93 to a horse farm and spend time admiring several of the majestic animals.

Monday Morning- no calls from “mobile RV repair guys”. I call each of them again. One finally calls back and said he’s booked for 10 days. Another calls and says he’s out of town for 10 days. Phooey! The one that was advertised as “called back promptly and does excellent work” never did call back. I call two local RV service centers and neither are a help- no time to effect repair/replace of A/C unit and/or no A/C unit available for 10 days. The last mobile repair guy calls back but I beat him to the punch. I’ve located the right A/C unit in Missoula, which was not easy to do, and we have an appointment to have it installed on a “we’ll squeeze you in when we can” basis at Bretz RV. Hah!…… this could be a several day ordeal. At least they say we can stay in our RV and offer power and water.

We spent the rest of the day with Jil’s sister Kim. Her family, grandkids, grandpa and some of the parents were out sheering sheep at a sheep ranch. Or maybe they were just going to watch them being sheered? Either way, Kim and Jil parallel talked about two different subjects simultaneously and completely understood what the other was saying. I sat there amazed as most guys would. We said our goodbyes, see you soon’s and gave each other a hug. It was a nice visit with nice folks.

We didn’t visit nearby Glacier National Park this trip- too many people and couldn’t see the glaciers for the smoke. Business in the local towns is down due to low visibility.

A Peak in Glacier National Park; Going To The Sun Road

Tonight we picked up what was not needed for the night and cleaned inside the coach in preparation for an early getaway tomorrow morning. We have an appointment to keep in Missoula at Bretz RV to have our new A/C unit installed and can’t be late! Hope they can complete the job tomorrow…… fingers crossed!