Hampton Inn' Butte

Okay, montana is wonderful and all, but i'm sooo ready to go home and get ready for our trip. as of yesterday, both of us finally hold the ticket for our flights, at least the international part (JFK-IST). i'm stoked to see ny on the way. now to tackle the rest of my to-do list!

... and Sam get to visit us one day ! Butte was once the richest hill on earth ! There were huge mines of copper here and we learned about these barons and saw their mansions. We went through the mining museum, the open pit mine and strolled down the historic streets. Once copper went down in price, the mines began to shut down and the town has 1/3 the population. Everyone had a story to share with us and everyone we talked to in the shops or exhibits had lived ...

... colors, so on we go!<br><br>Well, tomorrow we'll try to remember to take a picture or two to add to the blog. Thanks to all of you who are commenting and calling us. We can't always answer the phone while on the road but leave a message and we'll call you back as soon as possible.<br><br>Our ride today was 597 miles and a lot of time on the seat of bikes but we're still having fun and are in great health. Thanks for praying about that too.<br><br>Paul<br>

Today we left the vast openness of Montana and climbed into the mountains, through Idaho and into Washington. We crossed the Columbia Plateau in Washington with its huge wheat fields and semi-arid range land for about 100 miles. Besides wheat we passed fields of alfalfa, corn soy beans, peas, as well as vineyards. After crossing the Columbia River at the Gorge we again climbed into the mountains. The day was very hot until we stopped at Cle Elum in the mountains, where it was very pleasant

... The barbequed pork roast. She says they roast it over a fire and make it almost every day -- even better than in her hometown in China. I concur! It looks a little bit like ham on the plate because it is glazed. Any dish with that in it will be good! I'd agree with other reviewers that the noodles and chow mein are an aquired taste for Butte residents that they have been making forever. Next time I'll try the Szechuan for more zip. I'll ...

... things in good repair. It was quite a city in its day! Butte is still quite a city, just not as fancy as it was in that time. .<br><br>Checked in to the Super 8 where the boys and H declared a siesta. Mom, Dad and I went up to see the Berkeley Pit, even though it was really hot outside. Had to do something, y'know! It only costs a couple of bucks to get in, and has a much appreciated cool viewing stand on the far ...

... you can eat&#8221; applied only to pancakes and French toast, so I knew I was safe from embarrassment. Myself, I chose the good old Southern breakfast: biscuits &amp; gravy, while Wendell opted for the standard sausage, eggs, hash browns and toast. While it&#8217;s nice to eat out occasionally, we both admitted that what we cook in the RV is a lot better. Oh well, at least it wasn&#8217;t raining. In fact, if you sat in the sunshine it was quite ...

... collecting some firewood from the nearby forest (I know - we should leave it to rot - but there is tons of it). We had a small firework display going in about 10 minutes and we watched anxiously to see if it either started a forest fire or managed to burn holes in the fly-sheet of the tent. Additionally we hadn't checked the wind direction when setting up the stone circle with the result that our tent is now "smoked".