9-6-17 - (Day 37- Smokey Mountains, Rocky Mountain Style)

We lounged around getting our connectivity fix this morning.  There wasn't much else to do on this cold. (in the 40's), smokey morning.  We didn't take a picture until after 1 pm, unbelievable, right?

We needed some relax time and a good internet fix.  The mission was accomplished.  

We caught another Pack Rat this morning, the count is up to 8.

We listened and watched the  helicopters go over with their water buckets.  I think it will be sometime next winter before this blaze is put out.  So sad!

We strolled, kinda huffed, around the park this morning.  In about a mile we had 15 flights according to Fit Bit.  We won' t argue  with that, there is a lot of elevation on this gravel campground road.

We took a ride on Amber in the fog of smoke for a couple of hours to kill a little time.  We saw a few crows, a hawk, and a grouse.  Wonder if the grouse  has been following us from Libby????  LOL

When we got back to camp, we had our own Cry Baby in the camper.  Ferny Kat was throwing a fit to get outside.  And of course she did.  She thoroughly enjoyed being camouflaged in  brush..

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9-5-17 - (Day 36 - Moving Day)

It was another crisp, cool, morning at Dunn's Creek Recreation Area.  We caught another pack rat during the night to get the count up to 7.   Believe me, this is nothing we want to brag about.

After we woke up, the one camper. other than us in the campground pulled out.  Our kind of place, except, we had reservations at Mountain Meadow RV Park and even with the wildfire closing the west side of Going To The Sun Road, we would loose $30 of our $50.26 already paid reservation. We aren't happy about this, but as Lauren said," Karma!!"

We watched one doe walk across the campground and a few Ospreys and Baldies.  We didn't see Cry Baby, but we heard him.  He is spreading his wings and flying further away from the nest.  Go Cry Baby!!

Ferny Kat got in hot pursuit of a Chipmunk.  His saving grace was, (in Ferny Kat's mind,)   her leash got caught under the truck tire.  She thinks she would have got him, what she would have done with him after that is another question?????

We stopped at a much needed Wally World intervention in Kalispell.  We traveled to Hungry Horse, Montana and are  parked at a really isolated campsite.  I don't care for their refund policy, but we do love the campsite and we see less smoke and ash here than at the previous campground.

I thought Ferny Kat would throw a fit when we left Dunn's Flat Recreation Area, but I thought wrong.  The gypsy in her must have been ready to move on.  After a 134 miles, we have another Ferny Kat approved campground.

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9-4-17 - (Day 35 - Happy Labor Day)

We woke up, walked out, and thought, is that fog we see?  Nope, it was smoke.  There were ashes dropping from the sky covering everything, including us. 

We caught 2 more pack rats during the night, getting the count up to 7. 

We watched a doe and a buck walk through the campground to the river then swim across.

Cry Baby was very squawky this morning   The Bald Eagles, Osprey, and Ducks were hard at it.

The sun was an amazing when it rose above the hill. The smoke in the air gave it a beautiful reddish glow.

Ferny Kat kept looking for her Gopher friend.  He apparently didn’t want to be friends anymore after she swatted at him.  His empty hole was filling back up with dirt.

The chipmunks were scurrying around, which she decided to befriend.  She ran one up a tree and waited a long while for him to come down as he barked at her.  Every time she would give up and walk off, he would attempt to climb down, and she would go back to treeing him.  After a long wait, he was finally able to safely get out of the tree.

We went into town to get our connectivity fix.  We observed Emergency Management setting up their Fire Camp at our favorite internet spot.  It was not as peaceful with all the semis unloading their supplies. We quickly got our stuff done and got out of town.

The boating traffic was active this morning but slowed down dramatically this afternoon.  The few campers in here were cleared out by 11 am.  That left us and another camper, we rarely see the other camper neighbor. 

It was a nice peaceful Labor Day grilling ribs sitting around watching the critters till bedtime.

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9-3-17 - (Day 34 - Rat and Gopher Day )

Ferny Kat found her a new past time, Gopher hunting.  She sat and watched as a Gopher pushed dirt and rocks out of the hole he was digging. This went on for a long while until the Gopher got at ease with her watching and stayed out long enough for her to swat at him.  She didn’t even come close.

We made another ride to town to post blogs and check with the cellular world.  When we returned we saw rat droppings in the camper.  We sat traps and caught 5 in a few hours. You would think, having a cat you wouldn’t have rats.  But then again, Ferny Kat is not your average cat.

The Eagle and Osprey show was not as active this afternoon.  Cry Baby still squawked but not as much.  We had a nice peaceful, day, watching the birds, ducks, and boaters.

We saw the milk truck at the boat ramp filling up his tank with 1000 gallons of water for wildfire fighting. The milk man gave us some more information on pretty scenery in the area. 

When we were walking back to the camper, a ribbon snake slithered at our feet in our front yard.  He was gone before I could scream.

We went to bed with the strong smell of a skunk in the air.  Not exactly the smell you want coming inside your bedroom window.

Pack Rats, Snakes, and Skunks are not the critters we want amongst us!

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9-2-17 (Day 33 - Another Yaak Attack - Crawdad Style)

It was another beautiful start to the day watching the critters.  A couple of bucks were grazing in the campground and our 2 grouse were grazing in our yard.  I believe they have adopted us. 

We went to the Libby Dam Visitor Center and confirmed what we were told by the locals was a Golden Eagle, was in fact a juvenile Bald Eagle.  We have named him Cry Baby, because he is always squawking wanting the parents to feed him.  It looks like they want to kick him of the nest.   

We just couldn’t stand it.  It was time for another Yaak Attack.  We took Highway 37 North and had a totally different gorgeous view of Lake Koocanusa.  We crossed the bridge, stopped for a break, heard the wind singing through the bridge, and motored on.

We took Highway 228, a winding mountain road, with amazing breathtaking views to Yaak River Road, and puttered to The Dirty Shame Saloon.  The Dirty Shame Saloon was a lot livelier than a few days ago.  

We arrived before the crawfish did.  The owner of the bar in his red, white, and blue shorts explained the delay of getting the crawfish was caused by the hurricane.  He could only get 650 pounds of crawfish, so he got 300 pounds of shrimp to supplement the shortage of crawfish.

We were a little hungry, and ordered a half order of Monster Fries  which was a big pile of really good french fries, lots of cheese, jalapenos, and fried bacon.  It was so good!  

While we were eating, a couple of young women requested to sign up for the wet Tee Shirt contest so they could drink for free.  The owner informed them that the free drinks didn't start until after the wet Tee Shirt contest which would be held later this evening.  He put their names on the list.  One of these young ladies confirmed she would need to drink a bunch before participating in the contest, while the other one was ready/

When the crawdads arrived; this one man cooking machine worked his butt off coordinating the corn, taters, and crawfish.  We ate Louisiana Crawdads around 3 pm.

They were seasoned ok; the cook cooked them for a very short time, dump them out, and then shaked seasoning on top.  The more you ate, the more seasoning you had on your fingers, hence, the spicier they got.  It was not quite Louisiana style, but then again we ain’t in Louisiana.

When we paid our bill for the fries, the cute girl asks how much change she needed  to give back to us.  When we paid our bill for the tee shirts another cute girl ask how much change she needed to give back to us.  I’m glad they got their looks!

We took the shorter, less curvy, road home, traveling Yaak River Road and Highway 2.  We watched the Cry Baby Eagle Show and are calling it a night.

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9-1-17 - (Day 32 - Moving Day... LOL!!!!!!)

It was another fantastic start of the day watching Bald Eagles, a Golden Eagle, Osprey, and Ducks put on their show.  These ducks quack me up when they paddle on top of the water against the current, (sorry, just had to do it).

We decided to move 2 sites down to site number 6.  A .14 miles drive to see a different view of the river.  The water forks around an island near this site, an eagle’s nest is in the tree, and this is the eagle’s starting line.  We waved goodbye to our 2 grouse still in our yard and invited them to follow to our new campsite.

Ferny Kat threw her a fit for the less than a minute drive, and then realized what we were doing.  Another Ferny Kat approved campsite.

Today was payday, we went into town, checked our dwindling bank account, and got a couple of necessities at the busy grocery store.  The 1^st of the month and the Friday before a holiday equals a mad house.  

I Googled weasels.  It looks like we were lucky yesterday.  They are viscous animals and will spray like a skunk.  What we thought was play yesterday could have been a ploy for an attack.  This never crossed our mind being he was such a cute little thing.  We will be leaving the hood of the truck open in the daytime because of their nocturnal habit.

We got back, ate lunch at camp, sat back, and the Eagle show continued, but not as active as this morning.

A guy named Thomas, who was camping in the campground, punctured a tire on his car.  He didn’t have a spare.  We know how that is from our last trip when we had a flat on our motorcycle.  Lauren took him to town to get the tire fixed, leaving me and Ferny Kat on wildlife patrol.  Ferny Kat wasn’t much help snoring in the camper.  It must have been nap time for the wildlife as well.

Lauren and Thomas returned a couple hours later.  Thomas and Sharon, his companion, were very appreciative for his help.  Lauren told them no thanks needed, just pay it forward.

About the time Lauren returned, the eagle squawks had woke up Ferny Kat.  She was outside on the prowl. What we were told  is a Golden Eagle may be a juvenile Bald Eagle.  He squawks all the time and frequents the nest.

We had leftover red beans, cauliflower rice, and fried Pearl River Tabby Cat.  Thanks to Brad Harris for skinning these fish a few months at George and Lisa’s.  The best Tabby Cat this side of Pearl River Swamp!!

Extra pics to see here:

8-31-17 - (Day 31 - Catch Up Blog Day)

It was a nice peaceful wakeup this morning to the chirping of Ospreys, quite a bit different than the usual Rooster crow.

We did our usual watching the critters this morning as our resident grouse watched us.  We just can’t get enough of the wildlife on this river. 

Ferny Kat, aka The Hunter, found her a new critter this morning.  She was insistent on hunting around the truck.    Lauren opened the hood and a weasel poked his head up.  When we tried to get him to get out, he would playfully stick his head up at different places of the truck. We left the hood open in the hopes the bright sunlight would deter him.

We went 15 miles to obtain internet signal to upload our pictures and post the last 4 days of our blog which took a lot longer than we expected due to slow internet.

We stopped at the Farmer’s Market at the Libby Chamber of Commerce.

We ate a Frisco Burger and Hamburger Steak at the Switchback Bar and Grill.  It was another great recommendation by the Chamber of Commerce Visitor's Center.

We had planned on a do nothing day, guess we will have to wait until tomorrow for that.

Ferny Kat really wanted to go play with the grouse this afternoon, when she would go toward them, they would chirp at her.  They were not scared of her at all.  We stopped her before she got very close.

We ended the day watching Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, and Ospreys until the bright, beautiful, half moon appeared in the sky.

Tomorrow is moving day!!

Pictures are here: