Day 6: And on the 6th Day We Rested

Galleries, a Nap, Laundry, and Getting M Ready to Hit the Road Again

Our Cabin in Coram-- You'd never guess this cute little place was right next to major railroad tracks

 We had our first relatively down day today.  That was a good thing, as we are still pretty sleep-deprived. (At least Lisa is, Bob managed to sleep through most of the trains last night.)

 After a rather late start, we headed out to Bigfork, MT-- the Bar Harbor of Montana-- a little town filled with art galleries. On our way there, we saw a sign for a Gem and Mineral shop.  So, we turned down an unnamed street, and drove about 1.5 miles through a lovely neighborhood with large gorgeous houses and a private golf course.  At the end of the road, there were a bunch of cars parked around a little building.  That was Kehoe's Agate Shop.
After much consideration, and far too many choices, I decided upon these two-- which will make a lovely necklace. (Again Nelson, if you're reading, another project for you.)
Montana Sapphires-- the latest addition to Lisa's Native Stone Collection

 So, if you're keeping gem score, -- that is Opals from Idaho, Copper from Butte, and now Sapphires from Montana.  Definitely more to come.

 When we got back on the main road we headed for Bigfork proper. (Yes, there is a giant fork in the middle of town.)  We came away with the glass piece below. Happily, small enough to travel with us until we ship the next box home.
New Art Glass (The wrapping in Hokie Orange to go with the Hokie Maroon was a coincidence.)

After returning from Bigfork we put in our first load of laundry of the trip and then headed off for a nap.  They were doing some kind of repairs to the railroad tracks which temporarily stopped the trains-- so we were sure to take advantage of the quiet for a few hours! (Trains began running again about an hour ago-- oh well!)

 And-- in response to the special request from Mom, the following is a picture of our "Cozy Cabin" in Coram, as is the main pic on this post.  (You can't see the tracks at all.)
Another shot of the Cabin, with M along side

We are getting ready to hit the road for Banff tomorrow morning.  So of course we pulled up Google to do a final check of the drive time-- and were surprised to find that Google had completely changed our route.  Upon further investigation, we found that a giant forest fire had closed down Canada Route 93-- our chosen route.  See the pic below-- it apparently doubled yesterday.
Fire on the border between BC and Alberta-- we were headed straight into it, but will alter our route

So, we found an alternate that is likely not quite as scenic, but also not quite as smoky.  So, we'll see.

 As I'm writing this Bob is outside with M, cleaning her up and getting her ready to go.  (He travels with the following kit to keep her in as good a shape as possible.)
Keeping M as Clean as We Can

Laundry done, and Blog posted, I'm off to cook our final dinner in Coram.

 More tomorrow from Banff.

 --Lisa

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