SHAKE DOWN CRUISE TO LAKE MC DONALD

I am very excited. Kinsey is starting to make preparations for our upcoming trip to the Heart of Everything That Is aka the Black hills of South Dakota. Kinsey read this book over the winter and it got her all worked up about the area. She wrote about it on her blog: Finding Red Cloud & The Heart of Everything That Is.

Yesterday she de-winterized our girl Clementine and began systems checks.

Our Clementine patiently waiting to be rescued from storage.

It has sort of become our spring time ritual to make a run up to Lake McDonald, in Glacier National Park, to see how Clem is feeling. Happy to report she was as frisky as ever. Clem has a little Mercedes diesel engine and it runs like a top even towing Shadow.

It was an awesomely gorgeous day and not surprisingly people were already enjoying the park. At this tinme of year you can just drive in as the park isn't officially open. They have opened Going to the Sun Road to hikers and bikers so many were there for that.

Surrounded by snow capped mountains Lake McDonald is always a site to see. In the photo below some folks are enjoying the sun along with the beauty.

Lake McDonald Glacier National Park

Of course, even gorgeous scenery cannot help but be enhanced by the presence of moi. It's not my fault I think I'm beautiful. Everyone tells me so even with my funny summer hair cut.

Molly Montana at Glacier National Park

There seems to be a lot less snow around than last year. For comparison check out the photos from April 20, 2014. If I remember correctly they didn't get Going to the Sun Road open 'til way late last year.

Kinsey is always amazed and delighted by the lake's clear water. In the photo below it's hard to believe the stones you see are underwater.

Crystal clear water at Lake McDonald Glacier National Park

Other people were out on the lake doing a little kayaking.

Kayaking Lake McDonald Glacier National Park

I had to wait around for like hours whilst Kinsey tinkered around with Clementine. From her tinkering she determined the stove was working as was the refrigerator. Us girls can do without a lot but when it comes to our grub things have got to be right. The house batteries were working as agreed but a check showed they needed their water topped off. So, far things are looking good!

After Kinsey finished fooling around we took off on a walk along the lake. At the campground just before you hit Going to the Sun Road we met the nicest young people. A brother and sister from, would you believe, South Dakota! Well, you can imagine that was grounds for a good deal of talking and sharing of information. We now actually have a contact in Rapid City, their mom Pete who is a travel agent and knows everything about the area. I don't know how Kinsey does it but this sort of thing happens all the time. People just come into our lives just at the right times. But, I help. People are always wanting to meet me so Kinsey gets to meet them too. I am a very effective goodwill ambassador if I do say so myself.

Shea & Tanner our new friends from South Dakota

So, it was a great dry run. After we got home Kinsey drained out all the anti-freeze, treated the pooper and we are looking good to go. The last thing that needs to be checked is the water heater but I'm betting it's working too.

Ciao for now,
Molly Montana

©Kinsey Barnard

VERY, VERY COLD IN NW MONTANA

Wow! It has realy been cold this past week. Coldest I have experienced in my young life. Kinsey says that for her the coldest was two or three winters after she moved here, between 2003 and 2005. It was 20 below for five days running!  Now that's cold.

I don't know how she survived seeing as how she's too cheap to turn on the heaters. No kidding. She uses the wood stove exclusively. And, the wood she burns has all been cut and split by hand by her, around eight cords a year. For some strange reason she seems to revel in the spartan life. I'm OK with it because she feeds me good, but r-e-a-l-l-y? She even likes to brag that she spends less than $100/yr on electricity and the house is all electric! Sound to good to be true? Well, she also built a solar array which provides a big assist.

It gets pretty cool in the house in winter. Especially when it's well below zero and Kinsey doesn't wake up in the middle of the night to put more wood on the fire. It gets so cold, when she hoists the coverings the windows are covered in ice. On the inside! I live in an ice house! Again, I don't mind, my coat keeps me warm and toasty but I do sometimes wonder about my guardian. Please, don't call child protective services. I'll be fine.

She likes to tell the story about that earlier cold spell. How, after five days in the -20's she was getting some serious cabin fever. She looked at the weather forecast and even though the thermometer showed -22 the forecast said it was going to be 25 above in the Flathead. She believed it. She packed Koty into the truck, put in the winter survival trunk and headed off down the mountain. By the time she got down to the valley floor it was -28. She pulled out on to 93 and headed south. It was very dark and gray. And, there wasn't a soul on the road. She kept going, longing to get to that 25 degree weather. About twenty miles down the road after seeing no other vehicles and no increase in temperature she got a little panicky. It scared the dickens out of her that there were no other cars on the road. An extremely lonely feeling. She figured if she had car trouble she'd be a crispy critter before help came along and 93 has long stretches of dead space so even calling for help was iffy. She turned the truck around and headed for the barn.

The low reading for this cold snap was 15 below. I'm pretty sure that's gonna be it. There seems to be a warming trend. This morning it's a balmy -2.

©Kinsey Barnard

Kinsey likes to do things like this to me. It's so silly. Like I need a blanket? Like I said, she feeds me well!

GILROY, COYOTE LAKE & HARVEY BEAR RANCH

We have departed from Morro Bay. I was sorry to go. I really liked that place. But, we are headed north again and I like that idea.

Mom said she had to get her tax stuff done so we went up the road to Gilroy. Gilroy is known for two things, being the garlic capital of the world and shopping. I have never seen so many stores in all my life, acres and acres of them. We aren't big on shopping but we did walk around all the shops and stopped in at Pet Smart so I could do a little looking. I chose this thing that looked like a salami. Thank heavens, I actually liked it when I got a chance to eat some. Mom gets annoyed when I beg for something and then turn up my nose when I get it.

We have found one pretty cool place. A Santa Clara County Park called Harvey Bear Ranch. There are lots of trails and dogs are allowed so we walked all over it. The main feature is Coyote Lake. It's not a particularly pretty lake but it is a pretty park. Rolling hills with beautiful old oak trees. California has had more rain this year than in the past several and the hills are already starting to turn green. Very beautiful.

Other than walking in this park there isn't much to tell. I hang around waiting for the next walk and mom sits at the dinette with here nose in her files. I believe I've heard her mumble some words I know I'm not supposed to use. Clementine looks like a hurricane hit her. Papers and stuff strewn from bumper to bumper. I'll be glad when this is over!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

THE VET, LAKE KOOCANUSA & A CHEROKEE TALE

Well, my mom sure snookered me this morning. She asked me if I wanted to "go". That's about as dumb a question as "Do ducks fly?". But, I humored her by doing my spinning thing and other whirling dervish moves to indicate me approval. Away we went.

The next thing I know I'm in the vet's office. I used to like going there because the people are nice and I like people. Not anymore! I finally figured out those sweet smiling faces always mean somebody is going to stick something in me. Admittedly, today wasn't too bad. What I got was bordetella nose drops. Usually, this is what you get for kennel cough before you get boarded. But, mom makes me take it because we travel so much and no telling whose nose I'll be bumping into. I generally bump into all the noses I can find!

I must admit, I was pretty good about the whole thing so my reward was a trip to a trail we know over at Rexford. This trail takes you along a bluff overlooking Lake Koocanusa. You can also take side trails down to the water if you want. I want. So, we went.

Mom, calls the Koocanusa the lake "of many faces". You just never know what it's going to look like.

Lake Koocanusa

Oh, nearly forgot, mom asked me to include this story she got today from an old school chum. It's a Native American tale called "Two Wolves" and it goes like this.........

" One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all..

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Lotsa wisdom in that story don't you think?

Until next time.........

©Kinsey Barnard

Sutton Creek - Montana

Today we took a hike in bear country. We didn't see any though. Sutton Creek is down along the east side of Lake Koocanusa. It has been so dry in this area the foliage already looks like fall in the area.

I don't know if you know how the Koocanusa came by it's name but in case you don't here's the story. The lake stretches ninety miles from the Libby dam all the way into British Columbia. So, the Koo is for the Kootenai National Forest which was named for the Kootenai Indians (Kootenay in Canadian) Can for Canada and USA for, well you know, USA.



We were looking for a water fall which we didn't find. I'm beginning to think I need a new map reader. Even though we never found the falls it was a very pretty hike. The forest was mostly ponderosa and those great big red tree trunks are beautiful, or so my mom says. After wandering around in the forest for about three hours we gave up on the waterfall and headed back down the mountain.

On the way home we stopped at Sand Hill. It's a place right on highway 37 where they blasted sheer cliffs when they made the Koocanusa. Anyway, rock climbers love this spot for climbing so we stopped and watched them for awhile. Looks like fun to me but mom practically fainted just watching them :)

We got back just in time for a little, very welcome rain to start falling. That's about it for this day.

Until next time.........

©Kinsey Barnard