Feeling Better

Maybe all I had to do was put on jeans , grab a rain coat and take a walk in the rain. Today was the first time since we landed in Bellingham July 11th that has happened, the very first day I didn't roll out of bed and put shorts and a wife beater on. MP commented that as we walked it looked a bit like the Turnagian area, mist laying on the mountain tops as it rains in the valley. Here's how it looked as we did our three miles.

Even though I'm getting used to Hamilton I think MP and I both know that we're just going to ride out the virus here and do as much work on the little house as we can to make it rent-able or sale-able as we look for a larger and newer house with some privacy and a dishwasher and most likely near Helena...I don't think that's to much to expect out of this new life....Maybe even just the right fixer upper but after a long and heated 20 second debate we decided to pass on this one.

My last Blog entry you might remember I gave Kevin Costner and his ' Yellowstone' people some advice about ditching the Black Suburbans and getting some white ones so as not to be confused with a politician or a narco....Well, I guess Kev must read Mile 14 because as we walked by the new building they have taken over walla...not a black Suburban in sight. It's kinda cool, they have trailer vans full of props and costumes and the parking lot is full of Utah license plates where they used to film Yellowstone...So Kevin, I hope you keep reading Mile 14 and keep an eye out for a guy with a semi-lost look and pro cure on his jeans standing in line for the extra's call, I think I could help.

The other day we decided to soak at Lolo Hot Springs. We shoulda got started earlier because by the time we got there the place was full of kids. We decided to come at a better time, ya know I love kids but it wasn't the vision of quiet steamy whispering morning that I had along the way...But we did drive into Idaho and the Lochsa River valley. Gorgeous . Not far from the Natural Hot Springs that we Skinny Dipped as Kids we found the coolest little Camp Granada type setting in the Lolo National Forrest. I thought the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was kinda rustic until we found this place, Powell Station. If you need peace and quiet and a summer camp flashback, we found the place for you.

Powell Station is just around the corner from the Devoto Old Growth Cedar conservation area on the banks of the Lochsa River. The place was tropical like shaded with the fast running river gurgling away in the background, just the place to break out a beer and a guitar and do a video which I will end this blog entry with. These tree's are impressive.

Then we decided to find the Lumberjack Bar which sits in the middle of no where about 5 miles off the pavement which you would think would be a bad business model but here in Montana it seems to make perfect sense. Low and behold it was just like we remembered. I showed MP this place after a Hot Springs trip in 1976 and I remember after we walked in with nobody but her and I around she said ' now what ? " Well, all these years later she basically said the same thing and I said ' Heineken and deep fried mushrooms '  .  It's nice to see that some places stay the same. The second pic I took was because I was so impressed with the shear size of those cedar Logs, 4 courses to get a full 8 or 9 foot ceiling.

The place reminded me....although I'm in what we used to call ' the 48 ' I'm Alaskan through and through. My entire adult life is there and all I know and who I am came from there so if I act kinda hinky sometimes here I hope they all understand , they sure seemed to at the LumberJack, I like that.

I got two more pics. The first one I'm not saying anything about except thank you. And if I ever run out of songs or things to do my first project is going to be a stove pipe cactus that will be my Mexico touchstone just like that Palm Tree I fished out of the Kenai River was my Touchstone in the frozen north.

The Cedar Forrest on the Lochsa river was the perfect place to sing. I forgot my tablet and had to use my phone but it's OK...this song used to be kinda of a signature song of mine, It's my friend Glenn's favorite and I really hope Glenn I get a chance to sing it for you this winter in Mexico...but that is still in question...I've sang this song hundreds of times and I'm planning on hundreds more...Next Mile 14 I should have a new song about going back to your old home town, I hope you come see it.