The End and The Beginning This leg marked the end of our solo trip to join the caravan with us driving our last leg from Garryowen, MT, to Great Falls, MT, where we met up with all but one other RVs in our journey to Alaska. We departed Garryowen at 7:15 AM on a cool Wednesday morning, but we still dressed in shorts and T-shirts. A 25 mph northwest wind hit us head on most of the trip, bringing even cooler weather. We stopped about 2 hours southeast of Great Falls and switched to jeans and long sleeves, arriving in Great Falls about 1:30 PM. After checking in at the campground office, we set up and were immediately greeted by several caravan members who had already arrived. After introductions, large decals were applied to front and rear driver’s side of the motorhome and rear driver’s side of the Saturn. Our first caravan meeting was at 7 PM, and included basic information about the trip, and some do’s and don’ts based on lessons learned from past caravans. If you remember the old television show, Wagon Train, or have read or seen many historical accounts about wagon trains, this is a modern day equivalent. There are all kinds of folks from many different walks of life, and at various income levels. As of this writing, there doesn’t seem to be any bad “eggs”, though one couple was weeded out just before meeting in Great Falls.
Day 2  The falls from which the name “Great Falls” was derived have now been converted to hydroelectric facilities, and lack the visual appeal they must have had when first observed by Meriwether Lewis. On our way to Walmart for some last minute shopping in the US, we opted to tour the Charles M. Russell Art Museum, Studio, and House. It was awesome, with many of his great paintings and sculptures, and lots of artifacts he acquired through gift or purchase dating in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This is a must see if you’re in the Great Falls area. We completed last minute shopping, ate some pre-contraband soup (we’re not sure if we can take it into Canada), and hooked-up the Saturn, ready to depart tomorrow. We had a “stand-up” meeting again tonight to briefly discuss our travel plans from Great Falls to Lethbridge, AB, Canada. We will be traveling in a group with Ron and Hazel, Don and Joyce, and Charles and Julie. Within the caravan, for the remainder of the trip, our motorhome and/or car will be known as Alaska 7.
Kay’s Take We are very pleased with the warm reception we have received from the other RVers in our caravan. The wagon master has done an incredible job of organizing for this trip and planning every leg of our journey. We were invited to travel with 3 other couples and they all seem as excited as we are about this journey. We will be able to communicate with each other via CB radios also as we travel.
SADLY as we were not able to add Canada to our North American Freedom Plan (Alltel and Verizon haven’t ‘officially merged’ many areas), we will be turning our phones off tomorrow before we cross the border and leaving them off for 20 days as we travel thru Canada to the Border of Alaska. We will have wi-fi at several of our campgrounds as we travel and hope to check our e-mail every 2-3 days. If you need to communicate with us, send us an e-mail to our normal e-addresses and we’ll reply as soon as we get service.
I want to add to our earlier write-up — in addition to the Charles M. Russell Art Musem — the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center here in Great Falls is a Do Not Miss activity.
The highs have been in the 80’s but dry and the lows in the 40s & 50s. There was a beautiful sunset tonight – pink and purple and the aspen tree next to our RV is ‘quaking’. God is good.
Campground Dick’s RV Park, Great Falls, MT. Not exceptional, but more than adequate and probably the best in the area.
Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 10,781.7
Beginning Time: 7:15 AM MDST
Ending Mileage: 11,068.9
Ending Time: 1:30 PM MDST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 287.2
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 1677.4