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Host tonight.

Helena Montana Capitol

Front yard.

The side yard. Nature’s art.

Thursday June 25, 2015  DAY 113  A DAY TO REMEMBER

How do I contain today with mere words?  I posted a few photos and they cannot do not do justice to what I saw and experienced.  At first my experiences of viewing the park didn’t seem a lot different than what I saw in other wayside stops on my journey.  But the more I got into the day, the more spectacular everything seemed to become.  I think what I liked the most was being IN SIDE THE MOUNTAINS.  So many mountains and so many ways to navigate; sight, sound, by water, by car, by foot, and the experiences were all SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!  No other word to describe it.  Being on the floor of the forest and then being on the mountain top and looking down caused everything to seem so surreal.  Sometimes the eyes and equilibrium played tricks on me and I couldn’t really decipher what I was looking at.  And then I look a photos and they are so lifeless and flat and one dimensional.  And what I have left is what I hold in my heart, the remembrance of the awesomeness of God’s mighty creation, the colors, the scope, the magnitude, and how little I really am in the scheme of things.  And yet to myself, (just as we all are to ourselves), WE ARE THE SCHEME OF THINGS when it comes to our own life.  And yet I am so small and so fragile, and so insignificant when I compare myself to all that was around me on this spectacular day.

Being in a park like the Glacier National Park or Yosemite or Yellowstone creates a different atmosphere between the visitors.  People seem to have their guard down and seem friendlier.  It’s as if we are all there to give homage to a power bigger than ourselves and we recognize that in each other.  I had opportunity to speak to several people and actually had a chance to harvest quite a bit of “wisdom” today.  It is always fun to ask that question and watch how people respond, especially the younger people.  I think the younger crowd want to be thought of as a responsible adult and feel good to have someone “older” ask them what they think.  The young people are usually the ones that answer the quickest and most readily.  Some ask me, what is  the definition for wisdom.  My answer to them is that as we go through life we search and acquire knowledge and then when we take that knowledge and use it to make decisions that will benefit the situation we are in, that is when we use what is called “wisdom”.  Using the knowledge and experience we have to make strong sound decisions on how to live our life is practicing “wisdom”.  We are to get knowledge through instruction and experience and then seek wisdom on how to use it.  And God says if we ask Him for wisdom He will give it to us.  I continually ask God to give me wisdom in all that I do.

I don’t know how I get off on side topics when all I wanted to tell you was how utterly awesome my day was.  It is very late but I have so much to say.  I shall try to wrap it up shortly.  We’ll see.

While viewing one of the beautiful sights in Glacier Park I spoke with three young men on their first big trip together as young adults.  I could tell they were having a good time, I took their picture with their camera and then got around to the topic of wisdom.

JR’s wisdom: “Never take anything for granted”.  I just lost one of my best friends about a month ago and I just learned that you never know when you are going to lose something so you might as well take advantage of it while you have it.”

JD’s wisdom: “Life’s a garden, dig it!”

I do not remember the third man’s name: “Never be too busy to not have some fun.”

Even before talking with these three young man I spoke with a family before I actually entered the gates of the park.  The mom offered to take my picture by the sign.  I was delighted.  That is the only picture of me take today to prove that I was actually here at the sign of the park.  This family was a nice family traveling together with two young adult children.  They are from my home state of Arkansas!  Each one contributed a nugget of wisdom.

Paula:  “Save money earlier.”

Scott:  “Don’t let life pass you by.  Do all as many things as you enjoy and have fun.”

Mattie:  “Don’t take things for granted” 16 years old

Bryce:  “Live life to the fullest.  19 years old

After I arrived at my Airbnb home this evening I met another guest named Julia.  Julia just gradated from Santa Barbara with her Masters in statistics.

Julia wisdom:  I see the world in a whole new way now since I have studied statistics.  I see ever process as a random variable.  Some are very predictable like the sunset but some are less predictable, like when a baby is going to be born or when it will rain and you can apply these ideas to every little thing.

I had my first negative experience today with my Airbnb home.  It was a divorced man who rents the room.  He was pleasant, a man of few words, and not overly social.  I arrived last night after 9:00.  He got me settled and then went to his end of the house and to bed.  I stayed up and blogged and then went to my end of the house to ready myself for bed.  And the bathroom was a mess.  Dirty toilet (very dirty) and a sick with soap scum, toothpaste splatters on the faucets, and lots of grime and shaving hair particles all around.  Yuk.  Before my host when to bed I realized there were no wash cloths in the bathroom and asked if he had a couple I could use for washing my face and bathing.  He brought me three cloths that looked stained and faded and worn as if they were cleaning cloths.  Well, that is what they became, my cleaning cloths.  I was there, I needed a place to sleep and wash up so I just scrubbed the bathroom.  It actually looked pretty good when I finished.  Then I took out one of my emergency wash cloth, (because I have found that not all people use a washcloth to wash themselves with) wash my face and brushed my teeth and went to bed.  Mr. Quiet Host was already gone to work by the time I came to the kitchen at 7:30 a.m.  So I didn’t get to tell him about the dirty bathroom.  Maybe it was a good thing he wasn’t there.  Other than that one negative experience I have had absolutely wonderful experiences staying at them.  Oh, I will say that the only other place where I wasn’t offered wash cloths with my towels was when I stayed in another home hosted by a young single man.  If men only knew that they would smell better if they used a wash cloth maybe more of them would use one.  (Maybe that should be in red and be my wisdom for this day.)  Like my son answered me when I asked him what I should name my blog “THE OPINION  YOU DIDN’T ASK FOR”, well that is my opinion nobody asked for but since I’m doing the writing I gave it anyway!  And I hope you all take it for what it is—“tongue and cheek”!

Back to Airbnb.  Other than that this morning the day was wonderful even with a 45 minutes delay waiting in line to use the road that was shut down due to construction (I had time to eat my lunch in my red insulated bag), and the fact that part of the highway I was traveling on after I left the park was loose gravel and dirt road for miles and miles.  Going 35 miles an hour does not make good time when you are trying to arrive someplace before dark.  There was one other delay but can’t remember it at this late time.  But I did arrive here before dark.  “Here” means my next Airbnb in Helena Montana.  This place more than makes up for my consternation last night.  And besides, it didn’t hurt me to scrub the man’s bathroom.  Remind me not to book if I know it is a single man.  Sometimes you don’t know because only one name of the host “family” is given.

This place is about 10 miles outside of town in the deep country of Montana.  Oh man is it ever beautiful.  I arrive just as the sun was going down so didn’t get any photos.  I’ll try to get some in the morning.  It is at the end of a dead end dirt road.  It appears to be an authentic log home.  Big logs.  Big rooms, real wood everywhere and real space outside.  It is awesome.  I have my own little suite, one nice size bedroom, a kitchenette, and a nice double sink vanity in the bathroom.  Even better is that I am on the ground floor close to the car.  I have packed up my car for the final launch.  I am homeward bound.  I now have it set up so that I only restock a little purse size bag with clean undies, stockings, carry in on a hanger what I will wear the next day, take in my toiletry bag and my computer so I can blog.  I also bring in my food bad, refreeze my water bottles for tomorrow and stock the fridge with my meager fare.  It is less and less now.  Today I actually ate out at a restaurant all by myself.

And eating out reminds me of the third delay.  I was so sleepy I was afraid to drive so I stopped at this little town (and when I say little I mean little) because of a sign that said “HAVE YOU HAD LUNCH TODAY” and I thought why not stop and go in there and maybe I would wake up.  It was called Buffalo Joe’s.  Three nice young ladies worked there and since it was between lunch and dinner they had a bit of time to chat.  Garnered some wisdom, shared some ideas with one about senior portrait photography, went over what they had that I might could drink and came up with only water, and finally woke up.  By that time I started getting hungry for dinner so I ordered a BUFFALO BURGER and it was delicious.  But I did feel bad for the buffalo.  I left there quite restored and rested and made it the rest of the way on the gravel roads quite awake.  That buffalo burger was absolutely delicious.  Two of the girls that worked there gave me their wisdom.

Shayla’s wisdom:  “Hard work pays off”.  Shayla just graduated from High School.

Jordan  “Travel while you are young and live life to the fullest”  Jordan is 17

A Churchill Kalispell Montana

Here I am.

All those trees were burned in a fire.

It doesn’t look real.

Where I am.

Glacier park

A new friend I met today.

Saying goodbye to Glacier park

Another amazing day!  It seems like the days I travel are always wonderful.  I just wish I could gawk more but must keep my mind on my driving and my hands on the wheel.

Actually had to wake up by an alarm clock this morning because I got to bed too late.  Needed an early start so we could clean up the house Brian let us stay in and get an early start.  Ericka and David were leaving early too.  Brian told us we didn’t have to clean but we didn’t want his wife to clean up a whole house after we used it 8 days.  We all worked hard but I think David S. worked the hardest.  He is a handy guy to have around.  Not only did he empty all the trashes everyday but he puttered around the house with his box of tools and just fixed anything that wasn’t quite right.  Wouldn’t you just love to have someone come in and notice all those little discrepancies in your house and just fix them?  A little hinge needing tightening or a lock that just didn’t quite connect right, screens that needed repairing and hung, drawers that were hard to open and close and I’m sure a host of other little time consuming tasks.  Thanks David for making my life easier this past week.  If you ever come to our house be sure and bring your tool belt!

Needless to say I already miss Ericka and Lilly.  Ericka has grown into a beautiful, caring lady.  It was so good to reconnect with her after all these years.  We have never lived in close proximity with each other so were never that up close and personal.  It was so good to be on a peer relationship.  She’s all grown (going into middle age) and I’m NOT OLD YET!  Hmmm…

We parted and my journey began again.  I meet more people at potty stops (which happen quite frequently).  Well I needed to get gas before leaving town so I stopped at the last gas station before nothing.  As I drove up I saw a young man in front of the gas station building sitting on the ground with a back pack.  He was quite grungy looking and had a sign propped up that said “Going East”.  It was daylight.  A lot of people around and I felt quite safe.  I pumped my gas and then walked over to him with two bottles of water.  I told him I noticed he was getting low on his gallon of water and thought he might need some.  He was genuinely grateful.  He was well spoken and polite.  I asked him where he was going and he said he has been traveling around for a few years and had just been deported from Canada because he had run out of money.  So here he was looking for a ride to get to New York so he could stay with a friend for a while.  We talked for a few moments and he told me a little more about himself.  I asked what wisdom had he learned from being out on the road.  He immediately replied with an answer that I was expecting.  Even though He had not yet received a ride He was very positive.  His name is Justin.  I then asked him if I could pray for him.  He said absolutely, he would like that.

Justin’s wisdom: “That there are a lot of nice people out there.” 

I guess that was more in answer to my question about what he had learned out there on his travels, than it has to do with wisdom but in a way it is a wise assessment.  It also showed me a little more about his attitude and outlook on life.   I went into the building to use the facility and when I came out I knew I was supposed to give him my food.  I had made some food to take along with me.  I went to my bag and picked out some of the food for him.  I brought it back to him and he was so amazed and so pleased. And so now I have someone else to pray for.   I wish I knew the rest of his story!

I was traveling I- 90.  I think I was doing it mostly because it made other people more comfortable knowing I was travelling well known and busy highways.  I think some people travel the straighter, wider way because they want to arrive sooner and not spend so much time on the road.   I am not usually in a hurry to get anywhere quickly.  Well, I traveled I-90 until I didn’t any more.  There was a small back, winding highway that looked much more intriguing so I turned my car that way.  The only regret I have is that I didn’t stop to take pictures from the beginning of being on that back road.  There are so many pictures now that will only live in my head.  There were several very beautiful old barns and interesting things for me to photograph.  Often time there is not a safe turn off and I don’t want to do anything that would cause an accident.  Along this small back highway there were large pull off areas called cell phone turnoff.  I think it was the place where phones would get reception.  No hand held devices here in Montana when you are driving.  Those pull off areas work real well as places to take photos.  So I did.  Just on my phone because I didn’t want to mess with the camera.  I’ll probably be sorry later.  But I guess I was using the pull off for the right purpose, using my cell phone (to take pictures).

I had an amazing trek across the back roads.  The mountains were winding and high with beautiful trees and then beautiful meadows.  I have uploaded some pictures of what I was today.  One panoramic view that took by breath away was when I came around a very winding part of the road when the entire visual I had was a lake.  It was Flat Head Lake.  I was so amazed at how big it was.  And what I saw was not the half of it.  As I drove and drove and drove the lake just seemed to be growing with me.  It was huge.  Here is a little excerpt from a web site:

“Flathead Lake (Salish: člq̓etkʷ ^[3]) is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River in the contiguous United States,^[4][5] taking Red Lake (Minnesota) and Lake of the Woods to be north of the Mississippi River, rather than west of the river. With a surface area of between 191.5 sq mi (496 km²)^[1] and 197 sq mi (510 km²), Flathead Lake is slightly larger than Lake Tahoe.^[2] The lake is a remnant of the ancient, massive glacial dammed lake, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacial.^[6]Flathead Lake is 27.3 mi (43.9 km) long and up to 15.5 mi (24.9 km) wide. Flathead Lake has a maximum depth of 370.7 ft (113.0 m),^[1] and an average of 164.7 ft (50.2 m). This makes Flathead Lake deeper than the average depths of the Yellow Sea or the Persian Gulf. Polson Bay, at the lake’s outlet was raised 10 ft (3.0 m) by Kerr Dam.^[7] It is one of the cleanest in the populated world for its size and type.^[8]:

I thought you might be interested in reading a bit of the Flathead statistics.  It took a lot of driving time to get to the end of the lake.  I like it when I get behind a real slow moving vehicle going up the mountain  and can look at the sights all the more.  And if I’m not the lead car no one gets perturbed at that “old lady driver”!

I arrived at the Airbnb about 5:00 (My watch said 4:00) and was too early to get in because no one was home.  I drove north for a short while but seemed to be getting to a point where I just needed to work out.  I just “happened” to see a large building named “The Summit” and it looked like the people coming out weren’t office workers but work out workers.  I asked one man and he said it was a gym.  I went in and told the man behind the desk that I was desperate for a work out and I asked how much it cost.  He asked if I had ever been there before.  I said no and he then informed me that tonight was “on the house”.  I jumped at it.  I went out to the car and pulled out my black workout pants which I can still fit into.  I changed and worked out for a long time and it felt so good.  and…it was free!  How great is that?  Everything thing they had in the gym was state of the art equipment.  A portion of the gym was reserved for cardio workouts by prescriptions.  So…I got one good work today and it showed me that I really could still do it after not going for the past two or three weeks.  The only reason I haven’t gone is because I did not want to take away time from my day because everything seemed to be  planned for me and there just wasn’t a gap of time long enough to go exercise.  But it beckons me now.  Every extra pound wants to be free and fly away from my body.  I must help it again and just let it happen naturally by eating smaller portions, healthy choices, more often and doing my exercise faithfully 5 days a week.

After working out I came back and found my host to be very pleasant.  He gets up very early so he went to be ver early.  It is now just you and me and the typewriter!!  I mean “the keyboard”.

Talked briefly with my host before He went to bed.  He is a single man of about 45 to 50 and his accent sounds like he is from Australia.

If this blog doesn’t make sense it is because I am very sleepy.  ‘

Goodnight.

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Just looking pretty out in the middle of no where.

Somewhere in Montana

Somewhere in Montana.

Notice horses bottom right.

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Justin the traveler

Saying goodbye.

3 generations

Flowers in front of the antique store

Flathead lake Montana

Flowers in the sky.

Downtown Coeur d Alene.

Lilly reading to me.

Craft morning.

Clear d’Alene Lake.

CDA lake

On the trail.

All but me.

Daughter and daddy.

Civilized???