Deer Lodge, MT

Friday, October 11, 2024

Our day began in Riggins, Idaho camped along the Salmon River. There were quite a few campers nearby, but it wasn’t at all noisy. We did hear some jet boats starting up early this morning. Hells Canyon near Riggins is the deepest gorge in the Unitied States, and is a popular place for fishing, whitewater rafting, and scenic tours via jet boat.

As our RV trip comes to a close, longer drive days are needed to chip away at the miles. Riggins is 1,500 miles away from our home in northwestern Wisconsin. Ideally, we’d still like to stretch our legs & see a few things along the way, so Andi and I roughed in a driving route for the final days of our trip. Tonight’s destination: Missoula, Montana.

We left camp around 8:00am this morning and drove for about 40 minutes to Grangeville, Idaho. The RV needed fuel and DEF (diesel engine fluid), and Andi wanted to stop to buy coffee grounds at a local cafe. I smiled when I saw another traveling family pile out of their Class A motorhome at the gas station. The mom fixed the teenage daughter’s hair in the parking lot, and the teenage son rolled out wearing the same gray camo Crocs as Aden owns. Same same, but different; it’s fun to see other families traveling the country, making memories in a RV.

After consulting the map, I realized there wasn’t much by way of civilization between Grangeville, ID and Missoula, MT, so I suggested to Andi that we have lunch in Grangeville before driving further east. We searched for restaurants and found one called The Rib Guy and Gal. Surprisingly, this is the first time we’ve seen a BBQ restaurant in all of our travels through British Columbia and Oregon — the food sounded really good.

There was only one other customer at the restaurant since we were eating so early in the day. Our food was fast, and the service was friendly. Andi seemed happy to be back in a place where the locals talk hunting. While we ate, we noticed that the serving plates and utensils were made of plastic; in Canada, paper plates were really expensive to buy at the grocery store, and paper goods inside a restaurant (to-go bag, lid for a to-go cup, silverware) were made of compostable fiber and cost extra.

The waitress recommended we check out the life-size replica of a woolly mammoth found near Tolo Lake in Grangeville a few years ago. Woolly mammoths lived in this area 12,000 years ago, and several of their skeletons have since been found and recovered. The real skeleton bones were taken to museums, but a replica of the fossil is on display at the Grangeville Visitor’s Center.

“Where you driving to?” Andi asked me as I pulled the RV out of the parking lot.

“To see the woolly mammoth bones, of course!” I responded. When a local recommends something, there’s usually a good reason to check it out.

Well, let’s just say the waitress might’ve oversold this attraction. The Grangeville mammoth replica is in an enclosed structure with windows. Except, with today’s bright sun, we could barely make out the signage inside the building or a view of the skeleton bones for that matter. A sign posted on one of the windows encouraged visitors to “come back at night” to see the mammoth lit up under lights.

Sounds like this might be an expensive design flaw of the building.

After our quick detour to see the woolly mammoth, we continued along Highway 12 to our destination in Missoula, Montana. This stretch of drive was beautiful — but so twisty — as we weaved through the Nez-Perce Clearwater Forest. Tory was nauseous in the back of the RV.

Three hours later, we reached Lolo Pass at the top of the Bitterroot Range (5,233 ft elevation). There’s a small visitor’s center there, so the four of us got out of the RV to stretch our legs. I couldn’t help but think about how difficult it must have been for Lewis & Clark to journey through this spot of the Bitterroot Mountains on foot in 1805.

We reached Missoula around 4:00pm. Andi wanted to stop at Scheels to look at hunting clothing for Aden, so that’s where we drove. All four of us had fun wandering around the store, looking at clothing and accessories. I offered to buy Tory a skirt she liked as a reward for completing all those Junior Ranger packets. Andi and the kids played the shooting game inside the store before we left.

One curveball we didn’t see coming was that University of Montana’s Homecoming was this weekend, and all the campgrounds were full. After two days of camping without water or electric and a long drive day, I really wanted to take a shower tonight. There were plenty of free camping spots around Missoula at fishing access points or on Forest Service Lands which would have been fine, too — but a hot shower did sound nice.

Andi spent 20 minutes calling around to various campgrounds in Missoula trying to find a spot to camp. He finally found one in Deer Lodge, Montana about an hour’s drive away. Andi and I discussed it, and decided we’d drive there so we could plug in tonight, do laundry, and take showers. If we didn’t, we’d still need to fill up with water somewhere as our RV supply was running low.

It was 8:30pm by the time we pulled into Indian Creek Campground in Deer Lodge. What a long day of driving! And was not happy when he realized this campground was situated right next to the interstate with the noisy sound of cars and trucks speeding by. There wasn’t much we could do about it though.

At least this campground was clean. Andi threw two loads of laundry into the machines in the laundry room, and decided to take his shower inside the campground shower house. Meanwhile, Tory, Aden, and I each took turns showering inside our RV. I also made the kids a simple dinner of chicken nuggets and gnocchi.

Before bed, Andi and I discussed two different driving routes with Tory and Aden. Interstate 90 East would be the easiest drive tomorrow, but it wouldn’t be as scenic. Or, we could drive south through Gardiner, Montana to the north side of Yellowstone National Park. Of course, the kids picked Yellowstone so that’s where we’ll go tomorrow.

Only a few days left of our fall RV adventure. We’ve had such a great trip; sad to see it coming to a close.