Great Falls, MT

Leaving Glacier, our last campground meal---this is significant because it is the FIRST time we have cooked any food on an outside burner.  I always cook everything in the microwave so this is a bold new world.  Hamburgers and Ramen noodles were our current successes!

Back in Great Falls, Montana and off to see these great falls!  These falls are beautiful but the real story behind them was the most interesting.  Lewis and Clark were looking for the Northwest passage (a continuous river route from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean).  There is no such passage but they were asked by President Jefferson to find one so they were in boats going AGAINST the current up the Missouri River trying to find it.  They discovered 5 sets of waterfalls that made it necessary to portage around by building sleds with wheels and drag all their equipment including hollowed out wooden canoes by hand 18 miles to by-pass the falls.  The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center has two movies and very large exhibits of their travels.  Two hours were well spent.

This is a suspension bridge at Great Falls--looks very solid but get 6 people on that thing and you needed Dramamine!

 

Suspension bridge to the Great Falls

This is the Great Falls with the dam and hydroelectric power plant.

The Great Falls, Lewis and Clark

We are now at Dick's campground the staging area for the Adventure Caravan to Canadian Rockies and Alaska!  The leaders Jan and Ray (Wagon Masters) and Rita and Jesse (Tail Gunners) are delightful and so organized.  They have thought of EVERYTHING!  We have gotten together with our  50 new best friends and they are a nice bunch!  People are from all over the U.S.  Some are full-time RVers and others are like us.  There are about 25 VERY large RV's towing cars on this venture.  Some of them have washer and dryers in them and freezers!  We look like a toy RV next to them!  Tomorrow, July 4th is our first official day and briefing and then off we go to Canada!

One last thing before we go...Bailey gets a bath!  It is a little trickier with a camper but Pete got the job done.