We saw Jan off to work this morning, checked out the car before starting out, and visited a bit more with Grammy Martha before heading out around 10. As we drove back down past Flathead, it seemed that some of the smoke was lifting. They are expecting rain here on Tuesday and Wednesday, so hopefully, that will help with the fires and smoke. It has smelled like a giant campfire for the past couple of days every time we come outdoors.
As we neared the bottom of the lake, Nathan spied what appeared to be an orchard. We were not sure what kind. He turned the rig around and back we went to check it out. After closer inspection, he was elated to discover that it was a cherry orchard! Uninhibited, he drove on down a drive to discover that it was a private orchard, but there were folks there with their young children enjoying a picnic under the trees. Nathan got out and talked with a lady a moment and came back to tell us to come on. She explained that this was her family's orchard and that we were welcome to pick as much as we'd like. We tried to pay her for the cherries, but she explained that they had already picked and sold all they were going to this season. BUT the trees were still LOADED!! She handed us 3 milk jugs and some extra bags and told us to have at it. They went on up to the house for a bit while we picked. We must have picked for close to an hour. Most of the cherries are Lamberts, but we also picked a few Ranier. All in all, we ended up with 7 Wal-Mart bags full. She was happy to see that we had been so productive and that those cherries wouldn't go to waste. As we left we noticed that the place was for sale. 2 houses, lake view, orchard, outbuildings. It was only 2.6 million!
Well, after our cherry landfall, we had to find a cooler and dry ice. We ended up purchasing a 60-gallon cooler and filling it with cherries and our huckleberries. As we pulled through Arlee, Nathan noticed what looked like a puff of smoke coming from behind a mountain. We pulled off to the side of the road for several minutes to watch. We could see smoke billowing and growing as we sat there. At times, I believe we even saw flames jumping up into the smoke. Because it appeared to be spreading so quickly, Nathan said we should probably alert someone, so we went back into Arlee about a mLove you! Hope you're having a good day. We're headed out of Kalispell. We'll probably stay the night in Virginia City and explore Yellowstone tomorrow. ile to the firehouse. When we arrived, Nathan said the firemen were standing at the door watching the fire as well. They were aware of it and said that the fire chief had already driven over to the mountain and was meeting with the tribal chief. I believe the area we were in is part of a reservation. The fireman told Nathan that there are Indians that live down in the canyon below this fire. Currently the canyon and all of that area is closed off to anyone unless they live there. Nathan asked if the fire would top the mountain and come into Arlee. He was told that would depend totally on the wind.
We are now traveling 90 East between Missoula and Butte. It seems that smoke is rolling back in down here. I am proud of Andrew for doing some research for us. He has been doing better today watching the scenery around him on hold. We asked him to let us know about the Statue we saw in future. It turns out we were mistaken. This is a statue of the Virgin Mary, not Jesus. It stands 89 feet tall and is the fourth largest statue in the United States after the Statue of Liberty, Pegasus, and Dragon. The artist built this statue in honor of his wife who is a cancer survivor as well as other women who have fought cancer and won.
We detoured off of 90 East onto 41. Now we are headed for Virginia City. There was a very sleepy part of 41 that was not heavily traveled. We discovered some beautiful little yellow flowers along the road and enjoyed watching the sun begin to set. However, we came across what we think may have been a couple of poachers. I noticed a man suddenly running across a field in the middle of nowhere with what looks to be a bow and arrow. Nathan noticed that the truck that had just passed us turned around and came back to where the man had been running. Nathan pulled off to the side of the road and used Andrew's binoculars to keep an eye on the situation by looking through the rear-view mirror. He saw the man that was running squat suddenly in the field for a moment and then get up and begin running again before squatting down a second time. Eventually a truck approached the one that was stopped behind us in the road and passed it, so Nathan chose to continue moving so as to not draw attention to ourselves. Just a little bit farther down the road we noticed a pronghorn on the same side of the road facing the direction that the man had been running. I really hope it was not looking for its mate. Hopefully we are wrong about the men being poachers!
In just a few more miles we merged onto a busier part of 41. We are now seeing mesas to the east with smoke covered mountains behind them, and watching the sunset over hazy mountains to the west. I was hoping for a picturesque sunset tonight, but the smoke has nearly blotted out the sun.
We stopped in Virginia City and ate at the Pioneer Saloon for supper because it was literally the only place open to eat in this here sleepy ghost town. We had planned on staying to check things out tomorrow but were told that things didn't open until 11ish, so we are headed on now to West Yellowstone.
We don't know the meaning of an early night! We arrived just after 11 in West Yellowstone. We have pulled in and found one available spot which was quite encouraging since most of the hotels in the area showed no vacancy. Now it's time to settle in for the night.
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