Great Falls Tonight

31 March


We left our truck stop in Ogden, UT  fairly early around 8:30 AM without breakfast because we knew there was a nice restaurant about an hour down the road in a small town in Idaho, called Malad, where we could have breakfast.  We have stopped here several times for lunch and it also has reasonable priced fuel at their small truck stop. A few years ago a trucker told me that this truck stop  usually had the best price in Idaho so if I need fuel I do stop here. This is small town of about 5000 and it  appears to have all the necessary  services for the area since the closes larger area would be SLC which is about 2 hours away. I should add that this is definitely Cattle Country.


After breakfast we headed for Great Falls, MT where we would spend the night at the WalMart "RV Park ". We knew we would have to stop in Boulder , MT for fuel as it too is our regular fuel stop. However, just before Dillon, MT is a very small town called Dell where they make excellent Cinnamon Buns and if you do need to eat , the meals are huge. We have never been able to finish a meal.  The population is 35; yes 35 but the truckers stop for a hardy meal  and the town has several cabins for hunters.
We order two Cinnamon buns and Holy Moly they where the size of a small cake. We managed to eat one bun but had to bring the other one home.


In Dillon, MT  we leave I-15 and take another road around the Leeward side of the Butte mountains as I never care to climb anymore mountains that I have too and the ride down the other side is fraught with too many turns.
About 10 miles out of Boulder, MT there was a few miles of road construct  and just as I came to I stop I hit a small bump and I noticed a noise that sounded much like an exhaust leak. As I pulled into the Truck stop at Boulder I was sure there was a problem. As I was filling with fuel I crawled under the engine compartment and confirmed that the front muffler hanger had broke off . There wasn't much I could do so I headed down the road to Helena thinking of a way to secure the muffler. I was thinking  ( out loud ) that I might have some wire in my tool box and that would hold the muffler in place,  when Carroll suggested that a wire coat hangar might hold the muffler in place. What a good idea; So she is not just a pretty face after all.
Since we were in the mountains again there was a "Chain up " parking area so I pulled over and crawled under the MH again and wired up the muffler so it now had a replacement hanger that would suffice until we get home.
We pulled into the Wal-Mart in Great Falls about 5 PM and as we expected there where lots of Snowbirds ( mostly Albertans ) parked there for the night. Luckily they left a nice spot for us so I just pulled and parked. After a day like this it was "Miller Time" . cheers