Helena, MT to Billings, MT

Tuesday - We arrived in Helena, MT, on Sunday. We stopped at the lunch destination of the Montana BMW club in Phillipsburg. We then continued on to our friend’s home in Helena. They have an RV parking spot next to their shop. 

I set up the JPC-12 antenna to get ready for Winlink Wednesday and got my weekly check-in message sent on 40m. 

Wednesday - We headed east today towards our overnight stop at a HH in Billings, MT. It is the Beartooth HD dealer. They have a nice, large parking lot on the west side of the building. And, 50amp power! I picked up a 40oz insulated cup with the Royal Enfield logo (on sale!) as HH encourages you to give some business to the host.

They are also a dealer for these Jeep looking UTVs made in India. They have a turbo diesel engine and are physically about the same size as the early Jeeps. 

Very utilitarian but ridiculously expensive at $22k for what you get. They are flat towable at a max speed of 55mph. Their top speed is 51mph but they are geared very low. Final drive is 5.38:1 and has a two speed transfer case. 

Missoula, MT

Saturday - We went to Travelers Rest State Park just a short way southeast of Missoula. It was one of the stops along the Lewis and Clark trail through the area. The small visitors center had quite a few displays and a lot of artwork depicting bear encounters. This is near the southern extent of the grizzly bear so there seemed to be a lot of fascination with them. 

We are touristing with Kevin and Charla and her parents, whom we are also staying at the rv park. It has been a very quiet and relaxing week at Jim and Mary’s RV Park. Very nicely kept and immaculately clean. 

After a lunch stop at a Lolo microbrewery, we went to the Lolo Pass visitor center. It was a very nice visitor center and when I commented on the Christmas decorations, they told us that the local forest was selected to provide the National Christmas tree in Washington DC as well as 100 additional trees for offices. The forest service employee was selected to accompany the tree for the first week of the three week trip. She was pretty enthusiastic about the opportunity. 

Missoula, MT

Tuesday - It is definitely warmer than it has been the last couple of weeks. Today’s forecast is for a high of 85°F. This morning, we went to REI and Costco. We are looking for appropriate clothing for an upcoming trip. 

The Costco stop was to replace several food items that we weren’t allowed to bring into the U.S. from Canada. 

I also set up the JPC-12 antenna to check my Winlink email. I need to use a “form” with the check-in email that I will send out this evening. The form is just a method of delivering data in a pre-defined format. 

Wednesday - The Winlink email was sent last night about ten minutes after midnight Eastern Time using the RMS in eastern Oregon. After it was sent, I tried the Las Vegas RMS and easily established a connection. I'm amazed at how well 40m works at night, not well at all during the day.

I participated in the morning test session. The only Starlink issue is the number of WiFi access points. This is not unusual at most RV parks since just about every RV has an AP of some sort these days. Whether it Starlink or a cellular hotspot. Plus, the park itself has quite a few APs scattered around on poles. 

Today was another relaxing day visiting with friends without ridiculous temperatures or humidity. 

Thursday - I participated in the morning test session from behind the RV. It was a cool 66°F at 10am. The forecast for this afternoon is for 91°F. 

This morning after the test, I broke out the tools to tighten all the bolts on the tow bar. They aren’t torqued but just have locknuts so I just made sure that they were not loose. 

The sink drain is still leaking. Very little water but you can feel moisture above the trap. I think the P-trap may need replacing as the hand-tight coupler to the sink may be cracked from repeated tightening. It’s always something if you have an RV.

This afternoon, we went to the visitor center for the Missoula Smokejumpers. There was a nice, small museum but the tours were already done for the day.

Shelby, MT

Friday - A short travel day to just across the border. The border crossing at Coutts was really slow. The line of cars was long and only one lane (of three) was open for non-trucks. It was probably around 45 minutes. We are at a first-come first-serve campground in Shelby, MT, with 30amp electricity, scattered water spigots, and a dump station on the way out. It has been raining for most of the day but the forecast is for warmer temperatures this weekend. 

We will be here for a couple of days before heading south and west to Missoula. On the way, we filled the onboard propane tank with 32 liters which comes out to 8.5 gallons. I believe the maximum for the 12 gallon tank is about 9 gallons so we were almost empty. The needle on the built-in gauge was way below “E”. I think the last time we filled the tank was on our way out of Corvallis. 

Saturday - A quiet, non-travel day. We were originally planning to head east to a Harvest Host but decided to just stay here a second night. After all, we would be going through here again tomorrow on our way to Missoula. I had to adjust the air mix on the water heater last night as it wouldn’t stay lit. I’ve needed to adjust both the water heater and the generator several times on this trip. We are at 3300’ now and it was last adjusted when we were near sea level. I don’t think it should be that touchy.

We went into Shelby for a few groceries and lumbers putty. The sink drain is leaking so I am planning to just remove and reinstall it. I had messed with it a couple of days ago when trying to figure out why the sink wasn’t draining.