In the Ups and Downs (Days 4-6)

Day 4

Monday, July 15, 2013

Another big day of driving as we conquered the Montana terrain. The scenery was pretty dry and open as far as the eye could see. 





Then we turned a corner and suddenly it got green. 


Right around Flathead lake. The biggest lake either of us have seen!


After the lake, Montana looked very similar to Washington with lots of trees and greenery. The only big difference was the huge mountains surrounding us constantly on all sides.

There was a Costco in Kalispell, Montana that we stopped at to stock up on some groceries. Gotta love Costco! We grabbed some dinner at Taco Bell and continued on.

We made reservations at Mountain Meadow RV Park & Campground. I think RV places need to get more creative in their names. Geez... I liked the one of a hotel we passed – Do Drop Inn. Now there's a good name! Lol

Anyhow, this RV park was BEAUTIFUL! It even had a pond they stocked with trout so you could fish in it! Very scenic, the only downside to the place was the challenge of getting in and out of your camping spot as the roads were very steep and had a lot of sharp turns.

We dropped off our trailer and hit the town of Hungry Horse (who's coming up with these names??? lol). We explored a few gift shops and just looked around the town. 





We took the girls back to the pond at the RV park and chased them around. They loved that. We even saw a Osprey flying around looking for dinner. Afterwards, we settled down for another cozy evening with full trailer hookups.

Day 5

Tuesday, July 16^th 2013

Ellie's been climbing into bed with us the last few mornings and falling asleep with her foot in my stomach and hair in Caleb's face. But we don't mind too much as we enjoy cuddling with our little girl who's getting big too fast. Juliet on the other hand, has been waking us up early, and not laying back down to go to sleep. She wants to play even if she didn't get to bed till way late. Always our little energizer bunny. So late nights and early mornings look like the schedule till we adjust to the traveler's life, lol.

Today we get to explore Glacier National Park. We left our trailer at a Super 1 grocery store and headed to the park. It was amazing! A beautiful tapestry of God's handiwork everywhere you looked. 

Waterfalls, giant mountains looming on either side and sheer drop offs overlooking deep valleys and green forests. Ahhh, just amazing. The only setback was they were doing construction work on some of the road so there were a few long waits in line... but once we got through it wasn't so bad. 

 The higher we climbed, the smaller we seemed amidst the grandeur of such a place. And to think, here we are just a small whisper before such giants, yet God cares for each and every one of us. There are so many incredible things in the world that show His fingerprints, yet we are the ones that bear His image. Now that's an incredible legacy. 

Leaving behind the beautiful park, we went back to collect our trailer. Once hooked back up, we headed off, prepared for a late night drive. The girls weren't so happy about this and had a hard time falling asleep. =( 


At 1am, we pulled into a Walmart in Butte, Montana. Once again, the Walmart parking lot was prime real estate. Cracks me up seeing so many trailers boon docking it at a store where I generally don't shop. And here I am, finding a surprising friend in Walmart. But, you didn't hear that from me. =P

Day 6

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Groggily, we awoke to Juliet's cheerful voice. Ellie climbed into bed with us as Juliet bounced around. There was no going back to the land of the dreamers. Ugh, lol. At least we get to spend the morning with our cutie pies. 


Now, road tripping is fun and all, but it's been a ton of work as well. We began thinking maybe we needed a break from so much driving and wanted to do something outside. 

So we drove around a bit and found a sign that said “Lewis and Clark Caverns.” Well that looked like fun. We pulled up to the place and unhooked our trailer at the designated area. I rummaged through our stuff to gather warmer items as the caves would be colder. 

It always amazes me how everything can change in a split of a second. One moment we're getting ready to go, the next, Juliet had fallen onto her face on the road. 
Poor Juliet's nose was swollen and she pushed away every effort we made to put ice on her bruised face. We loaded up in the car and went to the nearest doctor's clinic. The doctor checked her out - final diagnosis - her nose wasn't broken... just some road rash. We were thankful it wasn't worse.






We ended up stopping at Three Forks RV park. Juliet was doing just fine so we played with the girls at the little playground there and then sat down to a nice dinner. I was even able to get some laundry done that night. 





In all honestly, we were kind of feeling like going home at this point. It's been so much work with driving and keeping the girls happy and safe... The trailer's been great, but its difficult with two little ones, and little climbers at that. We thought about how we got to where we are now... how many doors God opened to even make this trip possible... 

We had put our house up for sale on a Thursday night. The very next day we had four people come through to look at it. Three made offers and two of those started a bidding war. We accepted the last offer made on Friday which was exactly what we needed. In just the three years we had owned the house, we were able to sell it for 30% more than the price we had paid. We were astounded. The house appraised just fine, the inspection went well, we moved out and found just the right vehicle, and just the right trailer. So many details that couldn't have been coincidence. 

We have to go on. There's a reason for this trip and we don't want to miss out on it. =) So we're gonna keep on going, thanking God for this opportunity through all the highs and lows.