The last of Lewis and Clark plus getting ready for Canada

We moved to Great Falls, MT. The campground has new owners who call it “Great Falls RV Park”, but all the signs still say “Dick’s RV Park”. It isn’t bad – lots of pull through with decent gravel sites and grass between sites.  Plenty long enough even for the really big rigs.

This is the last of our Lewis and Clark trail sites on this trip. We had originally planned on doing the Yellowstone River section of their trip, but that all went by the wayside with the Yellowstone floods. We have pretty much done entire trail except for that, though it has been across a few separate years. This time we visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center just downstream from the Black Eagle Falls, one of the few parts of the falls still visible. Most of the multiple falls Lewis and Clark experienced are under the waters backed up by dams. It was a standard but very nice experience. We have seen similar exhibits in the other museums and centers along the way, so I didn’t take pictures. I think one of the best sections of exhibits was about Sacajawea and what it meant to be a native woman in her time.

Across the river was the remnants of a huge smelter. Only the mill channel and the foundations were left, but it was impressive.

Black Eagle Smelter ruins with mill race 

The falls themselves were still impressive, though only a fraction of their original size. That is some hard rock!

Dam with mill channel at upper right

There we’re lots of little islands even with the water at a pretty high level. Gulls had take over most of them. I wish I had taken a video so you could hear them, but I only have this (very poor) iPhone picture. You will have to use very sharp eyes to tell the difference between the rocks and the gulls, but they really are there!

Can you see the gulls?

And then I got this adorable picture of Minnie and Luna cuddling again! This little bathroom rug is Minnie’s favorite spot, and Luna decided to check it out too. It was just after I had washed and dried it, so I think they liked the fluffiness of the rug.

Cuddling on the world’s best rug (according to Minnie at least)

We are also doing last minute preparations for the Canada crossing. We filled up the car with fuel, bought groceries, and did some (never-ending) laundry. The Adventure Caravans “Tailgunner” came by to go through a checklist for our motorhome. He checked tires, asked when we had last had full service, status of spares (fuel filters, water separation filter, serpentine belt, DEF), and we passed. It would actually be hard not to pass since they sent us the checklist in advance, but I guess some people do.

We had our first official meeting with our Adventure Caravan crew. There are 19 rigs traveling as guests plus a Wagonmaster (in overall charge, always heads out first, arrives at destination first) and a Tailgunner (last in the group, helps with any issues on the road). We are a diverse group – mostly couples from all over the US plus a couple from Belgium and Venezuela, a few singles, one family of 3, motorhomes of various types and sizes from 45’ to a Class B, fifth wheels, and travel trailers. All seem to be retired which makes sense with the time of year and the length of the trip, but ages range from just under 60 to 80+. I still have some concerns about how much “togetherness” we will be expected to have. I like my privacy too! I am definitely looking forward to the trip.

Lewis and Clark history plus modern forts too

We have tried to stop by all the Lewis and Clark sites we have been near. Wednesday we decided to go to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park near Astoria, Oregon. Fort Clatsop, named after the helpful nearby Indians, was where the Corps spent their second winter. They started out at the mouth of he Columbia, but it is dreadfully rough in winter, so they retreated up the river to a more sheltered tributary to settle. The NPH was a bit of a disappointment in the amount of interpretation and historical accuracy they demonstrated. Fort Mandan in North Dakota, where they spent their first winter, was much better presented and historically accurate. Still, we made it to the end of the Corps journey, and it was interesting.

Outside of the recreated fort. Natives thought it odd they locked themselves in at night. Historical inaccuracy: absolutely perfectly placed caulking and uniform logs. Really?
Sacajawea, Pierre, and Pompei’s room
Lewis and Clark’s room
Bunk room for the crew. There were also bunks on the other side – 8 to a room.

We ended up having a light lunch in Astoria then dinner in the casino’s non-smoking restaurant. Food was really quite good, service was lovely, and it was correspondingly expensive. Worth it for a really nice meal though.

Thursday we continued our historical trips, but we moved forward in time to Fort Steven State Park in Oregon. It was built in 1862 because President Lincoln was worried the British would try to take back the Pacific Northwest. A series of 3 forts were established, and we had already visited Fort Canby. Fort Columbia had most of its area closed for the year, but we did get to see it across the river. We luckily got to the visitor center 5 minutes before they were starting a guided tour using an old military transport. Great fun! We got a guided tour that included areas otherwise off-limits. The fort closed not long after WWII.

The newest of the artillery types came just at the end of WWII.
Older guns were in one of three bunkers of this type
I think this was a protected command center
The piles supported rails used to move the rock for the jetty. They were they repurposed to bring artillery, shells, and mines to the fort.
The second set of bunkers after the earliest earthen works from the 1860s.

We came home by way of the beaches in Ocean Shores, the nearest town. I have always wanted to drive on the beach, and we did! Being September and mid-weeks, there were only a few people around. The original plan was to pull out the lawn chairs and read, but we decided to stay in the warmer comfort of the car with the windows open.

Mostly we hung out with the gulls who were quite unhappy we didn’t provide food
And on our way back, we got a rainbow

Lake Sakakwea, Lewis and Clark, and Mandans

We are spending three nights at the Corps of Engineers campground at Lake Sakakwea, 80-ish miles south of Minot, ND. It is an absolutely gorgeous campground with huge sites, asphalt and concrete sites, lots of grass and trees.

We arrived on Thursday, and went spent time Friday and Saturday seeing historic sites nearby. We started at the North Dakota Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center outside of Washburn, ND. Very, very nice historical presentation and some replicas of outstanding art, both modern and 1800s.

Sculpture in front of the Lewis and Clark Interprative Center

Once we got ourselves oriented, we went to Fort Mandan, a recreation of the  fort the expedition stayed in during the winter of 1804\1805. There was a charge for the interpretive tour, but the guide was really, really good.

Looking at the enlisted men’s quarters
Front of the recreated fort

The fort had had a lot of furnishings to show how they lived.

Eight enlisted men lived in each of these small rooms plus the attic
Enlisted quarters
Room where Clark and Lewis lived

We then went to the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site a few miles away. This is the same group of Indians whose dirt/log buildings we saw recreated at Fort Abraham Lincoln a few days before. This recreated building had a number of furnishings in it and was slightly larger.

The original inhabitants built caches for food both inside and outside the lodges
Historically accurate artifacts were all around
Definitely bigger than the others we saw
The lodge from the outside

It was a foggy, dreary morning. We noticed how many boats were fishing the outlet of the spillway, and we drove down it a little to see.

There was a LOT of water coming over the spillway with 4 big gates open

Today we went back to Washburn for a late breakfast and tried to see the local county museum. Silly us didn’t check the times though, and it wasn’t open. Then we decided to go to the “ big town” of Garrison to get some groceries before heading to the FMCA rally in Minot. We had a fascinating detour through the Audubon National Wildlife Refuge. The building itself was officially closed, but the cleaner let us in. I didn’t want to spend too much time inside, but we did do the Auto Tour. It was gorgeous, and I saw this huge hawk. I am not sure what kind it is, but it was so big I thought it might be a a juvenile eagle. This is a picture I took at as big of a zoom as I possibly could manage.

I will put the name of I find out what it is!

We had pork chops in the sous vide along with potatoes mixed with onions and mushrooms. Lovely. Tomorrow we head to the rally pretty early so we don’t get caught into the line here for the dump station. They only have 2 dumps for the 90 or so campsites here!