Helena, Montana

The road between Great Falls and Helena was a beautiful ride.  It started out through wheat fields with hazy mountains in the distance, then started cutting through hills and down into the Chestnut Valley along with the Missouri River which meandered from one side of the road to the other.  We lost track of how many times we crossed over it.  We started hitting some serious hills and curves as we got into the Big Belt Mountains.

Helena, Montana's State Capital has a population of a little over 29,000 and sits in a flat valley surrounded by foothills and mountains. We had planned to stay at White Sandy Recreation Site which has no facilities but Ted found another campground that was closer to our friends Bill and Lois' daughter and family.  We drove to the Alhambra Campground which consisted of a few unkept sites along a pretty little brook beside the highway.  They wanted over $40 a night for basically nothing but electricity.  We had no internet signal and very little phone signal.  Ted did manage to call Bonnie and she told us how to get to her house.  We had to unhook the car and hook it back up in order to get turned around in the little strip of land between the road and brook.

Coming into Helena

We got to Bonnie's and she gave us the code to connect to her internet and with her help found Lincoln Road RV Park which was just ten miles up I-15.  We had to unhook and hook back up to turn around at her place as well.  For less money per night we have internet, cable, full hookups and other services.  I can see a snowcapped mountain from my chair and a field in front of the motorhome leads out to the hills.  The sites are narrow but adequate and we will be here for a week.  It is really windy but the sun is shining and all is right with the world.

Around seven we went to the small airport to meet Bill, Lois and Holly who were arriving from Portland, Maine.  The look on Bill's face was priceless as he did not expect to see us there.  It was great seeing them and we all went back to Bonnie and Tim's for a birthday cake in honor of Bill's birthday a couple of days earlier.  We stayed and chatted for awhile and returned to the campground.