Starting back on our journey, we headed about 4 hours into Washington to end up in Ellensburg. This historical town once put their name into the hat to become the capitol of Washington but didn’t make it. Now it seems it is mostly just a college town that stays small around 20K people. Reminds us of the San Luis Obispo town.
We ended up staying at a hotel next to a lake. So we hung out at the lake and talked about possible next moves and what we wanted to do next.
Next we headed to Michael’s parents home in Idaho. It is beautiful country between Montana and Idaho.
We made it to Priest River, which is a small town but great people and beautiful landscape. We helped out in the yard and around the home that was needed.
It was a nice relaxing time to stop, rest, and eat healthier than what we had been from on the road.
We made it into Missoula around 5pm. We checked into a locally owned hotel that was only 0.2 miles from the downtown. Once checked in, we started walking around their downtown. Nothing too different from other downtown’s but there were a lot of small casinos, which were all over Montana. The only thing that really stood out was there was river that ran next to the downtown. In this river, there was a man made surf area. In this area, there was a gentleman practicing his surfing skills. Pretty cool to see.
Then after working up an small appetite we went to an India Curry House next to our hotel. It was one of the best Indian places we have ever been to and the staff was super friendly. Next we walked around the other part of the downtown we didn’t cover the first time around.
This is a college town and was really cute. One of the only things against the town was it was cold.
Now we started heading toward Idaho. Our next stop would be Havre, MT. On the drive it was VERY windy and Cold. One of the coldest I have been in a long time.
On the way we saw a semi-ghost town as the front part of the town was desolate and unkept homes. But driving behind the desolate homes, you find other homes that were more kept up and people living in them. As we drove around we found there was an aviation research area, which we then understood the town.
Moving on to Havre, we continued our journey to the town. Because it wasn’t a big town and late getting into the town, we just checked in, ate at a restaurant across from the hotel and then went back to go swim in the hotel’s indoor pool and hot tub. Both were relaxing to swim and detox after a crazy couple of days in the freezing cold.
The next morning we went to Murphy’s Irish Pub because they were the only one in the area that had a “Pasty” which was basically a meat and potato pot pie with brown gravy on top of it. It was good but not something I would get again.
As we were finishing our meal, we ended up having border patrol, a local policeman, and the manager of the place approach us. They asked if the white Expedition was ours. When we replied it was, they asked us to step out. At this point, a lot of things were going through our heads. When we stepped out, we were told our license plate showed it was registered to a 2003 Honda Civic and hadn’t been paid for quite along time. After showing the patrol that we were paid up and the vin numbers matched from our vehicle to the registration, come to find out there was a clerical error and there was 1 number off from the registration and our license plate. Not something I have ever experienced. And amazed that no one had caught it for 17 years! So now once we arrive in California, we have to get a whole new license plate. Now I will pay more attention to what’s on the registration slip and the actual license plate. The border patrol and police officer were both really nice.
After the excitement, we started heading out to Missoula, MT still baffled that the clerical mistake was never caught for so long and even after we had been traveling for so long that we were not pulled over.
Next morning we got up, and headed north to head into Canada for a couple of days. We headed into the port just north of Fortuna, ND.
After arriving into the port there was no one around. We pulled into the port building and a lady came out with her hand on her holster.
She started asking us questions and we started answering what we knew and was trying to be as honest as possible.
Long story short, we had to turn around because we had an old 22 gun and they would not allow it into Canada and we had to try to find a place to ship it.
Then we forgot we had mace and tasers b/c it’s something we hadn’t used, ever and it’s been in the vehicle for over a month and a half. Because we didn’t declare it, they did confiscate it but thankfully didn’t charge us the penalties because she felt there was no intent to deceive. So we turned around to go find a place to ship the gun. We went to the Fortuna town just 6 miles south of the border. The lady at the “Teacher’s Lounge” was nice to try to help us but due to laws we had to ship from a gun store. Due to the hassle we decided to just head over to Michael’s Dads house in Idaho. Because of how late it was, we ended up staying in Plentywood, MT. This was a very small town and not much there so we just relaxed in the hotel after a long day.
Leaving Keystone, SD, we started heading to ND. But before we got there, we visited The Cosmos Mystery House, which is a house on a hillside that has many areas in the house that are flat and level but it looks like it isn’t. It also has an unexplained magnetic energy that scientists seem baffled about. Going in this house actually takes you off your equilibrium and makes you feel dizzy while walking in the building.
Next we headed to the Bear Country, which wasn’t too far and a zoo you drive through. They are more of a rescue and sanctuary place for these animals.
After seeing all the animals we headed to the Firehouse Brewery in Rapid City, which had advertised quite a bit on the highway. So we had their local beer, which was just okay. Not our favorite. We also had their crab stuffed mushrooms which were filled with crab cheesy goodness.
When we got to Sturgis to cut up north, we saw a sign that said “Best Steak Tips” so we decided to try them. Ended up they were just fried steak strips. Good but we would not get them again.
Then we headed up to Dickinson, ND as it was about 4 hours from Keystone. We stayed here even though there wasn’t much to do in the city. So it was more just to stay since it was late when we got in.
Our next stop was Mt Rushmore. This is such a magnificent monument to see in person. The pictures you see in books doesn’t do the monument justice. It was amazing the vision that the artist had and got 300 men help him achieve it. It’s unfortunate that the true vision didn’t get finished but glad that at least the faces did get finished.
After walking around the mountain that holds this monument, we headed to Keystone, SD to find a hotel. After rounding a corner we came across a shop that carves many different things out of wood. Beautiful sculptures amazingly carved. Then we headed to their downtown.
The thing about this town is its more happening in the summer time so there were only 2 hotels open and a couple of restaurants open at night. After checking in, we found a local place to eat not too far from the hotel. Since it was late we ended up just going back to the hotel to get ready for the next day.
On the way to Mt Rushmore, we stopped over at Michell, SD. This is a small town that is known more for its Corn Palace. Meaning the place is made of corn. Need I say more. This stop was more for relaxing before moving on.
From KC, we traveled up to the Omaha area. On the way up we stopped at a Caribou coffee place. This has to be one of the best coffee places we have been to. Definitely better than Starbucks. Then we got up to the Omaha area and hung out at the hotel/casino. Played a few games then relaxed in the hotel.
After seeing family, we headed to Kansas City. We went to Boulevard Brewery which has expanded quite a bit and we learned that they were bought out from the same company that bought Firestone Walker (which is where we live).
Next I took Michael to Fiorella’s Jack Stack BBQ which was one of my favorites in KC back in the day. It was still as good as I remember.
After sharing a sampler platter, we headed over to our hotel in the Westport area. This was a newer hotel in the area. After checking in, we headed to the Plaza. We started to walk around, then ended up calming down a drunk gentleman. After Michael calming him down, then the cops showed up but allowed him to go. We decided to walk him home 4 blocks away. Which we are glad we did because we don’t think he would have made it home.
After doing our nice deed for the evening, we headed back to the Plaza to walk around. Although due to how chilly the evening was we started heading to Westport area to go back to the hotel.
We did stop at one restaurant to have a pretzel before heading back.
The next morning we stopped at a new BBQ joint we had heard about, Q39. So glad we did. It totally topped Jack Stack. It is now on my list of favorite BBQ’s.
On to the next adventure.