Great Falls, Montana

We have been in Great Falls for a couple of days. Our mission here is two fold. We have mail coming to General Delivery, Marlin's license, and we wanted to have the truck looked at due to a strange noise we were hearing. Unfortunately the mail has not arrived yet, and the truck did have a problem. This morning Marlin took the truck back to the Chevy dealer to have the pinion (sp?) gear replaced. We are hoping there has not been further damage to the wheel bearings.

Anyway, we are at a terrific campsite, the Great Falls KOA. This place must have been designed by a landscaper. There are flowers and vegetable gardens everywhere, planted in giant rock containers. The sites are separated by flowering and fruit trees and bushes, the flower beds are interspersed with tomato, pepper, corn, etc. plants and campers are encouraged to eat the fruit as it ripens. There is a nature trail that overlooks miles of Montana spring wheat fields. I bet they must plant at least as many annuals here as they do at the Cascade gardens in Banff. Yesterday they were working on several new rose gardens. The shower facilities each have a separate room, complete with toilet, sink, shower, benches, heat lamp, and lots of hooks for clothing. In the shower building there are 8 separate rooms and along the inside corridor there are more flowers and potted trees. The whole site is equipped with a drip watering system that waters all the trees and shrubs.

The pool area is a kids dream with three water slides, two 20 foot shower falls, one shaped like a sunflower, a wading pool and two stainless steel hot tubs.

Yesterday we went to the Charles Russell Museum. We had been there in 2003 but it was just as interesting to go again. They show his work in chronological order, and post information regarding how and why there were changes in his style over the years. Although he grew up in St Louis in a wealthy family, he came to Montana with an uncle when he was young and never left. He choose to work as a real cowboy for about 8 years, until he could support himself with his art work. Great take.