The Art of Serendipity

When I left off in Friday's blog entry we were planning to move from Flathead Lake Winery to find a place where we could plug in for a couple of days since the weather guessers were predicting 90+ temps for Saturday and Sunday.  No one enjoys dry camping more than I do, but when it gets hot I want to run the A/C and be comfortable.  I have spent my share of days over the past years as a soccer referee out on soccer pitches where the temps were close to 100 all day long, and now, in this stage of my life, I just really don't want to be hot.....especially when I have wheels on my home, and I have a choice.

First thing Saturday morning I began researching parks all over the area to find something reasonable in price where we could stay for a couple of days.....and maybe have a view.  If you're going to pay $50+ a day you should have a view, right?  There was nothing nearby that struck our collective fancy, so I began to look further south around Flathead Lake.  At last I came upon Flathead River RV Resort......the word "resort" conjures up all sorts of pleasant images, no?  I looked at the Google satellite view of the place and it looked nice, especially with the view of the Flathead River, and 100% pull through sites that all appeared to be more than large enough for our rolling home.  I called the number listed and Jaime answered the phone.   I asked her if she had a spot for us for at least 2 days, maybe a few more, and she hesitated.....I hate it when they hesitate....it usually means the word "NO" is coming next.  I was pleasantly surprised when she said she had ONE spot that just came available that morning, and it was an end spot with a view of the river!  I gave her my name and phone number and said we would be there by 1 pm.  This is why I hate making reservations, because you get locked into one option and can miss serendipity.

Well, within an hour our home on wheels was cruising down the hill into Columbia Falls.  We needed to take on some fuel, and the local Pilot/Exxon had a good diesel price (including the 3 cent discount we get when we use our loyalty card) at $3.84/gallon.  We last put in $200 worth of fuel back in St. Mary on July 23rd, and since we hadn't traveled that far we still had over a quarter tank.  TLE pulled out $300 in cash from our account (cash gets you a lower price also) to give to the attendant for pump #17, however, this is one of those rare places where you pump first and then pay.....haven't seen that in a long, long time.  I cut off the pump at $300, and sent TLE back in to pay up while I put in the fuel additive.  As it turned out our $300 worth of fuel only cost $297.63, so we saved $2.37.

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From there we continued west on US-2 to the intersection of US-93 where we turned south.  Our total driving distance to Polson was about 77 miles from the winery, and we had about 50 miles left to go at this point.

View through the windshield (excuse the bugs) of Flathead Lake as we approach Polson, MT

TLE took the above picture through the windshield as we approached the south end of Flathead Lake....there was a good wind blowing Saturday and the sailboats were out in large numbers.

We arrived at Flathead River RV Resort around 12:30 and were greeted warmly by Jaime.....almost as if we were friends she hadn't see for a long time.  We quickly paid for two days, initially, not wanting to be tied down if we decided we needed to move on, but within a hour or so we had decided to stay at least until Wednesday.  Site #27 is spectacular, just as Jaime had described it over the phone.....we have a short walk down to the river.

Within a few minutes we were parked, leveled, had electricity flowing into our coach with the rear A/C running.  I then hooked up the water and sewer, then dialed in DirecTV to watch some golf.....the final major of the year, the PGA, is this weekend so I have the added bonus of being able to watch some golf, too.

Around 1:30 we decided to get the car out an drive into Polson's downtown area and check things out.  As we started to turn west on Main Street we saw some sawhorse barriers closing off the street, and what do you think is the reason for that?  Well, this is the weekend of the Cruisin' By the Bay Car Show.....we love car shows, and haven't been to once since we were in Ft. Myers, FL back in February.....you see, when you don't make reservations, and wait until the last minute to give Miss Serendipity a chance to work her magic this is what you get!

Ford

Caddy

GM truck....forget the year, but very, very cool looking!

'56 T-Bird

'57 Ford Fairlane 500

A Hudson

For my brother-in-law, Creig....he loves Triumph TR's

We found a place to park down on 7th street and began our walk east on Main looking at all the cars "ooohing and awwwing" all the way.  I didn't even notice the heat.......well, not too much.....as we walked up and down the street checking out all the cars.  I saw a '57 Ford Fairlane that me of a 1957 Ford Station Wagon my Dad owned back in the late 50's, and of course there were the requisite vintage T-Birds.  

While we were walking TLE was on her iPhone looking to see if there was a micro brewery in town, and what do you know?  There was one just down about 3 blocks on 10th called Glacier Brewery, so once we had finished looking at all the cars we headed down to check it  out.

We grabbed a couple of stools at the end of the bar and within seconds we had ordered 2 Slurry Bomber Stout pints, which were delicious.  TLE then tried a sample of their Cherry Ale and liked so much she asked for a 50/50 glass of the Cherry Ale mixed with the Stout.....wow.....that was a great combination!  This is the kind of serendipity we love.....when we headed downtown we had no idea there was a car show going on, or that there was even a local micro brewery.

We headed back "home" around 4 and I watched the end of the 3rd round of the PGA, and then the end of the Dodger game.....they won again, of course....5-0 over the Tampa Rays!

Around 6:30 I got out the BBQ and burned some meat.....well, I should say I grilled two filets while TLE cooked some potatoes, and made a salad with her famous blue cheese dressing.  While we ate outside the sun began to set.....

Looking east....the sunset is reflecting off the thunderheads

The actual sunset in the west

......the nice ending to a delightfully surprising day brim full with serendipity...

Thanks for stopping by!