I woke first in the enchanted pine forest and I lay in bed reading for a while as Rusty expressed no urgency about getting up. It was a cool fresh morning bound to heat up as the day went on as I could see golden sunlight falling among the trees.
A man walked by apparently by himself. It’s hard to see in through the smoked glass but you can look out quite easily. He walked out of sight down the road. Later Rusty and I met him with his three happy retrievers.
He said he was surprised to see people driving up here to spend the night and locals worry about forest fires. The fact we were parked on the dirt well clear of the grass had reassured him. He also said he had never seen the place so dry after 32 years living here. We talked about an old friend of his who had died and whose sons had sold his land and his shack for nearly three quarters of a million dollars. And their well has dried up. What next I asked and he shrugged. They are trying to drill down more than 400 feet to try to find water. The future looks bleak.
Rusty followed them for a while to my astonishment as I’d never seen him be so easy going around a pack of rambunctious dogs like that. Travel is broadening his mind!
While I was brushing my teeth and shaving (not simultaneously) two women showed up and started chatting with Layne about van travel. They have a trailer and were looking for tips. I didn’t figure they needed me to be mansplaining so I pressed on with my ablutions.
We packed up and hardly got lost at all driving back down the road past the No Trespassing signs of private property lining the Forest Service access road. We were not unobserved.
And from there we drove to Missoula.
We found a pretty town wedged into a Y shaped valley with a university campus and tree shaded streets. The building above is the art museum and we were curious to see inside but Layne vetoed an indoor visit after some thought. The tall county courthouse had me wondering for a moment if my belief that Helena is the state capital was misplaced - it’s not as a quick Google search revealed.
I also discovered marijuana is legal here but it’s not well advertised. Unlike California Oregon and Washington where it is advertised with much gusto on billboards. Idaho the dreary has no legalization program so I suppose potheads avoid that sliver of prohibition. Luckily for me I don’t care one way or the other. But in Montana it’s as though this is a state that prefers government control of their sins, not at all the wild west of popular historical imagery.
We, the big drinkers have finally polished off the expensive tequila we bought months ago in Mexico and Layne went into the state liquor monopoly store to buy a new bottle. She rated the gold label at $57 a good buy; she expected prices to be higher in the state monopoly store but the bonus in Montana is no sales tax. According to our hosts at a farm that night the state taxes businesses heavily to make up the difference…
I also discovered there is a national non profit dedicated to encouraging bicycle travel. It’s been around since 1973 and I’d never heard of it. Possibly because bicycle touring seems a tad bit strenuous to me.
We spotted a tea shop selling tapioca drinks. I had taro which tastes a bit like vanilla and Layne had mango that tastes like… mango. Refreshed we sorted our map to give us a route to the Costco gas station in Helena at $4:30 a gallon.
The main road to the freeway passes through a tunnel that to our minds looked slightly unusual:
And back to big sky country for a few more hours.
We got a bit muddled up looking for a quiet lunch spot along the highway and ended up driving through part of the Paws Up Empire. The drivers of the van limos waved cheerfully to us mistaking us for one of their own but we turned around and got out of there before we were busted. Larry Lipson owns 37,000 acres of land, ten miles of the Blackfoot River and charges a starting rate of $1200 a night to sleep here. Do your own research if you think that sounds like you: it’s not us. I did note the Lewis and Clark reference shin and it seems they cruised through here on their way to the Pacific Ocean.
Aside from over the top dude ranches there are plenty of real ranches still going strong in Montana.
It doesn’t look much like drought country thanks to the flowing waters and wasteful aerial irrigation but outside the rivers it’s hot, 90 degrees and dry.
After we got gas we repaired to our campsite for the night: a free harvest host farm outside Helena:
Kim and Jim Ashmore milk about 230 sheep, 50 here and the rest on another nearby ranch and they produce sheep’s milk and make superb cheeses. They say sheep milk can also be digested by some people with lactose intolerance which surprised me as it tasted like rich cow’s milk. We bought a quart for our small fridge.
Jim fed the sheep while Kim told us about her South African Dorper sheep. Apparently they are bred to be tough outdoor animals given to going into labor only in daylight to limit attacks by predators , which is also a convenient trait for humans handling these animals…
There were two other guests on our tour from Missoula, a nice couple of grandparents taking a few days away from family responsibilities. Kim explained the difference between wool bearing sheep and hairy sheep who do not need shearing. Score two for the Dorpers.
The sheep are penned and guarded by dogs tied up around the sheep. They say they will build a perimeter fence to allow the dogs to run loose. I hope they do it soon, as you can imagine how much I liked seeing dogs tied up. Rusty was not allowed here and he was comfortable in the van. Luxury compared to these working dog kennels.
The net result of all this work is a 5 am start for Kim who makes the cheese inside the huge modern barn structure.
I asked about the mysterious big horn sheep which we have yet to spot in the road, though to that warning was now added a sighting of a sign warning us to beware of moose. Montana is full of dire and fearsome roadside warnings.
Apparently big horn rams have enormous curly horns and are quite big enough to damage your car in a collision. They have hair not wool and roam wild in Montana a bit like mountain goats on steroids it seems. Above Kim pulled a handful of wool from the weirdly moulting South African sheep. The market for wool has been depressed by Covid though Kim thinks there is a growing market for the stuff to insulate vans (I’ve heard of that) and homes as wool singes but doesn’t burn.
Jim showed us their other product which is too large for our freezer:
In winter the sheep come inside and have access to the outdoors which they seem to enjoy as long as it’s not rainy or windy. Hardy animals indeed, as Kim told us minus 58 is not unheard of in this benighted state.
The cheese was delicious and not too salty so we bought a bunch and some milk and ended up spending the night for $45. Actually an excellent deal.
We and the fifth wheel were parked out of sight from each other and Rusty enjoyed the pine covered wilderness. Me too!
This was the first harvest host we have stopped at since the winery in San Felipe in Baja. Before that we stayed at an olive farm in Texas and a tea plantation in Mississippi, and a winery in Bisbee, Arizona. It’s a great program for RVers and we always enjoy our shall business encounters.
Free parking without hookups usually in exchange for a product purchase. What a deal. I know there are more Harvest Host stops on our way back to Key West.
