We left Montana, had clear weather most of the way.  Dar slept through the only rough bit where is snowed and was foggy, good timing on her part, Rob was thankful.

We stopped for lunch in Butte, MT at a mall and had Chinese food.  We’ve decided to eat mostly vegetarian or Oceanarian (only veggies and seafood) while in the US unless we buy the meat ourselves from a local farmer or market and know it’s organic with no hormones, antibiotics, etc.

Not much to note, stopped in a little town called Clancy to stretch our legs and take a 10 minute walk.  Things we’ve noticed along the trail were that we’ve seen a lot of cattle outdoors actually eating grass, and we’re quite happy about that.

Got to Idaho Falls about 7:30pm and picked a stall at Snake River RV ($30/night).  Dar had called ahead and they had lots of spots.  The offices of most parks close at 4pm or 5pm so after that you just self-park and check out and pay in the morning, or put it in a night drop box.  Rob was getting set up and putting the leveling legs down on the RV, Dar was inside setting up.  As the legs for leveling the unit were coming down, they slipped on snow and ice underneath the RV and the rig fell back onto the tires and the legs bent backwards.  Dar screamed and freaked out, thinking they were now broken and we’d be stuck in Idaho for an infinite number of days getting it fixed, need to stay in hotel, etc, etc.   Rob just put the legs back up (they went inside fine) and we slept in the unit on the wheels, just a little wobblier than usual.

Then Dar was sitting on the couch doing email in her PJs when she discovered her butt and back were all wet.  Cat pee!!!  She had another breakdown, couldn’t find any other PJs and went to bed without eating anything.  This is the third incident of cat pee, they also peed on the cat bed we bought for them at home – and the first day when Rob was covered in it.

Lessons, things learned this day:

• that the washer fluid for the windshield wipers takes a really long time to get up to the window and it isn’t broken
• that when putting up the leveling legs you need to start the engine and wait for the rear air suspension to fully inflate, otherwise you end up with the rear legs stuck down.
• that when putting the legs down, always check underneath for unlevel surface and ice that may cause a problem, and if in doubt put down the metal plates for them to sit on.
• Rob also learned that when you sneeze while driving, the sneeze will not hit the windshield as it is too far away.
• Dar is constantly learning that Rob is much calmer at handling any issues that arise and to trust him to do it, and not so quick to jump to the “it’s a disaster” conclusion

Related posts:

1. Day 2 – Border Crossing
2. Day 4 – Mormon Temple Square
3. Day 6 – Two Days in Pahrump Nevada
4. Day 5 – 20% Fuel Efficiency Improvement

First order of business, smuggle the cats out of the hotel, even though the clerk looked the other way when we checked in – we still had to get past the day shift staff.  No problems, only a cleaning lady giving a strange look when she saw the litter box.  Boo ended up in the RV by herself for 30 minutes and she wind up hiding in the closet all day and being mad and scared, poor thing.

We got our hot showers and hit the road by 10:30am.  Behind schedule again but clean and warm this time.

We found a 12 volt plug in the RV bedroom to charge up the GPS unit, so that was good go to but Dar had to keep going to the back to check it.  We stopped in Lethbridge for $100 worth of gas cause we wanted to wait to fill up on the US where it’s cheaper.

***Things we’ve seen: just north of Lethbridge, the wind turbines that generate wind energy.  Could be used by Enmax which provides clean, green energy to Alberta***

Got to the US border crossing about 3:30, and noticed we had no radio and cellular signals within 500 meters of the port of entry.  Rob’s theory is they jam it there on purpose.  The border guard didn’t think twice about any of our answers to his questions, even about what we did for a living and how can we afford to go away for 6 months like this, until he asked about foods.  He asked if we had any meat, eggs, vegetables or fruit and Rob said “yeah all the above”.   Upon closer examination their concerns were over the bison and ostrich meat and oranges.  We got sent inside to wait for an agent.  An hour later we were on our way after having to eat the oranges and hand over the Asian apple pear to the agent, and she checked that our bison and ostrich had commercial labels on them.   We were able to keep all our meat and didn’t have to show papers for the cats after spending $150 to get them up to date on shots, but you just never know what they’ll ask so you gotta be ready.

The rest of the way to Great Falls was uneventful except for it was really windy.  Dar and Pumpkin slept on the couch for an hour and after gassing up at a small town we checked into Dicks RV Park in Great Falls ($24/night), Montana at around 7:30pm.   We were going to take a taxi to a nearby restaurant for dinner (we still can’t cook as we haven’t unwinterized yet and have no water) but it was going to cost us $22 (set rate) so we bit the bullet and unhooked the mud soaked car and cleared the windows and headlights with some snow the best we could.

As we took time to get the furnace running (okay it was Dar’s request and Rob did it) we didn’t get going until after 9 and found all the restaurants closed at 9pm.  Apparently they roll up the streets here early.  We managed to find a hotel/casino that had a restaurant and found something decent to eat.   Rob even got a beer bought for him by two local guys after we had an odd interchange with them.  Waitress was really nice and interested in our trip and even asked for Dar’s web site to check out her photography.

So first night to sleep in the RV, furnace runs, have electricity – all should be good.  Stay tuned. . .

Lessons or things learned:

Always have commercial labels on any meat when crossing the border.

Hills and wind affect a 17,000 lb, 34’ vehicle towing a 10’ car – just as you would expect.

Also learned we don’t have a coaxial cable to plug in to get TV reception.

Related posts:

1. Day 3 – Cattle Country (leaving Montana to Idaho)
2. Day 42 – Moved Out of Phoenix and Into Tucson
3. Day 5 – 20% Fuel Efficiency Improvement
4. Day 4 – Mormon Temple Square