I almost forgot the interesting trip up to McGregor Lake near Marion, Montana... We had spent a month (last half of May and first half of June) on the east side of Yellowstone National Park in Wapiti, Wyoming very near near Cody. We departed Wapiti and headed toward Marion, Montana thinking we had two weeks to make a leisurely trip. We received an automated email from the campground in Marion partway into our move that said we only had two days left until our reservation started. We think they mixed up our dates at the campground, but that was OK with us so we sped up our move to Marion. The pictures below capture the scenes as we zoomed by!
First stop Billings Montana. We parked in a Lowe's lot for two days whilst we visited the local Ram and Ford dealers. We were able to test drive a new 2017 Ford F550 and a 2017 Ram 5500. Both are commercial trucks that are delivered in a Cab over Chassis configuration. Our intent was to compare the turbo exhaust brake effectiveness in each manufacturer's vehicle. Long story short, we test drove both on the same hill outside of town and the Ram exhaust brake out-performed the Ford configuration hands down. Night and day difference. End of story. We are looking at switching tow vehicle from our 2013 F450 to a 2018 Ram 5500. Our project has begun....
We left Billings and rolled into Butte for a stop over of two weeks we thought... but were cut short when we received word that we had two days left to get to Marion. There was still snow on the peaks coming into Butte. This was late June.
We did stop by Evel Knievel's grave site in Butte.
Steve reflects on Evel's life full of daring stunts while visiting this daredevil's grave-site.
On our way out of Butte, we stopped in Arlee, MT and attempted to overnight at the Garden of 1000 Buddhas. Not far from where Gari is standing below we saw the sign that said - No Overnight Parking. So we took a look and continued on our way.
This little marker was at the front of the central garden. This appeared just to be a private project of a random Montanan. We know that Buddha was a man, a Nepalese Prince, who established the Four Noble Truths: There is Suffering. Suffering is caused by our Expectations. If we Eliminate our Expectations suffering shall also be Eliminated. We can reach Nirvana through the Eight Fold Path to Enlightenment... and that's a entire story in itself.
Many Buddhas, about a 1,000 we reckon.
Steve stands at the center Buddha in the garden.
...and out of Arlee and into Polson on Flathead Lake; we found beautiful snow capped mountains in Polson as well.
This was our Polson real estate for the day and night at the local Walmart with a view of Flathead lake out the rear windows. We could just catch a glimpse of Bull Island over top of the white Blazer!
Our Polson side yard for the day. We walked down to Murdock's and did a little shopping there. We love a good farm store.
Goodbye to Polson, next stop Kalispell at the north end of Flathead Lake, then on to Marion on McGregor Lake.
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