August 3 - 16 , 2020 The Dog Days of Summer

Most of our days are pretty routine. We get up and  have breakfast, get dressed and walk the dogs. Then we do our chores

So I am going to try to hit the highlights 

Monday (3rd) Called the boss with the week-end report and car count. Later we went to town to pickup our mail and do chores there. 

We also drove through the Dairy Queen and got lunch to take home.  Tuesday started off  with me attending the WW Zoom meeting. After that we were going to walk around the loop road - and about halfway around we were met by two dogs, so we turned around and came back. My next task was to fill out papers to obtain the retirement money I have coming from Mercy. I worked a few years at St. Mary’s in Enid and had some contributions that I can now obtain since I will soon be turning 65. The paper work took a bit and I had to call for instructions. Anyway I finally got it done. Also I kicked kids off the dock three times! 

Wednesday I mailed the retirement paper work after making copies. We also went to the grocery store, post office and NAPA. Steve wanted a new air filter for his pickup - they ordered it and it should arrive tomorrow. 

On Thursday we picked up the air filter and then went to Walmart at Kalispell. We went through the drive thru at Wendys for lunch and then returned to the RV. I helped Steve a little with his project. Friday, my sister Pam called and wanted me to help JC figure out where a house was located in Perry.  So I helped them with that. We had kind of slept in because there was a thunderstorm and that makes sleeping great! The high temp today was 75. I checked the dock and explained to some kids about the no jumping and swimming due to danger. The kids were smart aleck. So I just stood around and watched for awhile. Then the adult came up and was very nice - she said some of the kids were not hers, they were friends of her kids. Anyway - she put one in timeout (WOW! ) big deal. But it stopped. When we woke up Saturday, it was 51 degrees and a little chilly in the RV - so we turned on the heater. Today was a little overcast  and cool. It was a really nice day and we had less people. Later we drove to town and picked up pizza and the dogs rode along for their entertainment. On Sunday it was chilly again in the morning, but that changed and lots of people showed up. The Game Warden, Nathan was here and I visited with him and we watched the dock for awhile. He was probably here 3 - 4 hours. Mainly just watching I guess. It was busy most of the day and when we walked up to the stop sign there were cars and trailers all the way on both sides of the road.

Monday (10) Today’s extra duty was the laundry and cleaning the Bigfork Access. Steve and I also went downtown and looked at some stores. I was trying to find a birthday present for my sister, but didn’t have much luck. Later in the day we talked to Tony, our boss and filled him in on the week-end. I also visited with my sisters. Tuesday, I did the WW Zoom meeting  and we did our chores around here. We also worked on Steve’s project. The afternoon was rather blah, resting and a nap. Later we decided to walk a bit and headed up to the stop sign. We saw a bunch of cars at the top of the hill on the north side and saw a campfire at the northern end of the lake. We didn’t know if it was DNRC or DNRC leased land, so we got in the pickup and took some pictures of the fire and the cars. We kept an eye on the fire just in case it got out of hand. 

On Wednesday, the 12th we went on an excursion. Before leaving,  we talked to Tony about the campfire and told him we had dismantled their rock fire ring also.

 After lunch we drove to Hungry Horse, MT and went on  the west side of the reservoir. We checked out all the campsites and saw two waterfalls.

 It was a lovely day, slightly overcast and nice and cool. The high was about 67 degrees today. We also found some huckleberries to eat while we were roaming around. We stopped at A & W for a burger and fries then went home. We had a fire in the evening after we got home. It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the campfire. 

Thursday after our routine items, Steve did some weed eating. He slipped on a rock and fell and kind of hurt his ribs. We also did the Bigfork access site and noticed a homeless guy washing his clothes by the lake. While we were in town, we also stopped at the drug store and grocery store. Friday, we found the remains of a charcoal fire on the shoreline north of the dock - so we picked that up. Tony showed up about 2 PM and we visited with him a while. He said the DNRC said it was OK to have campfires on that land north of the access site. But he also said it was good we watched to make sure the fire didn’t get out of hand.  Saturday was pretty busy and Justin, the game warden was here with his boat. He was here about 5 - 6 hours. He sat and visited with us for awhile. Steve and I monitored the dock about every hour. Sunday we had lots of people here, but they were not too crazy. We walked the north shoreline and monitored the action here. We are halfway through August! 

July 27 through August 2, 2020 Heat Wave!

Most of our days are pretty routine. We get up and  have breakfast, get dressed and walk the dogs. Then we do our chores

So I am going to try to hit the highlights 

Monday was pretty routine until evening. I went to adjust the temperature on the air conditioner and it kept quitting. It was kicking off and not staying on. So we had a problem. We slept with the windows open and got by OK. 

We were busy on Monday. People set up all over the place. 

Kids on dock -not supposed to be there. We have no control many days. Just too many that won’t mind the rules!

Tuesday I had WW Zoom meeting and after it was over, we started calling mobil RV repair guys to try to find someone who could look at our air conditioner. I left several messages, but one guy finally answeres. He said that he was in Polson (which is about 35 miles south of us) and he would come our way when he finished his current job. He diagnosed the problem as the fan blower motor. Mind you, the air conditioner was replaced in 2018 with a whole new unit. He said he had no real prediction on how long the motor would take to arrive. So, since it was hot, Steve & I decided to head to Kalispell and get a window unit. Our first stop was Walmart and they didn’t have any. No surprise there. Next stop was Lowe’s - they had one and Steve bought it. We took the dogs along with us so they wouldn’t smother in the RV. 

Also - there is a heat wave here in Montana It was 89 on Monday and 90 degrees today. With the same hot temperatures expected all week. 

After we got home it took awhile to get the air conditioner installed in the window. It finally cooled down in the RV and we ate something cool for supper.

As far at the access site - a door  handle in the latrine inside was broken. Someone almost got locked inside. So Steve went and did his best to fix it. The boss sent his maintenance guy down to replace it the next day. 

Wednesday, the man who is going to fix the AC called and said he ordered the part, again, no idea when it will arrive. Steve also adjusted the awning - because it is sounding bad when we roll it in. Yes, this is the brand new electric awning we had installed before we came here. Everything is made to either break or not work properly. We talked to the boss today - about a guy who complained  about us not monitoring the dock enough. That dock is a mess and a thorn in our side. We also made a few trips to the loop and got some rocks picked up for Steve’s retaining wall project. 

This girl is wearing a mermaid tail! No kidding!

Thursday’s highlight was picking up pizza to bring home and eat and trying to stay cool Also we discovered an abandoned boat on the shore at the east end of the parking lot.  

Aluminum boat -stayed almost a whole week before someone picked it up.



Red Headed woodpecker we saw on our walk. 

Friday’s temperature was 96 degrees!  HOT! Today is Austyn’s 18th birthday. So we talked to her and wished her a Happy Birthday. She got the things we sent her and was happy. Our boss, Tony showed up about 12:45 and we sat outside and visited with him. About 4:15 a man knocked on the door and complained about the parking at the east end of the lot. He wanted us to do something about it. He didn’t think he could make the turn with his boat and trailer. So we went down and talked to the people. They were very nice and had already moved the offending car. They were very agreeable to moving their vehicles. And more warnings about the dock. 

Very pretty sunset!

Saturday it was only 92 degrees and it was a little overcast til noon, so we were not so busy. Steve worked on his project a little. 

Sunday, I kept a closer watch on the dock and parking lot. It was a long day. Again, it was 96 degrees here today!

The ugly side of our volunteer work-trash left in the latrine. 

Girls on horses in the lake. 


Girls truck wouldn’t start so they had trouble leaving. We helped by loaning them our jumper cables. We couldn’t help a lot though since it was a Diesel  pickup. 

July 13 - July 26, 2020 Updating The Blog

July 13 through July 26, 2020

Most of our days are pretty routine. We get up and  have breakfast, get dressed and walk the dogs. Then we do our chores here at the Echo Lake Fishing Access Site. On Monday and Thursday we also do the fishing access site in Bigfork.  We sit outside and do some people watching in the mornings and some afternoons. We also rest a little most afternoons. This sometimes includes a nap, but not always.

So I am going to try to hit the highlights in order to catch up the blog. 

Steve continues to do some weed eating as necessary. I have worked on catching up the blog. 

On Wednesday the 15th, we drove up to Noisy Creek and took the dogs for a walk. 

Later we went to town for Pizza. On Thursday, the boss came by and brought two more loaner lifejackets and the volunteer notebook. This notebook outlines the rules for the access site and our duties. It also has emergency numbers and a little other information. He said he won’t be available this week-end, he is going camping into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, by boat and a hike. 

Friday wasn’t too busy - it was overcast and humid in the morning. We decided to run to Kalispell  to Walmart - what a mess! The Walmart at Kalispell is always busy and the shelves aren’t well-stocked. Also many people weren’t wearing masks. That will change soon though because the governor of Montana has issued a mask order (recommendation?)! The tag line is  “Mask Up Montana!” I also got busy and colored my hair. Later we drove to Bigfork and went south on MT Highway 35 to the Woods Bay Fishing Access site. We took the dogs along and they really enjoyed the ride and walk!

On Saturday, we did all the routine things plus picked up trash on the road up to the stop sign. I also helped Steve wash on the front of the RV. He bought some cleaning stuff  at NAPA to try to get the bugs off the RV.  It worked pretty good.  

As Sunday rolled around, we were up a little late and the bathroom required some extra work. The game warden for our area, Justin was here. He had a guy with him, who was a Captain (Lee). I don’t know how their chain of command works, but anyway that is how he introduced him. There were lots of people here. After our supper, some girl came to the RV and wanted to know what we could do about someone here being mean to their dog. I told her I could call the game warden and let him know. I did call Justin, but he said it was really an animal welfare call. So Steve & I just stood outside and watched the antics. The guy who was being a jerk to his dog had a buddy who was being an idiot. They had been drinking a little too much I think. The idiot guy took a running dive off the dock and cleared a boat. He was going to do it again, but then backed down because the boat looked a little too big. We didn’t really see the other guy being bad to his dog - so we finally just went inside and hoped they left!

Monday (20th) was a busy day! We did all our chores and also went to town and did the laundry. While the clothes dried, Steve washed the pickup. Tonight the people who had started a campfire a while back showed up. I recognize them, because they have an older camper on a pickup. So I kept my eye on them. 

The game warden was here fishing and he talked to us on his way out- we discussed the guy jumping off the dock and this group in the camper. He said he would check and see if they were still here the next morning. Tuesday was my WW zoom meeting and Steve was up a little early for weed eating. It was 85 degrees today and so after supper we drove up to the Krause Interpretive trail and Strawberry Lake Trailhead. It was 9-10 degrees cooler there. Such a pleasant little drive and walk. 

When I woke up on Wednesday, I told Steve I wanted to call in sick! LOL I just had the do nothings! Anyway, I got around and we did all the usual things. As we were finishing up in the parking lot, a group of Hutterite folks showed up with boats and picnic baskets and coolers. I was surprised to see them, they are similar to the Amish. The ladies all had on  ankle length dresses with full aprons, but one of them did wade in the lake. The men went fishing. Later as we walked up the loop with the dogs, some young guys in a pickup, pulling a boat stopped below us and got out to relieve themselves in broad daylight! I got a full display! We headed to town to get burgers - we wanted Burgertown burgers, but had to settle for Dairy Queen food because Burgertown was too BUSY!  There are too many tourists here! LOL! After we got back to the RV and ate our burgers we had one more little thing. That weird camper was here again and one of the adult guys was on the dock with a casting net. I think that is against the law - but I wasn’t sure - so I said nothing to them. Luckily they left before too long.

On Thursday, we returned to the Walmart at Kalispell, because I needed to pick up my medications. I also thought maybe Thursday would be less busy. I don’t think it was less busy, but there were more items stocked. We ate a salad at Wendy’s before returning to the RV. We saw a deer on our way there and also later we saw a mama deer and her baby in the loop when we walked the dogs. On our way to Kalispell we also saw two eagles in a the dead tree where they hang out.

 Reddy Freddy was here today to pump the latrine. We were glad to see him, because that outdoor toilet was full, almost critical.  Friday when we sat down to eat lunch, Chuck, the game warden who doesn’t get out of his truck showed up. So I went out and shot the breeze with him for about 15 - 20 minutes. Steve worked on his project a bit. He is trying to keep the ground around the RV site from washing away more. So he is devising a plan to build it up and fix a retaining wall from logs.  Stay tuned. When it is finished I will take a picture. Then we sat outside after supper and enjoyed a fire. The wind had blown most of the day and it got cloudy in the afternoon, so lots of people had left. We really enjoyed our evening with the fire and music.  Endless summer. We also saw a neat boat that had green and purple lights on it. There was a lovely crescent moon that reflected on the lake - but I can’t get a good picture with my phone. 

The week-end was busy with boaters, floaters, fishermen and other people recreating!

On Sunday we watched the Eddie Sutton documentary on ESPN 2. I really liked it.