Monday June 7, Finley Park, Flathead Lake, MO

Miles – 0

I can’t believe it….we slept through bears wandering through the camp last night! The camp host heard them at about 3 and watched them through the window, evidently 2 juvenile black bears. Another camper had also watched them….we slept like logs!

It rained a lot over night and the temperatures today are only about 19 degrees, so no sign of summer yet. Decided to spend the day here as both still suffering from colds and wanted to get the van sorted out. It is so much better when living in a small area, for everything to have a home out of the way.

The sun came out this morning for awhile so went for a good walk, great to stretch the legs. This area grows a lot of cherries but they are a later variety and the trees in the orchards look to have just finished blossoming and the fruit is still very small.

Putting New Zealand signage on the van provides a great talking point, this morning was one of those occasions. A young guy called Jory spotted us and came and had a chat, he had spent some months in the Hawkes Bay area with a Maori family in 2001 and had also visited again last Christmas with his wife. He is Black Foot Indian descent and I noticed the tattoos on his arm, a design combining the Indian and the Maori.

Had a very lazy evening, cooked some pork steaks on the barbie, but too cool to eat outside. Spent some time studying the maps and getting an idea of where we will be going during the first stage of our travels.

Found some photos I had taken on my G10 of the straw bale house in Missoula and had forgotten to download….a really interesting build.