One-of-a-kind motorhome on display in Polson, Montana

You won’t see another motorhome like this one, which I found at the wonderful Miracle of America Museum in Polson, Montana. The plan is to eventually restore it. For now it just sits.

It was built by Marshal Sanders of Highland, Michigan in the late 1960s out of a bunch of other vehicles. It’s powered by a 1966 Olds Tornado engine with front wheel drive. The front of the motorhome is from a GMC truck. The grill and front bumper is from a Pontiac. In back, the taillights are from a 1959 Ford.

Marshal had a big problem when he first drove the motorhome: when he turned the steering wheel left, the RV went right. Not good. But it was not a problem that couldn’t be solved, which Marshal did with a bellcrank.

GMC had the same problem when it was developing its motorhomes. To figure out what to do, GMC representatives visited Marshal to see his solution. They liked it so much they copied it for their own RVs.

High in the sky, VW Bug and trailer advertise RV park

It's hard to drive past the Glacier Peaks RV Park without noticing it. It's along Montana Route 40 between Whitefish and Columbia Falls, 30-minutes southwest of Glacier National Park.

You don't necessarily notice the park's sign. But you do notice the creatively painted VW Bug and travel trailer perched high above the entrance. They've been there for about 18 years.

Helen and Harold McLouth bought the RV park in 1995. A few years later Harold found the VW at a wrecking yard, headed to the crusher. He asked about buying it. But it was his lucky day: he got it for free, its parts long gone.

The 60s-era Layton trailer came shortly thereafter. It was owned by a Columbia Falls artist who had painted it with cartoon characters "Huck L Berry" and two pals, with the message "Enjoy Montana."

Helen and Harold owned a forklift so after Harold (better known as Butch) built the support structure, they hoisted up the Bug and trailer. Helen had already painted the car. "They were up in 10 minutes," said Helen, who operates the park herself these days. Harold passed away 10 years ago.

NOT LONG AFTER IT WAS UP, the county planning commission ordered it down. "It's an eyesore and not code compliant" it said in so many words.

Harold was steaming mad. He and Helen went to the commission's next meeting. Harold said they would not take the car and trailer down and if the county didn't back off he'd sue. He wasn't kidding. His lawyer sent a letter threatening a $150,000 lawsuit.

The planning commission responded: "Okay, you can keep it. . . for now."

Nearly two decades later it's still there, still attracting gawkers, photographers and customers.

The park is located at 3185 Highway 40 West in Columbia Falls.

Superstitions about death and dying

Here are a few superstitions about death and dying that I learned about from a pamphlet at the Missoula Cemetery.

PASSING A CEMETERY: A person must hold their breath when passing a cemetery or they will breathe in the spirit of someone who recently died. Tuck your thumbs into your fists when passing a cemetery to protect your parents.

MIRRORS in the house with a corpse should be covered or the person who sees himself will die next. If a mirror should fall from the wall and breaks itself then someone in the house will die soon.

EYE TWITCHING: If a person's left eye twitches there will soon be a death in the family.

THUNDER following a funeral means the person's soul has reached heaven.

PREGNANT WOMEN attending a funeral who walk on the grave will result in a child born with club feet.

PHOTOGRAPH: If three people are photographed together the one in the middle will die first.

REMOVING A CORPSE: A corpse should be removed from the house feet first to prevent their spirit from looking back into the house and beckoning another member of the family to follow.

CURES: Being near or in an open grave cures all manner of illnesses including toothache, boils and incontinence.

WITCH: A witch must be buried face down to prevent the community further supernatural spells. If this doesn't work, unbury them and turn their clothes inside out, then re-bury them face down. This should do the trick.

DOG HOWLING: If a dog howls three times it means someone is going to die. If a dog howls at night when someone in the house is sick it is a bad omen. This omen can be reversed by reaching under the bed and turning over a shoe.

BELLS ON A GRAVE (This is actually true): The fear of someone being being buried alive led coffin makers to design caskets with an internal chain attached to a bell on the grave. If the person should awake they would pull the bell and alert the community to their premature burial. Hence the saying "Saved by the bell."

SHOES ON THE TABLE: Leaving shoes on the table will bring sickness and possibly death by hanging.

TOUCHING THE DECEASED: If you touch a loved one who has died you won't have dreams about them.

MAZES were placed at some cemetery entrances to prevent spirits from returning to the world as it was known that ghosts could only travel in a straight line.

(Researched by Mary Ellen Stubb, Missoula Cemetery Sexton)

A visit with Sky King

If you know what I am referring to when I mention "Sky King," then you are probably at least 60 years old. 

Sky King was a TV series that ran off and on from 1951 to 1962, about a modern day cowboy who didn't ride a horse, but an airplane. Kirby played an Arizona rancher who fought bad guys and rescued people in trouble with his twin-engine Cessna.

The show starred Kirby Grant, who I learned yesterday at the Museum of Mountain Flying at the Missoula airport, was born in Butte, Montana. He is buried in a family plot in Missoula.

Like many little boys of my generation, I loved the old black and white TV shows about cowboys — Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, the Cisco Kid. Just thinking of those guys makes me feel warm and fuzzy and happy. They were all good guys —fighting a never-ending battle with thugs and outlaws, always winning, but never shooting anybody. When they fired their guns it was almost always when racing after a desperado on horseback (never hitting him) or, more likely, shooting the gun out of the bad guy's hand.

Kirby Grant, I learned yesterday, was really Kirby Grant Hoon. The show Sky King was his claim to fame, although he appeared in a few dozen B movies. Early in his life he played violin and even led a dance band. After Sky King, he bought and traveled with a circus. Sadly, he died in 1985 at age 74 in a car accident while on the way to a Space Shuttle launch where he was to be honored by astronauts for his contributions to aviation and space flight.

I enjoyed visiting Kirby yesterday. I stood at his grave for awhile and thought about all the hours he had entertained me as a little boy. I thanked him. I felt a bit sad as I drove off, reminded once again that all my childhood TV heroes are now gone.

If you are in Missoula and would like to pay tribute to "Sky," he's at the Missoula City Cemetery just a half-mile off I-90. Just park at the cemetery office and turn around. He's right on the front row beneath a big shade tree.

If you never saw Sky King when it was on TV, you are in luck. You can watch a full episode on YouTube by clicking here.

In Plains, Montana: pig food at the market, an old RV and Amish people

I passed through Plains, Montana the other day. 

There isn't much to Plains which is along Montana route 200. Its population was 1,048 in 2010. It was originally founded as Horse Plains and sometimes called Wild Horse Plains, as the local Indians would winter their horses there to feed on the grasses.

So that's the history. I drove around a bit to see what I could find of interest. Here are three things:

You seldom see "Pig Food" advertised at your local supermarket, but in Plains it is. I did not stop because I do not have a pig to feed. I have never owned a pig. I have never seen people and pig food sold in the same market. So this was definitely worth a picture.

This old GMC motorhome I spotted on a side street has seen its day. I don't know anything about it except it's old and is not going anywhere, at least on its own. If you know anything about this RV, please leave a comment. My guess is that it was from the late '60s before the sleek GMC motorhomes were introduced, many of which are still on the road.

 

I didn't know there were Amish in this area. But I guess there are based on this sign on a county road leading out of Plains.

Sit where the Beatles and Elvis sat in Missoula

There's a bit of show biz history in Missoula, Montana that few people know about.

It's in the lobby of the Missoula Children's Theater. Without knowing it, everyday people sit on this piece of history. They don't even know they are occupying the exact same place as the Beatles, Elvis, the Rolling Stones and hundreds of other entertainers, and not just musicians.

What they are sitting on is a long, blue, padded bench. For years it sat in the New York office (some say just outside the office) of Ed Sullivan, whose CBS-TV show was among the most popular on television between 1948 and 1971. Show guests would sit on the bench.

For many Americans, the show was where they first saw the Beatles, Elvis (with his shaking pelvis) and other up-and-coming entertainers.

The bench came to Missoula with Ed Sullivan's son-in-law Bob Precht, who donated it to the children's theater.

Periodically, people show up to sit on the bench and have their photo taken, but not very often. If you want to sit on it yourself, it's at 200 N Adams St, which is right downtown and easy to find. And while you are there, try to see one of the theater's productions: they're wonderful!

'I love you!' Well, sort of. . .

In Europe and increasingly in the United States, you see love locks or "love padlocks" attached to bridges. 

The Brooklyn Bridge in New York has thousands of them. You see them on the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Couples in love arrive at the bridges with a key and padlock. They then attach the padlock to the bridge, sometimes with their names engraved on it, and then toss the key into the water below to symbolize their unbreakable love. Ah, so sweet.

The idea has come to Missoula on the footbridge across Rattlesnake Creek that connects downtown with the University of Montana. Perhaps a couple hundred couples have pledged their everlasting love there.

But among the locks are a dozen or so combination locks. There's no keys with these, of course. So what then did the couples toss into the water to symbolize their everlasting love? The combination?

Hummm. . . that doesn't seem quite right. If my significant other showed up with a combination lock instead of one with a key, I might be a bit concerned about our future.