Finally, justice at the pump!

After seven years, there is justice for me at the gas pump. Or should I say the diesel pump?

I bought my Winnebago View in 2008. It burns diesel fuel, not gasoline. When I bought it, diesel was less expensive than gasoline. I chose the View in part because of its great mileage (about 15 mpg), but also because diesel was cheaper. "I will save some major money," I figured.

Then, only months after I bought the motorhome, I was suddenly a very unhappy camper when the price of diesel began creeping up, and then soaring higher than gasoline — at times more than a dollar a gallon. It wasn't fair! And, ever since, that's the way it's been.

Ah, ha! Until now. Now, finally, the price of diesel has dropped below unleaded gas. Is this a trend? I am crossing my fingers and hoping so.

I'm not sure if diesel is cheaper where you live but it is here in Montana. And do you know what I say? I say, "This is mighty good for me ol' pocketbook!"

Visiting Glacier National Park? A few tips for RVers

McDonald Lake from the Apgar area.

Glacier National Park, created in 1910, is one of America's beauty spots. Bird Grinnell, co-founder of the Audobon Society,  described the area in 1908 as the "Crown of the Continent." Don't miss it if you have the chance.

Bighorn Sheep at Logan Pass

There are 13 gorgeous, primitive campgrounds, but if you don't have a reservation, stay at Apgar at the park's west entrance. Many sites will accommodate big rig RVs.

In the busy summer, when the park is crawling with vacationers, arrive early in the week in late morning to snag a recently vacated spot. If you arrive later, you'll likely be out of luck. If you can plan ahead, make a reservation at another campground. There are many private campgrounds on the west side of the park in the nearby towns of Hungry Horse and Columbia Falls.

Red Bus on Going to the Sun Road

It's a 10-minute walk from the Apgar Campground to the Visitor's Center, where you can pick up a free park shuttle for a ride to Logan Pass on the incredible Going to the Sun Road, a narrow two-laner and engineering marvel cut into the side of mountains. Arrive early for the shuttle: they leave every half hour. You may have to wait an hour or longer in late morning. Vehicles 21 feet and longer (or more than eight feet wide) are prohibited on the Going to the Sun Road, so the shuttle or a 1930s-era Red Bus ($55 per person for a guided tour) are the only way to go if you don't have a personal vehicle.

If you take the shuttle, get off at the beautiful and historic Lake McDonald Lodge for lunch. You can hop on another bus to the summit.

Red Bus passengers snap photos.

The shuttle and Red Buses also depart from the St. Mary area on the east side of the park. It's possible to go from one end of the park on the shuttle, but allow seven hours.

On the Going to the Sun Road and elsewhere, keep your eyes open for Deer, Elk, Moose, Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goats. If you're lucky, you'll see a Black Bear or Grizzly (if you do, keep at least 100 yards between you and the animal).

Columbian Ground Squirrel

If you hike on trails or ride a mountain bike, rent a can of bear spray in Apgar Village for $5 a day. Or buy a can for $42. Be sure you study up on how to avoid meeting up with a bear and what to do if you encounter one. You could also come across a Mountain Lion, so study up on those, too. There are Wolves in the park, but they're elusive.

Keep your camera ready for small wildlife. Columbian Ground Squirrels are everywhere and are easily photographed. One of the best spots for seeing wildlife of all sizes is at Logan Pass. Bighorn Sheep graze right by the parking lot. Take pics but keep at least 25 yards away from these large and unpredictable animals. From the Logan Pass visitor center, set aside two hours to hike to and from Hidden Lake.

Learn more about Glacier National Park at its website.

Wow! Rules for schoolteachers sure have changed!

I found these "Rules for School Teachers" at Fort Missoula in Missoula, Montana. They were likely from the early 1900s. As you will see, things have changed a bit.

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.

2. You are not to keep company with men.

3. You must be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless attending a school function.

4. You may not loiter downtown in any of the ice cream shops.

5. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.

6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.

7. You may not smoke cigarettes.

8. You may not dress in bright colors.

9. You may not in any circumstance dye your hair.

10. You must wear at least two petticoats.

11. Your dress must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle.

12. To keep the classroom neat and clean, you must:
          Sweep the floor at least once daily.
          Scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water.
          Clean the blackboards at least once a day.
          Start the fire at 7 a.m. so the room will be warm.
          

An Elk Burger, huckleberries and bear stuff everywhere

I don't know this for a fact, but I believe I ate my first Elk Burger today. It was at the Huckleberry Patch cafe and gift shop in Hungry Horse, Montana.

In Montana, Buffalo Burgers are often served in restaurants. I have already dined on a buffalo burger this trip. Buffalo tastes like beef. It's lean. Buffalo meat in a burger tastes pretty much the same as cow.

My Elk Burger was excellent. Truth be told, if someone told me I was eating a hamburger I wouldn't have known the difference.

The Huckleberry Patch has been around Hungry Horse since 1949, but it's under new owners in recent times. It's a nice place. It sells hundreds of tee-shirts, I bet half with bear or huckleberry themes. You can also buy any product imaginable made from huckleberries, which are the most famous berries in these parts. I bought some jam, but I was tempted by the huckleberry soda and huckleberry licorice. Hungry Horse, by the way, is known as the "Huckleberry Capital of the West."

BEAR DESIGNS ON TEE-SHIRTS are mostly cute bears. Bears are on everyone's mind around Hungry Horse, which is on the doorstep of Glacier National Park, where there are lots of Black and Grizzly Bears. The bears sometimes even walk through campgrounds. So you don't want to tie up your Pomeranian outside your RV while you take a nap. If you do, it could easily be "goodbye little fur ball."

The reason people think about bears is that rangers harp on you all the time to be careful. Bears eat people on occasion, which is nobody's idea of a good time.

About every other store in Hungry Horse or in the park itself sells a spray bottle of bear (pepper) spray for about $40. If you don't want to buy it, you can rent it for $5 a day. If you come across a bear and it looks mad, then you need to be careful and walk away. But if the bear comes after you, you will be glad to have the bear spray.

IN THE OLD DAYS rangers used to say wear bells when you are hiking in the woods. But now they say maybe that doesn't work. They now advise to talk a lot. Whistle. Make human noises. But don't say "Hello Bear, here I come" because someone on the trail ahead might hear the word bear and panic.

Grizzly Bears are the most dangerous. There are a lot of jokes about bears, but the ones that involve bells in the punch line are not as appropriate anymore now that nobody wears bells. One old joke about identifying bears advises to check out their poop on the trail. "Black bear droppings are smaller and contain berries and possibly squirrel fir," the joke goes. "Grizzly Bear droppings have bells in them and smell like pepper spray."

But back to my Elk Burger, it was very good and the price of $8.95 was not bad, considering it's not the kind of burger you get every day.

Miracle of America Museum: Unique. Funky. Amazing!

When it comes to viewing Americana, I don't know of any place better to see it than at the Miracle of America Museum in Polson, Montana.

There is more "stuff" in this sprawling roadside showcase of American culture than in any other museum I have ever visited. It's a hodgepodge collection that co-founder Gil Mangels says documents America "from the walking plow to walking on the Moon." It is also, he says, "a celebration of the benefits of the free enterprise system."

It sprawls over several acres along U.S. Highway 93 on the south edge of town.

One minute the museum is serious, with patriotic exhibits of World War II; displays of antique motorcycles, cars and tractors; an old one-room schoolhouse and a shrine to Thomas Edison and his contributions to America. Then there's the weird stuff —  a two headed cow, "an official U.S. government cover-up tool" (a fold-up Army shovel) and assorted flying saucers and rockets. A new exhibit, the Alien Autopsy Lab, is complete with an alien sprawled out on a medical examination table, looking very much like those in the secret films from the infamous Roswell, NM, spaceship crash in the late 1940s.

The museum was founded in 1981 by Gil Mangels and his late-wife Joanne. Gil carries on today, running the show and deciding how to expand the already giant collection of memorabilia. If you visit, say "hi" and thank him for his years of dedicated work.

I could go on and on, but instead here's a three-minute video I put together of my visit in July, 2015. It explains a lot better what's at the museum than I could put into words.

Admission is $6, worth every penny and then some. It's less for kids.

More Small Town Crime

Interesting news reports from small town newspapers

Here are a few items from the police blotter in the Flathead Beacon of Kalispell, Montana.


•A resident on Lost Creek Lane reported that the neighbor's horse is loose and destroying his yard.

• (An hour later): A man on Lost Creek Road slated that his horses are loose and the neighbor man threatened to shoot them.

•A concerned citizen reported that a man in a poncho had his hands in his pockets.

•A somewhat infamous white Chihuahua was loose and doing bad dog things in Somers. Apparently, this is a daily event.

•Under suspicious circumstances, one female goat has gone missing from her pen on Willow Glen Drive.

•A West Glacier woman reported that two known chicken killers were outside chasing her cats.

•An Airport Road resident reported that a chicken wandered into her yard and, at the time of the call, was acting very strange.

•A Bigfork resident claimed that someone left a tree on his property last night.

•A Kelly Road resident reported that a trampoline flew into his yard and smashed his truck.

•A husky turned himself in after a highly destructive chicken killing spree on Alpine Lane.

•A woman called from Foys Lake to report that a large, drunken man stumbled and fell on top of her daughter.

Small town crime: July 12, 2015

Interesting news reports from small town newspapers


Here are a few items from the police blotter in the July 12 edition of the Flathead Beacon of Kalispell, Montana.

•A woman on Harmony Road reported that her house smelled bad. She suspects the smell is related to her neighbor's pig.

•A Kalispell man complained that his ex-girlfriend knows the combination to his lock and breaks into his house when she comes to town. He was advised to change his locks.

•Six cows were spotted standing in the park and ride off Highway 82.

•A dog that was certainly not large, but too big to be considered small and too small to be considered medium-sized was loose in the area of Conrad Drive.

•A purple-faced woman in a pink hat was seen wandering down River Place. She was gone when a deputy drove through the area.

•A black cow was seen standing on Tamarack Lane in Columbia Falls.