Friday morning, 01JUN, we departed Sultan & start eastward on US 2 toward Sprucewood, MB, Canada, (eg right outside Brandon, MB). We were doing this because Corrie’s nephew, Jason Riesmeijer (or in English – Riesmeyer) was getting married & there was also a surprise 70th birthday party for Corrie’s half-sister Alie. So Dan’s plan was a “reasonable” drive with a two day stop in Great Falls, MT (more on this later). The first stop was Spokane, WA; staying at Fairchild AFB FamCamp where we had stayed back in JUN08 (see below BLOG entry). This time there was no sightseeing in Spokane.
http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2008/06/17-19jun08-spokane-wa.htmlSaturday morning we were on I-90E. During the drive we had to make a “traditional” Ryan family stop at the world famous 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar, Casino, Motel, Restaurant and all around tourist trap in Haugan, MT (Exit 16 on I-90). Four generations of Ryans have made it a point to stop at this establishment any time they were traveling on old US 10, now I-90. For some reason people have donated silver dollars to the bar & they are then displayed for as long as the donor leaves them there (the bar does not claim them, they belong to the donors forever?). Our last stop here was also in JUN08 & is detailed in the above BLOG entry. We then overnighted on the outskirts of Missoula.
Sunday was scenic drive on US12 to Helena then I-15 North to the FamCamp outside Malmstrom Air Force, Great Falls, MT. The AFB is where Dan & family lived for the better part of 1967/68. Entering Great Falls on 10th Ave S, Dan remembered this was where he had his first car accident on the last day of Driver’s Ed! After setting up camp it was on base to the Exchange & Commissary; & a quick tour to find 4110A Dogwood St; the Ryan’s old base house. Once again the old housing was being torn down & being replaced. It appeared that the Dan did not remember the numbering system correctly & we could not find a 4110, but we did find a 410?
http://www.malmstrom.af.mil/Monday morning, 04JUN, it was off to the Post Office for our mail; & then a walkabout on Central Ave. Lunch was at the Top Notch Diner, in business since the late 1950s. Then it was a drive along River Dr (south bank of the Missouri River) back towards the AFB stopping for photo ops at Black Eagle Dam & Falls, Rainbow Dam & Falls, & Crooked Falls. There were five falls in close vicinity to what is now the city of Great Falls. The first “Europeans” to visit the area & document the falls were the Lewis & Clark Expedition (more on this later). Now there are five dams, but four of the falls still survive. Back in the day the river bed below the falls would run dry around August, & Dan & friends would hike down the river banks to go swimming in the remaining pools of water; ignoring the signs warning that water could be released from he dams at any time! Now the river is fenced off with warning signs that violators will be arrested. Next stop was Giant Springs State Park (used to be a city park) & the Roe River (Trivia – what river does Guinness list as the world’s shortest river?)
Last stop for the day was the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. This is a fascinating museum dedicated to the entire three year history of the Expedition; not just their harrowing portage around the five falls of the Missouri River in what is now known as Great Falls, MT. Lewis & Clark had been told of a “great fall” by the Native Americas that they would face further up the Missouri River. They believed the warning & planned one day to portage around one great fall. They were very surprised to find four more falls upper river of the “great fall”! It took them over three weeks to portage 18 miles! Like we said the museum covers the entire history of the Expedition from its commissioning to their “recognition” by the US government upon their return. But as you follow their history chronologically thru the museum, the opposite walls depict the culture of the various Indian tribes they encountered & how these Native Americans viewed the Expedition (& why they didn’t rob them, take them prisoner, or even kill them). We returned to the RV for dinner & learned the local area was under tornado watch & therefore did not go out anymore.
http://stateparks.mt.gov/parks/visit/giantSprings/http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPwhQoY6BdkOyoCAPkATlA!/?ss=110115&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=FSE_003798&navid=150000000000000&pnavid=null&position=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&ttype=main&pname=Lewis%252Tuesday morning it was off to THE Great Falls at the base of Ryan Dam, & Ryan Island Park. One interesting thing on Ryan Island was a small building with very old Magic Chef electric cook tops? Apparently the idea was for people to drive all the way out to the island (we’re talking ten miles on rough roads) to see the “latest” technology being demonstrated by the local public power utility. Then it was on to the Charles M Russell Museum complex. CM Russell is a very famous “western” artist, primarily known for his oil paintings; but he also has thousands of water colors, along with bronzes. He lived in St Louis until he was 16 & then headed west to be a cowboy. He was there to see the last of the great buffalo herds, the loss of Native American heritage & lands, & even the reduced role of cowboys as cars replaced horses. As in most art museum dedicated to one artist there were also many other “western” artist represented; some contemporaries, some modern. In additions were several galleries devoted to Native American artists; including a very moving gallery about the cultural significance & value of the buffalo to the many Native American tribes throughout America (buffalo used to roam all the way to New York state & almost to the Gulf Coast). Sadly the European attitude to the buffalo was expressed by Gen’l Sheridan – kill the buffalo, kill the Indian!
Then Dan took Corrie back to the RV to rest, & Dan went to the Malmstrom AFB Museum. While there the docent discovered Dan & family used to live on the base & gave him a copy of the 1968 base directory that showed that the Ryan family did live at 4110A Dogwood St. The museum is dedicated to the Minuteman missiles & control systems that have been the primary function of Malmstrom since the early sixties (in fact the runway has been decertified because there are no longer any AF squadrons assigned to Malmstrom). Dan’s father was a computer tech in BLDG 500 (still the major control center) known as SAGE (semi automated ground environment). Back in the day the entire first floor was a 650 ton computer that was the “largest” computer ever built! It had less computing power & memory than your cheapest digital watch! It took this computer over two minutes to determine altitude, course & speed of a radar contact!!!
After rejoining Corrie at the RV it was off to Eddie’s Supper Club in business since 1944 for dinner. The steaks were pretty good but don’t order the chicken liver. That night was more bad weather, but no tornado warnings.
We had planned on three days to drive from Great Falls to Sprucewood, Manitoba; but decided to driver further every day & get to her brother Ed’s & wife Elaine’s house in Canada in two days. So the plan was driving over 350 miles on Wednesday to get to Williston, ND. So we started in high winds on scenic Montana highway 200 heading for Williston. The high winds did die down, but unfortunately we did get a major crack in our window & someone missed a fork in the road adding one hour to the drive. For some reason Williston sounded familiar to Dan, but he couldn’t remember why? Turns out Williston is the center of major oil drilling going on in ND!!! There are literally thousands of semis carrying supplies to the hundreds of drilling rigs, & as a result, there are no overnight accommodations for RV’ers within a hundred miles of Williston. We even got kicked out of the WalMart parking lot!
So at 10PM we finally found a gas station that allowed us to park overnight, & got some sleep after 14 hours since getting on the road. The next day we then discovered that the thousands of semis have destroyed all the secondary roads in NW North Dakota. The state is trying to repair them as fast as they can, but with their harsh winters the construction season last only half the year. Anyway after almost losing our fillings, we finally made it to Corrie’s brother’s early afternoon on 07JUN!
Our drive from Bonnie & Steve’s on 22JUN12 was through rain storms that continued all the next day; even knocking out power in the area. By Monday the 25th we finally got a break in the weather & began working on outdoor projects. Unfortunately Dan pushed his luck with the tractor & got it stuck all the way up to the rear axle! At least once or twice a year we get the tractor stuck (or hung up on a stump) & usually get it “free” by ourselves. No such luck this time, & we needed Marty our tractor guy to come by & winch us out the next day.
In between parties we assisted Ed & Elaine with preparations for the wedding on Saturday, 16JAN. On Tuesday, 12JUN, Tuesday, Ed took Dan to Shilo the Canadian Armed Forces base where Ed used to work to visit the RCA Museum, Canada’s National Artillery Museum. This is a very nice museum tracing the history of artillery corps in Canadian History from the first royal British units sent to Canada, to today’s modern mechanized Canadian units.
