The weather was beautiful again today in the seventies.Chuck worked at the River of Gold, and Cindy
worked at the Nevada City museum.All
operations were slow today, and the train is still not fixed.
The snake man came to Nevada City today for the last time
this year.He caught one rattlesnake at
the cemetery and then came into the museum to make his report.He asked Cindy if she wanted to see the snake
that was in his backpack, and of course she did.He opened up the top of the container and she
heard lots of angry rattling.He dumped
the snake out onto the floor and then held it in place with a long metal tool.He offered to let Cindy get a close up photo
and held it up and towards her.She did not
much care to get such a close shot and backed away from the snake.He told her that the snakes will be gone by
the first frost.He said they migrate
about five miles into the rocky mountain areas and spend the winter there.
We got off work at 6:30 p.m. and drove straight to Ennis to
get a pizza.We were expecting lots of
living history volunteers to be at the Bonanza Inn when we got home, but not a
soul was in sight so we had a quiet evening alone.
Germany, China, Siberia and Train Derailment, Thursday, 8/28/14
Thursday, August 28, 2014
The weather was nice again today, and we have a lot to
report.Cindy worked at the Nevada City
museum and it was really slow, but she met some interesting people.There was a couple with a teenage son and
daughter from the Black Forest area of Germany. They were fascinated with the music machines
and played several of them.Cindy
watched the parents dance around the floor and they were having a really good
time.Music is definitely the
international language!
Later in the day a young couple came in and Cindy struck up
a conversation with them.The boy,
Chanyu, is from China and the girl, Mary, is from Siberia, Russia.They met at the City College in San
Francisco, California about two years ago in an English class.On July 22nd of this year they
started a lengthy bicycle trip from San Francisco.So far they have been through California,
Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.They will be
going through Yellowstone National Park on their way to Yorktown,
Virginia.They will then ride down the
east coast to Florida and then plan to go back west through Texas and then even
further south through Central and South America.They have no firm plans as to how long this
trip will take them, and they don’t know if they will continue their schooling
or not. They have budgeted about $10.00
per day for food, and they eat mostly rice, oatmeal, beans, and
vegetables.(They sometimes buy ice
cream as a treat.)They carry everything
they need on their bikes, and today they were soaking some dried beans in a
water bottle attached to one of the bikes.Chunyu showed off the two pots that they use for cooking.This was a really interesting couple and if
you so desire you can follow their blog at www.chuchaandmasha.wordpress.com.
At 5:00 p.m. Chuck showed up at the museum to report that
the train had derailed right in front of the Virginia City depot while he was
driving.Uh-oh!While he was waiting for Cindy to finish up,
our old inn mates Jaimi and Connor showed up with Elise in tow.They are going to pick up Libby tomorrow in
Bozeman and then head to Seattle, Washington for a concert and will take in
some of the sights including the Space Needle.Jaimi and Connor reported that they both like their classes and have
seen each other every day.
At about 5:45 p.m. Chuck got a phone call to head to the
train depot as there were a group of people there who were going to attempt to
put the train engine back on the tracks.After inspecting the engine, it was determined that the bearings on the
front axle are broken.The train
repairman has been called and will hopefully be able to fix the problem
tomorrow.We certainly hope so as there
is sure to be an onslaught of people here for the Labor Day weekend, and they
will be very disappointed if the train is not running.
Cremona Photo Player and Crow Fair, Tuesday, 8/26/14 and Wednesday, 8/27/14
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
It was in the forties this morning, but the afternoon was
sunny and nice in the low seventies.We
were off work again today, and we went to Sheridan this morning for our last
Montana chiropractic visit.We returned
to Virginia City at 10:15 a.m., and then Chuck drove to Ennis to get his truck
detailed before we head back to Florida next week.(We have love bugs in Florida in May and
September, and their guts eat the paint off of any vehicle they are squished
upon.Therefore, Chuck wanted the truck
to be ready with a good wax job.)
Chuck dropped the truck off and then took about a two mile
walk through downtown Ennis to the Madison River.He spotted three deer along the way and then
stopped at our favorite pizza restaurant for a bite of lunch.
While Chuck was gone, Cindy spent a while doing laundry and
boxing up some souvenirs and extra clothes in an effort to get a jump on
packing for our trip home.She also
cooked an early supper of chicken parmigiana and broccoli with cheese sauce and
had it ready when Elise and Chuck got home.
At 6:30 p.m. we all walked over to the Opera House Theatre
to see the live performance of “Dracula.”The play selection and the performers were way better now at the end of
the season than they were when we saw them their opening week.After the play there was a fifteen minute
interval, and then a series of vaudeville type skits ensued which we thoroughly
enjoyed. There is a 1914 Cremona Photo player
organ installed at the front of the stage and it was amazing to hear it
played.In addition to piano keys it
also plays the xylophone, flutes, drums, and tambourine and is the only one
known to be in public use.It was actually made to play silent movies and
also had a player piano roll on it to play background music for the movie.The sound effects and other music was played
by an actual person sitting at the keyboard and watching the movie.
We
walked home at 9:15 p.m. and had a snack of milk and cookies before retiring
for the evening.
Cremona Photo Player
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
It was beautiful weather today—clear and sunny in the
seventies.Chuck worked at the gold
panning operation, but first he was called on to fix the train as the brakes
were not working.He got it fixed in
short order and it only missed the first run of the day.
Cindy worked at the Nevada City museum and it was slow all
day.However, the first customer of the
day was a truck driver just passing through who wanted to see what Nevada City
was all about.He said that he is a Crow
Indian and that his tribe celebrated the Crow Fair last weekend.The Crow Fair was created in 1904 by an
Indian government agent to bring the Crow Tribe of Indians into modern
society.It has continued every year and
is held the third week in August on land surrounding the Little Big Horn River
where Custer met his demise.There are
approximately 1500 teepees erected in a giant campground and the gathering attracts
approximately 60,000 spectators.The
Crow Fair is similar to a County Fair and serves as a venue for the display of
arts and culture.Robert Yellowtail was
a leader of the Crow Nation and great-grandfather to this gentleman who stopped
in Nevada City today.Cindy was regaled
with several stories about Robert Yellowtail including one in which the visitor
insisted that great-grandfather told him that John Wayne was a Crow Indian who
lived with the tribe until age 13.Supposedly a traveling circus came through the area and noted how talented
and charismatic Wayne was in the part he played in the Crow Fair.He was then offered a job with the circus and
that is how he got his start in show business.Cindy looked up John Wayne on the internet, but she could find nothing
to support this fantastic story.
We got off work and arrived home at 6:30 p.m.Elise had warmed up some soup, and we made
grilled tuna salad sandwiches to go with the soup.After doing the dishes, we all headed over to
the rehearsal hall to use the internet.
Happy 25th birthday to our son, Christopher, who
serves in the U.S. Navy and is stationed in San Diego, California.We love you and are very proud of you!
It was cold and cloudy again today, but at least it didn’t
rain.Chuck took turns
driving/conducting the train with Joni, and Cindy worked at the Virginia City
train depot.It wasn’t very busy today,
but there were a few passengers scheduled for each train ride.
Chuck got off work at 5:30 p.m. and left the truck with
Cindy at the depot.He then walked home
and prepared a taco salad for supper with Elise’s help.Cindy got off work at 6:30 p.m. and she
thought it was nice that supper was ready when she got home.
After
doing the dishes, we spent the rest of the evening at the rehearsal hall.However, there was one small snafu.When Cindy went back to the Bonanza Inn she
discovered that the front door was locked.The front door has been an issue all summer long.None of the residents were given a key to the
door, so consequently we left it unlocked all the time.We often found complete strangers just
wandering through the inn at all hours of the day and night.Our complaints to management and request for
a key to the door fell on deaf ears, so we had no way to unlock the door.Fortunately, Elise and Chuck wandered around
the inn and found a fan in one of the windows.They removed the fan and Elise climbed through the window in order to
unlock the front door.Chuck did not
take a picture, so you will just have to imagine Elise going through the
window.
Monday, August 25, 2014
The high today was about sixty degrees, but at least it was
sunny.Since we are shorthanded now that
the college students have gone back to school, management decided to close
everything up today and tomorrow so all the remaining employees would have two
days off.
We headed east over the mountains at about 10:00 a.m. and
made our way to Bozeman.There was a
fresh dusting of snow on many of the mountaintops between Virginia City and
Bozeman.Our first stop was Costco where
we bought gas and just a couple of items and then we proceeded to
Wal-Mart.We bought two plastic 50
gallon storage containers with lids so the stuff we move home with us will have
some protection in the back of the new truck.(Chuck plans to purchase a tonneau cover for the truck when we get
home.)
We stopped for a late lunch at Famous Dave’s barbeque
restaurant and then headed for home about 2:15 p.m.After unloading our purchases, we went next
door to the rehearsal hall and piddled around.Elise joined us there after she got off work and we played a new dice
game we bought called “Vigilante Pocket Farkel.”
Chuck Wagons and Women's Suffrage, Friday, 8/22/14 and Saturday, 8/23/14
Friday, August 22, 2014
It was in the forties when we got up this morning, and it
did not get above 55 degrees all day.It
also rained again off and on throughout the day.Chuck was on the train again today, and Cindy
was at Nevada City museum.There is no
heater at Nevada City, so we both suffered from the effects of cold.(Of course, the natives think that this is
nice weather, and if we lived here in the winter we would probably think that
too.)
We got off work at about 6:30 p.m. and went home to check on
Elise.There were living history
volunteers at the Bonanza Inn when we got there, so we decided to take Elise to
Ennis and eat pizza instead of cooking tonight. When we got back to Virginia City all three of
us went to the rehearsal hall and sat around like nerds working on our
computers.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Once again, it was cold and rainy and the temperature did
not get above 48 degrees.Chuck put fuel
in the train, but the supervisor made the call not to run the train this
morning due to the weather.Cindy was
supposed to work at the River of Gold, but Joni volunteered to switch venues
with her and work on cleaning the troughs, and Cindy was most
appreciative.Since the train was not
operating, Chuck went and helped Joni clean out the gold panning troughs in the
rain and Cindy opened buildings in the rain.
At 11:30 a.m. Chuck arrived at Nevada City and found a
heater for Cindy, so she was ecstatic.We huddled up next to the heat between customers for the rest of the
day.There was not much business so
Chuck went and gave some of the other employees a lunch break and then took his
lunch break at the Bozeman Trail Chuck Wagon cook off so he could see the
sights. This year marks the 150th
anniversary of wagons arriving in Virginia City, and we bought tickets for the
event way back in June. The chuck wagons are much smaller than the regular
wagons used in wagon trains.We were
disappointed that there were only four wagons here for this event.
The historical interpretation at Nevada City today was a
women’s suffrage rally.One of the women
gave a speech about women’s right to vote.After Elise attended the rally she came to the front to sit by the
heater and visit with us a while.She
was wearing a cute new hat that made her look like Fivel.
Chuck locked up the buildings in the rain, and we got off work
about 6:30 p.m.We went straight to the
chuck wagon location so we could pick up our takeout meals.The meal was served at 5:00 p.m., but the
lady who sold us the tickets promised us that she would put aside two meals for
us.Unfortunately, she forgot about our food and
there was not much left when we arrived.We only got a bit of pork and some beans to take home which we shared
with Elise.The meat was good, but the
beans were sadly lacking.
After
supper, we took up our usual positions in the rehearsal hall until time for
bed.
We got up early to hug Connor and Jaimi before they departed
this morning.Jaimi is making a seven
hour drive to see her Dad in Cusick, Washington before starting school next
week, and Connor drove home to Helena.They became good friends over the summer and assure us that they will
remain friends since they attend the same university in Dillon.
Chuck drove the train today, and Cindy worked at the Nevada
City museum.It was a slow day, and there
is nothing much to report.It turned
rainy and cold about 5:00 p.m., and when Chuck got through on the train he went
to help Cindy lock up the buildings at Nevada City.
It was strange going home to the Bonanza Inn.Elise is the only other one there now, and it
seemed really empty and quiet.We all
worked together to prepare chicken stir fry and fried rice.After supper, Cindy made a broccoli salad for
tomorrow night while Elise did the dishes.
We sat around and visited a while, and at 9:00 p.m. we
announced that we were going to bed.Poor Elise had no idea what to do with herself since she usually stayed
up late with the inn mates.She said she
was going to text the inn mates and then read a book for a while.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
It was cold this morning, but it warmed up temporarily.By early afternoon it was raining again and
Chuck was wet and cold since he was driving the train.It was in the low sixties, but it felt
colder and the train passengers were snuggled up under blankets.More of the same weather is predicted through
the weekend.
Cindy worked at the Virginia City depot, and she was able to
huddle by the heater.Business was brisk
this morning, but it dropped off as the weather got worse.
Today was Duel’s last day of work as he starts back to law
school next Monday in Boise, Idaho.We
invited him to come eat supper with us and Elise tonight.Chuck got off work earlier than Cindy did, so
he went home to start the grill at the rehearsal hall.When Cindy got home, he was very frustrated
because the grill was out of gas and the spare tanks were also empty.He had bought some steaks to grill when we
were in Idaho Falls, so he was sad when he had to broil them in the oven
instead.Oh well—they were still
delicious and everyone enjoyed the meal.
After supper, we played two rounds of Smart Ass with Elise
and Duel each winning a round.That made
us the dumb asses, but everyone already knows that.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
It was cold and rainy this morning.Chuck changed the oil in the train engine
this morning, and then he and Joni took turns driving the train and playing
conductor.Cindy worked at Nevada City
today and she opened the buildings in the cold rain.
It was really slow this morning, but the weather cleared up
for most of the afternoon and business picked up a bit.Chuck got through on the train at 5:30 p.m.,
and then he went to Nevada City to lock up the buildings for Cindy.It was cold and rainy again by then, so he
got wet while doing his good deed.
We got home at 6:30 p.m. and ate a bite of supper.The Montana Heritage Commission operates a
historic area in Helena called Reeder’s Alley, and Elise and some of her
co-workers spent the day working there.We don’t expect to see her until bed time, so it was even quieter than
usual at the Bonanza Inn tonight.
We did indeed get up this morning and eat breakfast at
Chick-Fil-A, and it seemed like a really special treat.We stopped at Sam’s Club to purchase a few items
before heading north on Interstate 15.The scenery was mostly farms with mountains in the distance, and there
were not too many exits.We were in
Montana and mountainous terrain again by noon and we got to Dillon (where Jaimi
and Connor attend school) at 1:00 p.m.
Cindy has been hearing from customers all summer about a
Patagonia outlet store in Dillon, so she insisted that we stop there and check
out the sportswear.The first jacket she
looked at was $434, so she quickly realized that it was not her kind of store
and we moved on.We stopped at the post
office to look at a WPA wall mural.The
mural was entitled News from the States, and it was painted by Elizabeth
Lochrie in 1938.
After traveling 535 miles in two days we were back home at
the Bonanza Inn by 2:30 p.m.We unloaded
the groceries and Chuck washed the bugs off his truck.After a short nap we walked to the post
office to get our mail and check out some of the souvenir shops.We didn’t see anything we couldn’t live
without, so we walked back home to wait on the inn mates to get off work.
Libby loaded up all her stuff in her truck and we headed to
the pizza place at Ennis about 7:00 p.m.Libby is going home to Helena tonight and then heading to Utah with her
father tomorrow to climb a mountain.Today was the last day of work for the inn mates, so we bought supper
one last time for them and Duel and shared many memories of our summer
together.We were very touched when they
presented us with a steel pan (used for gold panning) that they all signed as a
memento.
We really laughed when they told us about what they did
yesterday at the River of Gold.Jaimi
and Connor worked together yesterday, and every time the train went by they
performed skits for the passengers.It
started out simple with them juggling rubber duckies, playing ducky baseball
with a stick, making music with five gallon buckets and steel gold pans,
etc.Then they called Elise (who wasn’t
working) and asked her to bring them some props.They once all dressed up as pioneer women
(including Connor), and one time they wore their inn mate shirts and boarded
the train as jail escapees.Elise played
the part of the Sheriff who captured them and put them in handcuffs.The passengers all loved the entertainment,
and those who rode the train early continued to ask what they had missed out on
later in the day.
There were hugs all around as Libby departed for Helena, and
the rest of us went home for the night.
Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Idaho Falls, Sunday, 8/17/14
Sunday, August 17, 2014
We had the day off so we got up early and hit the road at
6:00 a.m.It was about 40 degrees
outside, and the sunrise was beautiful coming up over the mountains.We got to West Yellowstone at 7:30 a.m. and
stopped for breakfast at McDonald’s.We
were in Yellowstone National Park before 8:00 a.m. and there was not much
traffic at that time of day.However, we
were disappointed that we saw only three bison and a flock of geese on our
drive to the south exit of the park.
At 9:30 a.m. we left Yellowstone and immediately entered
Grand Teton National Park.It took an
hour and a half to drive through the park and we skirted along a lake and the
Teton mountain range for most of the way.With no foothills to obstruct your view, the jagged peaks and deep canyons
of the Teton Range rise abruptly from the Jackson Hole valley and provide
magnificent views.The tallest mountain
is the park’s namesake, Grand Teton, which stands 13,770 feet and is home to
Teton Glacier which lies below and northeast of the Grand Teton.
We drove through Jackson Hole, Wyoming and stopped to take a
picture of an arch made of antlers.This
was a typical tourist town and it was exceedingly crowded, so we continued on
our journey and headed west over the mountain range. We entered Idaho before noon and soon started
seeing lots of fields of amber waves of grain and green fields of potatoes.At 1:00 p.m. we arrived in Idaho Falls, Idaho
and stopped to eat lunch at Red Robin.
The population of Idaho is 1.5 million and covers 83,557
square miles.The population of Idaho
Falls is approximately 51,000 and it seems like a nice town.The skyline consists of the west side of the
Teton Mountain Range.We drove around
for a while and saw several stores and restaurants that are familiar to us in
Florida including Chick-Fil-A, and we plan to eat breakfast there in the
morning.We stopped to look at the
Snake River falls that give the town its name and also provide electricity for
the community.
At 3:00 p.m. we checked into our hotel. After resting a while we headed out to tour
around town a bit more.Of course, we
wound up at Wal-Mart and were pleasantly surprised to find that a gallon of
milk was only $2.12.
It was in the seventies this morning, but it started raining
about 1:45 p.m. and then turned cooler.Chuck worked at the River of Gold with Jaimi, and Cindy worked at the
Virginia City depot.There was a steady
stream of customers, but nothing even remotely interesting to report.
Chuck finished work at the gold panning operation sooner
than Cindy, so he locked up the buildings in Virginia City for her.We got off work at 6:30 p.m. and went home to
find two elderly strangers sitting in the chairs on our front porch.They are former living history volunteers who
have come to visit for the weekend.There was a steady stream of people coming in after that including a
living history grandmother and her three granddaughters and another man and his
son.They have all come to attend the
Victorian ball scheduled for tomorrow night.We will not be attending this ball as we will not get off work early
enough and we also have other obligations for tomorrow night.
After preparing a small supper and eating in front of the
guests (who assured us they had already eaten), we went to the rehearsal hall
and played Shanghai with the inn mates until bedtime.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
It was in the forties when we got up this morning.We got up early and went out to eat breakfast
at a local restaurant compliment of a gift certificate provided by the Montana
Heritage Commission.
We both worked at the Nevada City museum today, and we were
slammed with customers.We met a German
couple and their three young boys who live in Chicago.The man works at the German consulate and has
lived all over the world for the last nine years.He will be going back to Germany next year to
finish out his career there.We also met
a little girl who brought her pet ferret to the museum.Why?
We got off work at 6:30 p.m. and met all our coworkers at
the old time photo emporium.We were
quickly transformed into the 1860’s with clothing that tied on over our
clothes.The Montana Heritage Commission
splurged for this and we all got a copy of the photo as a memento.To top off the evening, we were served pizza
at the rehearsal hall.
It was pleasant weather today.Chuck worked at the River of Gold with Duel
and they stayed pretty busy all day.Cindy worked at the Virginia City depot and had a steady stream of
customers, but it was not overwhelming.A young boy came in the depot with his parents and looked at the antique
dental display.He had just lost a tooth
while walking on the boardwalk, so he posed by the display while holding up his
bloody tooth.His mother then asked
Cindy to tape the tooth on a piece of paper so it wouldn’t get lost in her
purse.
Chuck got through at his operation a little sooner than
Cindy, so he helped her lock up the buildings in Virginia City.We then both got off work at 6:30 p.m. and
headed home to prepare a quick supper.The inn mates ate later as they were waiting for Jaimi to get off work
from her second job.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
We had more good weather today.Chuck worked at the Nevada City museum, and
Cindy worked at the Virginia City depot but we have nothing exciting to
report.When Chuck was locking up the
buildings, he got sopping wet from a rainstorm.Cindy was able to avoid the rain when she locked up Virginia City.
Connor has gone home to Helena since it is his day off and
the girls all drove to Dillon for the evening.We got off work at 6:30 p.m. and headed to Ennis for pizza.It seemed a little strange for just the two
of us to be together by ourselves.We
will soon have empty nest syndrome all over again.
We had another day off today.We had a leisurely morning, and then we did a
little house cleaning and laundry.We
walked to the post office and on the way stopped in and visited a privately
owned museum that we have never been in before.They had a little bit of everything in their collection and it was worth
the visit.We supported their efforts by
purchasing a tee shirt for Chuck while we were there.
We drove to Sheridan for a chiropractic appointment at 1:00
p.m.The doctor had told us on an earlier
visit about a local hot spring in the Jefferson River, so we decided to try and
find it while we were out.After two
hours and over one hundred miles, we got tired of the search, gave up, and went
home.At least we got to see a mama deer and her two
spotted fawns on this trip.
Elise got off work early today, so she ate an early supper
with us when she came home.(The rest of
the inn mates are on their own.)After
spending some time using the internet in the rehearsal hall we called it an
early evening.
Daniel's Last Hanging and Summit Tour, Saturday, 8/9/14 through Monday, 8/11/14
Saturday, August 9, 2014
The weather was in the seventies again today.Chuck worked at the Virginia City depot, but
the train driver went home sick at 2:00 p.m. and Chuck had to take over the
engineer duties.There were lots of
people in town today, and every train ride was sold out.
Everyone loves a good shooting and hanging, and it was
hectic at the Nevada City museum.Cindy
worked there and thought it was busier today than it was on the Fourth of
July.Below are some pictures of the
Nevada City schoolhouse.Tommy Lee Jones
visited here in the spring of this year to scope out a movie location.He is purportedly going to remake the movie,
“The Cowboys” and will reprise John Wayne’s role.Word on the street is that our schoolhouse
will be used in one of the early scenes where a rancher goes to the school to
enlist young boys to help him move his herd of cattle.
We worked until 7:00 p.m. tonight as it took that long to
clear out all the people and count the money.Chuck was asked to participate in tonight’s lantern tour, so we went
home and had a quick sandwich before returning to Nevada City at 8:00 p.m.Chuck changed into some borrowed 1864 clothes
and again played the part of a bartender.He got 30 lashes with a whip for supplying a gun to Daniel who then shot
a man.Daniel got hung once more and he
gets better at it every time.
At the end of the tour, the historical interpreters were
standing out front to greet the tourists.Two deputy sheriff’s showed up and wanted to know what was going
on.They said that someone from the
hotel next door had called them to report that they heard shots and screams so
they had come to investigate.Oh my
gosh!How can anyone that lives in this
area not know what goes on here?Duel’s
dad spoke to them and invited everyone on the force to attend the next lantern
tour so they would be in the know for all future performances.
We got home at 11:15 p.m. and had a piece of leftover cake
with the inn mates before retiring for the night.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
It was warmer today than it has been lately.Chuck worked at Nevada City with Duel, and
they had a steady crowd because of living history.Daniel got hung for the last time today, and
Chuck took his lunch break so he could video the event.A three year old boy broke into tears when he
thought Daniel was dead, so Daniel arose from the dead and went to console the
boy.
Cindy worked at the Virginia City depot, and it was a pretty
boring day.Many of the train seats were
booked yesterday, and when they sell out there is not much to do at the
depot.The most entertainment at the
depot today was when a couple came in to give Cindy a quarter to use the
bathroom.Someone in town told them they
had to pay to use the bathroom at the depot, but Cindy informed them that
someone was pulling their leg as we do not charge for that amenity.
We got off work at 6:30 p.m. and went home to grill
hamburgers and sausage dogs.Duel came
over to eat with the inn mates, and we all told Daniel goodbye and good
luck.We are surely going to miss him.
Monday, August 11, 2014
It got up to ninety degrees today, but it didn’t feel that
hot.We left the Bonanza Inn at 6:30
a.m. this morning and headed to Helena Ford.We had an appointment at 9:00 a.m. because they were going to fix the
heated and cooled seats that they ordered parts for last week when we were
there.When we arrived after driving for
two hours, we were informed that they did not have all the necessary parts to
make the repair.Could they not have
called us?However, we sat in the showroom
for two and one half hours while they put on two of the four new parts.They are to call us when they receive the
remaining parts.
Upon leaving Helena Ford, we stopped and bought a few items
at Wal-Mart and Costco before eating lunch at Panda Express.The food was better today as the new cook was
nowhere in sight.
On the drive home a gravel truck passed us going in the
opposite direction.A small rock blew
out of the back of the truck and struck our windshield on the passenger
side.There is now a crack right in
Cindy’s line of site, so we will see if the Ford place can replace the
windshield when we make the next trek back to Helena.We arrived home at 3:50 p.m. and rushed
inside to unload the refrigerated food.
At 4:00 p.m. we made our way to the Virginia City depot and
boarded an old Army M923 six-wheel drive truck for a tour of the Alder Gulch
summit.The massive truck (which seats
20 people) drives on a really rough dirt road for seven miles along the most
concentrated gold strike in U.S. history.It was recorded that 1.2 billion dollars in gold came from this
area.We went up to an elevation of 7200
feet and saw the remains of several old gold mines and processing mills, and we
also saw an old gold claim marker which is still standing after all these
years.It was a dirty ride, but it was most
interesting and we appreciate the free tickets which were provided by the
Montana Heritage Commission.
We returned home at 6:00 p.m. and finished unloading our
groceries.We visited with the inn mates
for a short time and then spent a while surfing the net at the rehearsal hall
before calling it an evening.
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