We had a great day... until right at the end...

Woke up to blue sky and sunshine. What a treat compared to the overcast on again off again rain that we've been having for the last week or more. Blue sky always makes photos turn out so much better, as you will see below!

There were only two other RVs parked in our area, and one of them had a small generator running on Sunday evening until about 8pm, but it was pretty quiet. Could hardly hear it when we closed the window on that side.

Camped only 3 miles from Canada

Pouring rain Sunday morning in Libby, Montana. When it finally let up around 10:00am, we said goodbye to Bob and Denise again. But we will probably see them in August or September in Ontario!

We went for a walk around "dowtown" Libby just to stretch our legs before driving to our next spot. Not much to see in downtown, but then again it was a Sunday so things were pretty quiet.

First day of summer!

Yesterday was the first day of summer. I remember when that used to mean a lot, but not so much any more. It used to be that summer holidays were coming up, and you could pretty much bet on shorts and t-shirts weather.

But now, we do our utmost to stay year round in climates where it is shorts and t-shirts weather! So the only thing that means much to us about the first day of summer now is that the days are so long in this part of the world.

You are in bear country!

We had a really nice day yesterday at our almost perfect campsite. Around 10:00am we set off on a hike through the forest, despite the fact that there were some ominous looking clouds. But hey, the weather forecast called for ZERO percent chance of rain, so who are we to argue with the experts?

At the trailhead, there are lots of signs warning about bear activity. We have experience hiking in bear country and so we were well prepared with both air horn and bear spray.

What is your perfect campsite?

Yesterday, I mentioned that unless we find a great overnight spot that ticks all the boxes, we'll be moving a little bit every day. Well, it ended up that we pretty much ticked all the boxes with our spot last night!

We realize that our overnight choices are not what everyone prefers, and it's a good thing. If everybody liked what we like, we'd have a tough time finding these sorts of places! But then it got us wondering... what is your "perfect" campsite?

Back to the boondocks

The word "boondocks" means rough, remote, isolated countryside. And the phrase "out in the boonies" came from the original word boondocks. And so the word "boondocking" came to mean RV camping out in the middle of nowhere.

Yesterday, after three nights spent in the small city of Missoula, we were due for some rough, remote, isolated countryside!

3 Days in Missoula, but it's time to move on...

Well, it's been a cheap 3 days in the city of Missoula, Montana but we really didn't want to stay here this long. The weather is still overcast with showers, although it looks like that will finally be clearing up tomorrow.

We are moving on today one way or the other. We filled up with cheapest ever propane at $0.99 a gallon. Sherman has a big 20 gallon propane tank, but it's a shame we only needed 11 gallons to top it up!

Brand new and it's already junk

We didn't originally plan on staying in Missoula this long, but the weather is not the best. Overcast and with a 50% chance of rain all day, it's tough to plan a couple of hours of outdoor activity. And it's now supposed to be like this through Thursday!

But, we got lucky yesterday late morning when we took the bikes off to go for a ride. We were out for about an hour and a half and did about 10 miles (16 kms) and it was only when we got back to the motorhome that it started spitting with rain.

Researching European motorhomes

We left our free camping spot in the hills early again, doing our driving right when we got up. We didn't really encounter any wind to speak of, which is what we've been trying to avoid. However, we did get some rain.

We haven't had many rain days since we arrived in the United States in early April. And in fact, yesterday wasn't really too bad either, but it was a mixed bag, and so once we arrived in Missoula it became a bit of a lazy day.

Odd art around Lincoln, Montana

We headed out from the city of Great Falls before the wind picked up. We were on the road at 8:30am. Nice drive through rolling hills, but not much vegetation... and not many vehicles either!

We made it to the town of Lincoln (pop 1,100) where we stopped at the Forest Service office where there was a grizzly bear display, but unfortunately it was closed.

Bike ride in Great Falls, Montana

We left our overnight spot in the Lewis and Clark National Forest at 6:30am. It's now light out by 5:30am, so we like to get our driving done while there is no wind and hardly anybody on the roads.

From the time we got on the highway, it was downhill pretty much the whole way. In fact, there was one section where I didn't touch the gas pedal for over 20 miles (33 kms)! Amazing. Sure, at one point we were down to 35 mph, but with nobody on the roads there was no need to speed up.

A visit to "the castle"...

We said goodbye to Bob and Denise at 7:30am, but we will likely see them again over the next couple of weeks. We headed over to the library to do some more free internet and then drove up to "the castle"...

There are a couple of interesting attractions in the town of White Sulphur Springs (population around 1,000). One of course is the hot springs themselves that are part of a small motel complex. You don't have to be a guest to use the springs... they cost $7 USD for a soak.

What footprint is this?

We set out with Bob and Denise at 8:30am yesterday morning. The trail we were doing is actually 15 miles (24 kms) round trip, and I don't think we were quite that ambitious but we didn't have an actual plan.

The skies were mixed, with a little bit of sunshine coming and going but the temperature was nice for hiking at around 60F (15C).

Everything You Need To Know Before Your First Backpacking Trip

Everyone loves to travel around the world from time to time. However, you mostly don’t like to move around with a lot of luggage. Your best solution is a backpack. If it is your first backpacking trip, you’re probably wondering how to go about it. Worry no more; you’re in the right place.

Before you leave for your trip, here are a few tips on the things you must know if you are a first-time backpacker.

Warning. Contents may have shifted.

Tuesday morning, we left Gardiner at about 6:15am. We were surprised at the number of people up and about at that hour, but of course it gets light out so early right now.

Most of the traffic was heading in the opposite direction though. Hardly any cars in our lane going north.