Where the deer and the antelope roam…..

We’re back on the road! Today we interrupted our westward drive with a little side trip to the National Bison Range. It’s about 30 miles north of Missoula, so we left the house in a friendly parking lot in Missoula and set out with just the truck. The day was bright and sunny, and even though we were a little disappointed that we didn’t see many bison up close and personal, it was still an outstanding day!
While we saw a couple that were close enough for this (with a little help from the zoom!)-

most of them were more like specks of course pepper on the hillside.

But when you’re treated to views like this

and this

and this

it really is OK if the resident mamma bear and her cubs were off taking naps, and the elk in the valley perfectly blended into the brown fall grass, and the mule deer were off playing with the white tail deer deep in the trees. It was still beautiful.

Tonight we are parked at rest area – oh, about 40 miles west of Missoula. And since my trusty Verizon aircard is hanging on by one little bar, I’m going to let you check out the additional pictures of our day HERE! Our final destination on this leg is Spokane, Washington where we’ll be catching a flight to Dallas, TX. Seems I’ve been elected to the Board of Trustees of the Sower Ministry and next week is their annual board meeting outside of Dallas. We’re combining this with a visit to Lara, so that’s a real treat.

But to get to Spokane, we have to drive through Idaho. And guess what? I’ve never been there!
Can’t wait!

Gary took off early this morning (that fishing thing), and I was settling in with a nice hot cup of coffee. Before he’d even had time to get to the fishing hole, he returned.
“Quick – put some shoes on. You need to see this.”
Off we go – in the early morning light.

And this is what he was taking me to see -




Yeah, it was pretty much worth leaving the coffee behind!

Here’s another morning event, though not so sweet -

The first of our Sower friends headed out early today. Safe travels, dear friends! We’re missing you already!

Today is the last working day at Camp Utmost. As I was putting the finishing touches on the Human Foosball Court, I was thinking back about all of the different things I’ve done as a Sower -
Learned how to use a zero-turn lawnmower
Learned how to clean pools
Folded 9,853 white towels (give or take a dozen)
Made countless beds
Cleaned just as many restrooms
Cooked for campers and staff and hungry teenage boys
Answered phones
Researched school districts
Compiled Data
Scanned 3 years worth of camper records
Made curtains
Did general motel housekeeping
Gardening
Waited on tables
and
Painted. Benches, doors, window frames, buildings, trim, floors, walls, ceilings…….

But I don’t think I have ever had to paint an Human Foosball Court before!
Now maybe you’ve never even heard of an HFC before, so let me explain. Picture a regular foozball game (think Joey and Chandler on Friends). Now imagine it the size of a small tennis court. Put up some walls to keep the ball in play, add some bars across and then sliding tubes for players to hold on to, have the players hold on to the tubes in a particular place (where the tape is in the picture) and then move as a unit back and forth while trying to keep the ball from going into the net.

I understand this is a huge hit in the summer – and to make it a little more interesting, they’ve installed a sprinkler on the top bar to cool off the players on those hot Montana summer days!

What fun!
Along with the HFC and the various buildings that we’ve been staining, there was also this basketball thingy that was in really bad shape -

I wasn’t sure there was any hope for it, but with a little effort from our team

it was soon looking like new!

I was certainly impressed!
This afternoon we’re gathering up our tools, cleaning up any mess we made (who, us?), and generally packing it in. We won’t be hitting the road until Sunday, but it’s always nice to get a little re-organized once the project is over. All in all, I think we got a lot done in these three weeks and it’s been lots of fun to boot!
Last night we sat around the campfire and enjoyed trying to remember camp songs (man, are we getting old!), and indulged in a s’more or two!

Goodness, it will be hard to bid these new friends farewell!

Since Gary set out to go fishing on Friday morning, I was able to enjoy some guilt-free sewing time while I worked on the laundry. It was such a beautiful day that I even hung out my sheets (quite a rarity for me in my “on-the-road life”). And any day that I feel like hangin’ out sheets is a day that is much too lovely to spend inside on my sewing machine. After Gary returned and we grabbed a quick bite to eat, we set out for Morrell Falls – a (almost) 5 mile (RT) hike nearby. I’m so glad we did!






As you can see, it was a perfect day for a hike!

And I think tomorrow will be a perfect day for painting!
Gotta love Mondays!

It’s hard to believe (as it almost always is) that we’ll be leaving Camp Utmost in just a week. Our time here in the hills outside of Missoula has been lovely! The weather has been exceptional – cool nights and mostly sunny bright days. Perfect painting weather!

And that’s mostly what we’ve doing!
See this lodge –

Ok – so we didn’t paint ALL of it, but we did the right side and around the back. Then we moved to the woodshed and the pump house –

The thing is, virtually every building on the campus has this beautiful cedar siding and all of them are due for a paint (stain) job.

There certainly is some job security here! The guys have been working on winterizing the bathhouses and doing repairs from last winter when they weren’t winterized. Ouch. We’ve all been kept good and busy – those long weekends feel mighty fine! (Actually having an hour for lunch is pretty nice too! It’s much easier to fit a quick nap in!)
But as always, it’s not all work and no play around here. We’ve gotten together a couple of times for games, and one night we even had a little goofy golf (or whatever you’d like to call it) tournament. Not surprisingly, the couple that play in a senior softball league cleaned up!

We girls took a little jaunt into Seeley Lake (about 20 minutes north) to check out a local quilt shop and do the post office/milk and eggs run. This is a shot of Salmon Lake that we pass on our way to town –

There are a lot of lakes in this area – all of them seem to be full of Montana beauty!
So, I’m sure my week was a lot like yours. Some work, some play, some chores, some ups and some downs. We are so blessed to have been able to spend these weeks at Camp Utmost! Hope your week was blessed too!