Sunday, August 14, 2016
We got up early an Sunday morning, packed up our tents and headed out of Billings on the I90 West.
We had some insightful conversations about everything from business news, entertainment to politics as we drove through the prairies and enjoyed seeing the large farms and ranches, as well as the rolling hills and mountains of Montana.
We stopped in Bozeman and had brunch at the Western Cafe ( http://www.thewesterncafe.com ), which we had found as we cruised the main street for a good place to eat. The cafe was packed with people at 10 am, which was a good indication that it the food was very good and we were not disappointed.
After a full meal, we left Bozeman and we were back on our way. It wasn’t long before Spencer and Braeden fell asleep, to allow their stomachs to rest after the meal.
As I drove down the highway, there were a few deer along the side of the road and I watched them to make sure that they didn’t want to play a game of chicken with me. Fortunately, they decided to keep eating the grass on the side of the road and not venture in our path.
Braeden woke up in time to see a crop duster as he crossed our highway about 15 feet above the road to make his turn for another pass across the field. Spencer woke up shortly afterward and didn’t see it but he was able to enjoy the last of the plains as we started to enter the foothills of the mountains.
When we reached Missoula, we turned onto highway 12, drove through the town and headed into the Rocky mountains. The scenery was spectacular and as we got closer to Kamiah, we particularly enjoyed the view of the river alongside the road.
We had entered the Pacific Time Zone as we entered Idaho and we arrived in Kamiah shortly after 4 pm (PST).
Unfortunately, we didn’t have the street address for the MDS site and to top it all off, our cell phones didn’t work. Verizon is the only cell service in Kamiah and it didn’t work with our phones, so we couldn’t call, text or email anyone to find out where the site was, with our phones. We stopped at a shopping area and asked one of the ladies at the customer service desk if there was a pay phone nearby and she told us that there was one at the gas station, next door.
There were two phones next to the gas station but both of them were out of order. The young lady behind the counter at the gas station offered the use of her cell phone to make the long distance call so we called the cell number we had on the border crossing letters. There was no answer, so we left a message and asked the young lady for advice regarding a place to get a meal. She recommended the Hub Bar and Grill, which was close by, so we drove there, ordered some supper.
The temperature in Kamiah was 37 C ( 100 F ) and extremely humid when we got there.
While we were at the restaurant, we asked about a pay phone, but they only knew about the one at the gas station, so one of the young ladies offered us the use of her cell phone to make a call. This time I was able to contact the site director, who gave us directions to the site. After we finished our meals, we drove to there and checked in.
The sleeping accommodations were in a building next to the ‘ Life Centre Pentecostal Church ‘ and the kitchen/dining area was in the church. We set up our beds on the cots they had provided and read a bit until the director returned from picking up one of the volunteers from the airport. In total there were 7 volunteers ( all but Braeden were 60’s or 70’s), the site director and the cook.
It wasn’t long afterwards that we were all sound asleep, except for the occasional snoring.
Ralf Hamm 