Friday, August 29, 2014

Troy, Montana, and the Kootenai River

We’re at a campground 2 miles west of Troy, Montana.

Troy is a town of about 1,000 people, has the lowest elevation of any town in Montana, and is just 12 miles from the Idaho border  Our campground is on the Kootenai River which both starts and ends in Canada. Crazy. Where the river flows in Canada it’s called the Kootenay River; when it’s in the US, its name is the Kootenai. Like many things in the western US, the river is named for a Native American tribe.

Today was a laid-back cleaning day.  We cleaned the rig inside and out (except for the top front which is hard to reach. I’m hoping we can get to that soon because it’s very buggy). We did the laundry and Jim cleaned out the car. Nothing against Cooper, but the Honda had big-time eau de canine going on.

And we explored Troy. There's lots of hiking nearby but we're going to miss it this time.
A private road from the campground takes you to the Kootenai River.  I was walking it by myself and wondering if I should have brought my bear spray when I heard a noise.  Luckily it was a white tail deer.
This is the US-2 bridge over the Kootenai. It's not far from our campground and was built in 1948, said our campground host.
This is the old bridge over the Kootenai. Until the (new) bridge was built in 1948, this was the Kootenai River crossing for US-2. The bridge looks like it was built for horse-pulled wagons and Model Ts, and probably was, but that's Jim in our Honda. 
The Kootenai River and Troy, Montana, as seen from old US 2. Jim's grandmother and two uncles lived in Troy according to the 1940 census.

5 comments:

  1. We're leaving for Cour d'Alene this morning and will be there 3 days. Then we'll be in Kennewick, WA. After that headed for where you’ve been: the Olympic Peninsula area.

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  2. Happy to see that it is still the deer, and not the bears, that are stalking you, (not sure which category Jim would fall into)! I hope that you tested your bear repellant on the black bear eating the local shrubbery, that you saw from the red bus. I think that the best time to test that stuff to ensure that it will really send Bruin running away, as opposed to just really teeing him off, is (1) When you’re on a bus with a lot of other meals for him to choose from and (2) when your dealing with a bear leading the vegan lifestyle.

    As an aside Sandy told me that she had a client who had two brothers who were killed by Grizzly bear mauling. Odd enough in and of itself, but even more bizarre is that fact that the malings were two separate occurrences, separated by more than a
    year, and happened in different parts of the country. She says that she has not heard from this client recently, which makes one wonder where he may be fitting into the North American food chain right now. But on a more positive note; she did point out that his legal fees have been paid in full.

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  3. Jim said if he had two brothers who met their demise as you described, he'd hike in the woods with bacon around his neck -- because chances of a three-peat would be statistically slim. Of course, in that scenario Cooper might attack him.

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    Replies
    1. I love any plan that includes bacon, both Cooper and I would be fighting over Jim's mortal remains.

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