Becky made it through driving school.  We both learned a lot, especially how to back up.  We have been doing it all wrong.  We used to stand in back of the motor home and try to communicate via hand signals or telephone.  The way we learned was to stand by a front window, depending on which way you want to turn and talk the driver through the procedure turning the steering wheel to the center, full left or full right depending on what you need to do and coming to a complete stop between maneuvers.  The results were great.  Our final test was backing into our pull through spot.  We did it the first time with no errors, a record for us.  We stayed at the Columbia Sun RV park in Kennewick.  This is one of the cleanest parks I have ever seen.  Below are a couple of photos of the flags set out for the 4th.

We left Kennewick on Sunday with Becky driving, heading for Missoula, MT.  It was definitely a new experience for me.  It was kind of nice to be able to look around while we were traveling.  No real problems on the trip except for some minor over heating while going up a long grade.  We pulled over, let the engine cool a bit at high idle.  We also used the occasion to switch drivers so I got to drive the last hour or so of the trip.  We are staying at the KOA in Missoula.  Nice park but very narrow roads.  A couple of times I did not think we were going to make it through without hitting something.  I am not real certain yet how we are going to get out.

Monday, we visited Fort Missoula, which is now a museum.  It was educational, but we were too tired to walk all the various sites.  Below are some pictures from there. In the one showing the vehicles, there is a log steam train in the background

Tuesday, we drove to Glacier National Park.  It was beautiful.  For a good part of the drive we were Flathead Lake, which is huge.  Below are a couple of pictures of the lake.

After about two and one-half hours we reached the park gate.  Once again, the Senior Pass proved useful as our entry was free.  We decided to drive the Going to the Sun Road.  We did not drive the entire route since we got a late start.  A portion of the road is limited to vehicles 23’ or less in length.  This section of the road was one of the most frightening roads I have ever driven.  On our way out of the park we had to wait in stopped traffic for an accident to clear.  Later we found out there was another accident where a car went off the road and down the side of the mountain.  The park rangers had too rappel down to rescue the car occupants, all of whom were taken to a hospital.  Below are some pictures I took of the park.  The lake is Lake McDonald.  The pictures don’t do just ice to the beauty of the park.  We hope to come back here next year.

Today I had lunch with my friend Mae Chappel.  May and I worked together at Zurich Insurance Company in Phoenix.  We have not seen each other in several years, but found out through Facebook that we were going to be in Missoula at the same time so lunch was definitely in order.

Tomorrow, we are off to Three Forks, MT.  If all goes well, we will go down to Yellowstone for at least one day.

I still have not figured how to get comments working. Please e-mail me any comments at Johnaye3@yahoo.com. Thanks

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