A break from the heat: July 14, 2026 Ronan, MT
We did have to leave Missoula on Sunday morning, July 11 so had back to back travel days.
The drive was only 56 miles so we left Missoula at the last minute before 11:00 checkout with 2 hours to make a less than 1 hour drive for 1:00 check in at Diamond S RV Park in Ronan, MT.
We stopped for lunch at NinePipes Lodge. There is a museum, coffee shop with stuff, a “saltwater” spa and hotel. I pulled somewhat past all of that to a gravel area where another RV was parked.
Hee… at first because of all of the hotel/spa/museum/shop stuff and the very nicely mowed grass I wondered about getting out with Emmett …
But the water was FULL of geese and so the grass was FULL of you know what, i.e. an incredible mess once I got closer, so no longer feeling guilty as I picked up after Emmett … we had a look around before I had lunch with this incredible view.
St. Ignatius is a bit further on with historic sites and a famous mission. I wanted to explore a bit and if it wasn’t Sunday would have stopped at an Amish General store.
I didn’t get photos because of country roads and traffic !!! There was an event at the airport: fly-in and pancake breakfast. A helicopter looked to be giving ride tours, a seaplane was parked and lots of folks enjoying pancakes!
Next stop was grocery in Ronan, Montana. I had reserved a week at a small RV park in Ronan. I was unsure about being able to bike into town so stopped to get a LOT of water and enough other items that I had to play Tetris in the frig and freezer.
But, on approaching Wild Thing II with my cart…
Well.
I don’t know … inland seagulls are an issue apparently! I had to laugh, though and sent the photo to my brother who lives on his boat and is currently somewhere between Boston and Halifax. Anyway, he is on the ocean :).
On to the Diamond S.
It is a nice, small, no frills RV park. I got a lovely back in site on the end of a row so no neighbors out my entry doors. BUT, the “bad” neighbor is the highway. It is the noisiest of any spot I’ve been in. Until this morning, though, it was so hot that except for walking Emmett, we were inside and closed up with AC running so muffled highway noise.
Emmett, Oscar and I all were exhausted from combination of heat and back to back travel days. Yesterday, Monday, I puttered inside, napped and recouped.
Late Monday, it clouded up. I had AC going all night but this morning with clouds and rain on the way plus a breeze … it dried out, stayed cool and I have all opened up and no AC … which means road noise but I am loving a respite from heat and also fresh air vs AC so will deal with noise.
Other good news about the park is that there is acreage to walk with Emmett. There is also crosswalk to get across the highway and take quiet roads into town so will bike about Wednesday or Thursday or ???
For today, another chill and recovery day: a bit of RV bug removal and exterior cleanup, inside RV clean up (incredible amount of dust and dog/cat hair!), some meal prep AND it turns out that there is a huge Amazon warehouse close so as I looked at my buy list … a lot was available to be delivered before I am due to leave: Happy Day!!
It is 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday, July 14 as I write this. I have enjoyed a good day of walks, minor RV chores and kitchen time in the cool if not the quiet.
Wonderful respite from sun and heat!
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