Road Trip, Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Tuesday, June 10, 2014    

We were off work today, so we decided to take a road trip to Missoula as we heard it was a “neat town.”  Also, Chuck got an e-mail that one of his favorite restaurants, Red Robin, was offering 20% off the total bill, and he was in a Red Robin mood.  There are only two Red Robin’s in the whole state, and there is one in Missoula. 

We left home at 8:30 a.m. and stopped in Sheridan for our regularly scheduled chiropractic appointment.  The doctor told us that Missoula was considered the artsy fartsy Seattle of Montana. 

The drive was very scenic through the mountains, but most of the snow has now melted.  After driving 200 miles, we arrived in Missoula at about 1:30 p.m.  We headed to the Missoula carousel in the downtown area.  Mike (the older guy we live with who fixes the music machines) said that this carousel was a must see.  Under the leadership of a local cabinet maker, the whole town came together and volunteered 100,000 hours to make the concept of a carousel a reality.  The cabinet maker taught others to carve, mechanics began restoring 16,066 pieces of the inner workings of an old carousel they had purchased, and painters were recruited.  They bought an old pipe organ for $60,000 which Mike restored, and they carved a new front for the organ.  The carousel has been in operation since May 27, 1995, and it’s a beauty.  We purchased tokens for seventy five cents each and took a ride.  This was the fastest and roughest carousel we have ever ridden.  They had a dragon head hanging near the carousel, and outside riders grabbed for rings dispensed from his mouth.  Whoever got the golden ring won a free ride on the carousel.   

We then drove through town and saw nothing we were interested in inspecting closer.  The town was very spread out in a valley with mountains surrounding it on all sides.  The approximate population of Missoula is about 69,000 compared to Bozeman which has about 39,000 inhabitants.  There was plenty of shopping in Missoula, but we decided we would take Bozeman over Missoula any old day.   

After eating at Red Robin, we headed 115 miles over the mountains to Helena as we heard there were several things to see and do there.  We got into town at 5:30 p.m. and were a mile from our chosen hotel when we heard terrible noises.  Chuck pulled over and looked under the car but could see no problem.  We started out again and he realized that the power steering was not functioning.  We luckily soon came to an auto parts place and pulled into the parking lot.  Chuck purchased a new belt but then discovered that the harmonic balancer had broken.  The auto parts place said they could not get one until Thursday so we called AAA to tow us to the local Ford dealer.  The tow truck arrived at 7:30 p.m. and we rode with him and dropped the car off in the Ford parking lot.  They were closed, but we plan to be there at 7:00 a.m. in the morning when they open.  The tow truck driver took us to a hotel about a mile from the Ford dealership and we were lucky to get the last room available.  We told the desk clerk that we would be walking to Ford in the morning, but he said they had a shuttle we could take.  Lucky again!  We also feel very blessed that we broke down in Helena and not on the long drive through the mountains.  That 20% we saved at Red Robin cost us way more than that in gas and no telling how much in car repairs.