Salish meaning "place with bull trout"

I've always wondered what "Missoula" meant.......I don't know if I feel more enlightened right now, or disappointed.....I thought it would have a more exotic meaning, but I should have known it wouldn't be after finding out what Kalispell meant.  The Salish people seem to have been very understated when it came to naming things.

Of course, Missoula was our destination for Friday......it is where we planned to leave the coach while we drove the T-Bird down to South Jordan, UT to attend the wedding of my brother's daughter Ingrid.  It seems like she was just a little kid a couple of years ago, and now she's over 21, and getting married......life is going by way, way too fast.

We were ready to go around 9 am, but wanted to say our "until next times" to Chris and Cherie, so I sent Cherie an instant message to see if they were up yet, and got a pretty quick reply that they were "in the process" of getting up, so I told her we were leaving in about 30 minutes.

It is always a little bittersweet when it is time to say "until next time", but it gets less so each time, because we know there will be a next time......you just never know when your paths will cross again.

We pulled out of Flathead River RV Resort at just 9:40 am and headed south toward Missoula.  It was already heating up as we gradually climbed to around 4,000' before descending gently into "the place with bull trout" around 11:20.  Our specific destination was the Missoula Fairgrounds on South Ave.  When we were making our plans a month, or so ago we were trying to figure out where to leave the coach while we headed to Utah.  Why I didn't think of the Fairgrounds right away I'm not sure, because we stayed there overnight back in late May of 2012 on our way to Coeur d'Alene, ID.  It is the perfect place on several levels.....it only costs $17 per night with 20 amp electricity, there is security, and it is surrounded by a fence.  On top of that you cannot see our coach until you are almost upon it.

I had spoken with Glenn Millhouse a few days ago, and he said they had a spot for us, so just call him when we arrived, and he would direct us......true to his word, he answered his phone, and was there in 60 seconds to get us settled.....within 30 minutes we were parked, hooked up to electricity, running A/C, and had been to the office to register and pay our fee for 4 days.

When we were in Indianapolis way back in early June I found a pair of Nunn-Bush docksider shoes that had little wear on them for $3.49 at a local thrift store that were in excellent condition, but need some very minor repair.  As of Friday I hadn't found a place to do the work, so they had sat in my closet unused.  TLE found a repair place just 4 blocks from our location, so we drove over to drop the shoes off.  The nice gentleman said he would have them ready by 4 pm.  We then headed over to the shopping area to pick up a wedding gift, and some sandals for TLE to go with her wedding outfit.

Might I say the traffic in Missoula is horrific this time of year....at least I am hoping it is just this time of year.  If it is like this all year round they have got a real problem, but I suspect it is just the vacation crowds.

By the time we finished with our errands it was after 2:30, so we headed back to the coach where we huddled in the cool air conditioned interior of the coach....I took a nap, and TLE read.  At just after 4 pm we headed back to the shoe repair store and picked up the shoes....they looked brand spankin' new!  I put them on while TLE drove us back to the down town area for an early dinner at Iron Horse Bar and Grill on Higgins, which we also had visited on our last stop in Missoula last year.  TLE ordered a pint of the Smoke Scotch Ale and for me a pint of Moose Drool.  

There is a cool quote on the wall by John Steinbeck about Montana.....it goes like this.....“I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it.”  I think that pretty much summarizes our feelings about our time in Montana.

We headed back home a little before 5:30 and I settled in to watch the Dodger game in Philadelphia.  Of course......of course they won again.  At 41 and 8 they now own the best 49 game record in baseball since the Giants in 1912 (42 and 7), and the Cubs in 1905 (45 and 4)......now we are getting into some serious baseball history.  On top of that the Dodgers now own the best road record in MLB this year, and have won 18 of their last 19 games on the road.  Two more wins and only the 1905 Cubs will have done better.

Since we want to be on the road no later than 6 am Saturday we went to bed at 10......for some reason that just doesn't work for me.....I've been used to going to bed after 11 for so long now I just lay there tossing and turning until after 11......:-(

The next couple of days will be filled with reuniting with family and friends as many many folks converge on South Jordan for the wedding.  It will be the first time we have spent the night away from our Newell since Indianapolis in early June.

Thanks for stopping by!