Breakfast at the Historic Izaak Walton Inn

 Yesterday I enjoyed the cool morning in the woods before the heat set in the afternoon.  The afternoons have been getting into the 90's so looking forward to some cooler temps in a few days.  I woke up to the shower being full of water.  Yuk!  Apparently, the gray tank didn’t get left open and it was full.  So, I started my morning out cleaning the shower.  It was a great excuse to head a few miles up the road to this wonderful old, historic hotel called the Izaak Walton Inn for breakfast.  This hotel was originally built in the 1930s to provide housing for the men building the railroad.  There is a switch yard at this location in Essex, MT.  In fact, our RV park is right next to the tracks and there are lots of freight trains that pass through here. Twice a day the Amtrak comes through.  It stops at East and West Glacier as well as at this hotel in Essex.  Apparently they always have two engines running in this yard to assist trains up the climbs in the mountains.

The hotel has been maintained very well.  We had breakfast in their

small restaurant and wished we had thought to eat out on the front porch.  Oh well, we were by a nice window that looked out.  I had French toast which was slices of huckleberry bread pudding that had been dipped in egg and fried like French toast.  Rich, but yummy.  Our waiter was another of the many young folks that come from overseas for the summer.  He was from Romania. 

What’s really unique about this place is that they not only have

rooms in the hotel and cabins but they have several old train cars -  cabooses, a locomotive and other cars – that they have set around the property and turned into cabins.  Some even have nice decks.  They have full kitchens in them as well.  What a great idea and a unique experience.  The prices are quite reasonable as well.  They are open year-round so if any of you need a getaway you can either drive or take the train and come and experience a few nights in a train car.

Trip to Waterton Lakes National Park - Canada

Waterton Lakes National Park is just north of the Montana border in Alberta, Canada.  From our KOA at St. Mary (east Glacier) it was just a 45-mile drive through beautiful pines and mountain views.  Throughout this area of Montana there are lots of range cattle and they seem to love hanging out on the roads.  You can find mamas standing in the road while their calves are nursing.  It’s probably a good thing that the speed limit on the roads where we have encountered these cattle is only 45 mph and typically rough and bumpy roads.  I do have to wonder, with so many of them being black, how often they get hit at night.  I know nothing about range cattle so I also wonder how the ranchers manage their cattle.  They are all marked but they just wonder wherever and I’m sure they are all mixed up with several ranchers’ cattle.  Hmmmm.

Okay back to our day trip.  The girls, John and I started out for our adventure about 9:30 am.  Crossing into Canada was a breeze.  Just a single woman in a booth who asked us a few questions and reviewed our drivers’ licenses, passports and the dogs’ vaccination certificates.  I also had to roll down the back window so she could see inside where the dogs were.  Our window tint is so dark you cannot see into the vehicle.  We drove into Canada right beside the national park and found the entrance just a few miles down the road. 

The drive in is flat and runs beside a pretty lake as you work your way back into the

mountains.  As we approached the small village of Waterton we found a road that went back to Lake Cameron.  It was about 10 miles and wound its way up and down and around in the mountains.  We saw water falls, babbling creeks, lots of very tall pines and incredible views.  At the end of the road was a small lake surrounded by a mountain that was indescribably beautiful.  It was a very cool day and a bit rainy and we didn’t really dress appropriately or we might have rented one of their paddle boats to spend some time on this lake.  The lakes in all these mountains are crystal clear and look like you could drink straight from them safely.  They are also cold.

After spending some time at Lake Cameron we headed into the village of Waterton which is very quaint.  It is definitely a tourist area but you will not find any name brand hotels, restaurants or fast food as we know it.  We stopped at a Weiners of Waterton for lunch.  They had a big kettle outside with a fire burning in it and picnic tables.  You ordered inside and ate outside.  These were probably the best hot dogs I’ve ever had.  The buns are homemade every day.  I ordered the ¼ lb dog with cheese, onions, a sliced pickle, shredded ginger carrots and their special sweet tomato sauce.  It was yummy!  As we wondered around town in the Jeep we found a great waterfall but it was pouring rain so John couldn’t get a photo with the good camera but I did get one with my phone.  Then

we headed up to the Prince of Wales Hotel that sites up on a hill overlooking the lake and the village.  We were hoping to get a view of everything from the hill but it was raining and the view was completely obscured.  BUT – running across the field outside the hotel was a black bear.  I barely had time to get a shot of it. 

We then headed off to check out the one other road we could drive down and again, the scenery was breathtaking.  Lots of open fields between the mountains full of colorful wild flowers.  The rain had stopped and the colors were glistening and fresh. 

As we returned to the United States the border crossing was a much different experience.  There were two officers and before coming to the booth you drive through an enormous thing that apparently scans the entire vehicle.  While one officer is standing behind the car reading off the plate so it can be run, the officer in the booth is running checks on us and asking us questions.  He was actually quite nice and did ask us about our visit and if we enjoyed ourselves.  It just felt like a more thorough check to get back into the States.

John and I were so glad that we took the time to check this place out on our last day on the east side of Glacier.  We weren’t able to make it to Banff on this trip because of our RV repairs which got us off schedule and we hope someday to make it there but after this trip, even without Banff, we will be on scenery overload.

We finished off the day by treating ourselves to a great steak dinner at Cattle Barons 

Supper Club in Babb, Montana.  Babb is a blink and miss it town in northern Montana but they have this great little supper club.  Inside it’s all built in a log theme.  The bar stools have big red cushioned seats and if you want to dine at a table you go up a winding log staircase to the loft area that circles around the downstairs area with a balcony so you can look down onto the lower level.  All the tables are by windows and very nice.  We split the T-bone dinner, which was huge, and added a side salad.  There was enough meat to feed three!  You could cut this steak with a feather and the flavor was unbelievable.  I can honestly say that this T-bone and the smoked ribeye at Smokin Joes in Davis, OK are the best steaks I’ve ever had.

Tomorrow we move to Glacier Haven RV Park near Essex, MT on the southwest side of Glacier for a few nights before moving up to the west side of Glacier.  The east side of Glacier is so beautiful and I highly recommend seeing it.  There are several places to stay from tent and RV camping to cabins and a lodge.  There are shuttles that can get you around the area and in the park they are free.  There are miles and miles of hiking but you cannot take your dogs on the trails.  The only down side is that there are no big towns nearby so the prices are very high.  Gas was nearly $0.75/gallon higher and over $6 for a box of Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuit crackers!  $2.29 for a can of Cream of Chicken soup!  Yep – those are high prices but for a vacation to see all that God created here, it's worth it.  And you have to try the huckleberry ice cream – YUM!

What Is All That Beeping???

It was Sunday of the July 4th holiday weekend and we were traveling from Billings, MT to East Glacier.  In Montana there are miles and miles and miles and miles of nothing but open range and mountains with very few cars, people, towns, anything around.  Maggie was driving and we were out in the middle of nowhere and suddenly something up by the driver's seat is beeping. Maggie is looking everywhere for something that tells her what is beeping and cannot see it and then it stops. Hmmm, well ok, it's stopped and we keep going.  Shortly it starts in again and this time she sees it. The leveling system that controls the stabilizer jacks is showing the jacks are down.  Well that can't be.  We would have felt that.

At that point we see a small town just ahead like it came out of nowhere with a big area to pull over right at the point we enter the town.  John gets out and goes to where the workings for the jacks are and when we try to raise or lower them, nothing happens.  He shuts the system down and plugs it back in and we try again - nothing.  When he looks under the RV he can see that the jacks are up where they should be.  Then he walks to the back and sees fluid everywhere and he realizes that, for whatever reason, we've lost the fluid for them.  At this point there is nothing we can do but unplug the system and keep going.

We were supposed to drive to East Glacier but the next biggest town was Great Falls so we contacted Dick's RV Park and on a holiday weekend they were able to make space for us.  Not only that, but before we arrived they thought to find the most level spot they could since we couldn't level with our jacks.  Thank goodness we had our plastic blocks with us that we can drive up onto to help level. These folks also encouraged us to book for a few nights, noting that they would refund our money if we left earlier.  The also recommended Fleet Maintenance Services to us.  I have to tell you that walking around in the RV without the leveling jacks down makes you feel a bit like you're drunk.  There's a lot more wobbling without the jacks.

Once we were settled into our site we checked out the back of the motorhome and found that the fluid from the leveling system had sprayed every last inch of the entire backside of the rig.  That explained why I was finding it more and more challenging to see behind us through the camera while driving. The entire front and driver's side of the jeep was also covered as was the underside of the RV.  The fluid is transmission fluid and, let me tell you, it is thick and gooey and horrible to get off.  Even taking the jeep through an automatic car wash didn't do the trick.  Also, stick-on decals start lifting up when coated in this stuff.  What a mess! I did find that warm, soapy water followed by spraying with glass cleaner did the trick.

John drove over to Fleet the following morning at 8:00 am to see if they could help us out.  The plan was for him to call me if they could so I could get us packed up while he came back to get us.  Well lo and behold, he called me about 30 minutes after he left and said pack it up!  This place had another motorhome pull in when John got there that also needed help while passing through town so they fixed them up first and then immediately got to work on our rig.  This mean't pulling some of their mechanics off other jobs which was greatly appreciated.

They found a hole in one of the hoses caused by it rubbing on the frame of the rig.  They allowed us to keep our generator running since they worked on it in the parking lot.  That way we didn't have to empty our refrigerator, which was great.  We ran some errands and then got some lunch and took the dogs to a park by the Missouri River that runs through town and hung out there for a while.  About 1 pm we returned and found that not only had they fixed the problem, they also got it approved and paid for by our extended service agreement so it only cost us $100 - our deductible.

Our Good Sam Extended Service Agreement has been worked to the bone lately with all the repairs on our refrigerator and now the jacks.  We're just glad we have it even if they can be persnickety to work with.

We've decided to spend a total of 4 nights in Great Falls and check the area out before heading up to East Glacier where we will spend a total of 19 nights between East, South and West Glacier.  We've decided to forego a trip into Canada.  We've had a lot of stress with several problems in the past couple of weeks and decided not to try to deal with taking our home across the border.  There are a lot of regulations and we just don't want to deal with it on this trip.  So Banff will have to be seen at another time.  We are looking forward to our time at Glacier.