Great Falls Montana
July 24th, 2002
The Malmstrom Air Force Base has two campgrounds, one on the outside of the base (still part of the base) and one on the inside. The one on the outside is very nice, concrete pads, full hook ups, etc but it is first come first serve, no reservations. The one on the inside is not as nice, gravel, and only 30-amp service. We got the last one in the outside park.
Great Falls Montana is a nice place and is the third largest city in Montana at 85,000. It gets it name from five water falls on the Missouri River that Lewis and Clark had to portage. They thought it would only take a few days but it turned out to take several weeks. The above photos is Rainbow Falls.
We had time to visit two museums, the first called C. M. Russell Museum named after the artist (1864-1926) known for images of the American West. He is the third from the left in the photo.
The second museum was the National Park Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center. A very neat place built into a Clift on the Missouri River depicting where Lewis and Clark spent more time than anywhere else on the trail that wasn’t the winter quarters.
Then on Friday the the 15th we went to the other side of town and watched the Thunderbird’s perform for Military family and friends day. We had a great time, lots of static displays, and of course the Air Force F16 Thunderbirds.
The suspension saga is closed… while here I removed the other axle, had it aligned, and the bearings repacked. We should be go to go for a while. Later in the fall I may change out the 6-lug hubs to 8-lug hubs with the larger outer bearings.
On to Billings Montana Sunday for a couple of days. We are making our way to Grand Island Nebraska via several 1-2 day stops.
Later.
