May 26: Well Glacier was great but both Jo and I looked at each other and said we had almost too much beauty. Neither of us had ever really seen the Rockies, or the expanses of the farmlands where 1000’s of acres were visible all around us 360 degrees. The grandeur and beauty of so many different landscapes was frankly beginning to be overwhelming. Weird I know but how we both felt. I don’t want to imply things we saw weren’t beautiful anymore but we both are excited to get back to the beauty of Maine and our kid’s faces.
Our day started out with the usual tear down of camp which included our screen gazebo which fortunately had dried out after a brief rain shower. God was looking down on us still.
Our destination this time was an overnight in Butte, MT. We had passed through Butte on the way to Gary and Jeannine’s house and marveled at the copper colored giant dirt wall on the side of a large bluff. Now we would get a chance to hear more about Butte and maybe that copper colored wall.
The trip to Butte was a fairly long trip and the first part was a different route than we came driving down the West side of Flathead Lake. This gave us a chance to drive through alternating affluent touristy areas with poorer areas that were part of an Indian Reservation. Reality interspersed with vacation time. It reminded me of our time in North Conway. Before I was in a medical practice I had been through North Conway multiple times as a tourist. The veneer of the strip and my experiences skiing and camping were designed to make me want to return by creating a positive vacation experience. Once I was in practice I took care of the people that shined and created that experience. Most were working for minimum wage and tips and lived in the outlying areas that tourists didn’t always see or if they did associate them with the glitzy fun strip that was North Conway. None of this was necessarily bad in my mind as my patients usually had food, heat and employment but they were living with affluence and vacation wonderland with no real chance to participate in that experience personally. Once again we saw the toughness of the life for many in the West and frankly the toughness of the people that made a living. Working hard. The West wasn’t all that different than the East once you got beyond the amazing beauty. Nice people working hard here and there.
We rolled into Butte with my Tundra once again managing the amazing climbs and downhill 6-10% grades like a champ. I was happy I had the oil changed though as my engine revved a bit at times. Even with relatively high speeds (no where near the 80 mph speed limit but faster than on the congested windy east coast roads) I managed 10 mpg. Thankfully I had upgraded my tank to 34 gallons so I rarely had to stop more than once for gas to be comfortable on the long stretches of roads with services.
The Butte KOA was right off I-90 in a remarkably green area despite being a stones throw from downtown. We were greeted by another set of Midwest verrry friendly staff and escorted to our site which abutted a reclaimed stream as part of a green way revitalization. It looked like the wildlife appreciated the work as there were ducks, geese, baby geese etc in the stream area. This green way was part of an overall attempt to clean up from years of mining silver and copper. Did I mention that big copper colored wall of dirt. Turns out. That Butte for many years produced as much as 3/4 of the entire world’s copper production in the millions of tons. Much of this mining back in the day and the processing of the copper resulted in some pretty nasty by products and toxic pools of chemicals and tailings. The copper mining today is much more environmentally friendly and the smelting and refining is sent to China. Yup we have the copper but because of the toxicity or refining send our copper to China where the rules are less strict. Butte is expecting and hoping the increased demand for copper as a part of the Electric Vehicle push. Now to make refining less toxic so we control the process to the finished product.
I mentioned the Greenway was right behind us and we started to walk it to get the kinks out of our legs from riding way too much. Well as we were passed by homeless people and saw sketchy stuff going on not far from our site, we decided to head back. On the way back once again Jo-Ann made me detour. This time it was to the Visitor’s center adjacent to our campsite. We were greeted by the usual Midwestern friendliness and got to read and see a great deal of pictures and info about the history of Butte and the mining industry. The reality was very much like the movies with intrigue, murder, claim-jumping etc as there were multiple different operations all working the small area of banking that is that wall we saw fighting for the best veins which Im sure often crossed into other groups territories as they were followed as much as a mile below ground. Yup a mile below ground. We don’t need no stinking OSHA. Truly amazing history. We both would have loved to stay longer to take tours of the mines and the homes and hotels that still exist today as historical sites. Amazing that so much history was involved in that copper colored wall visible from I-90.
Well our luck with the weather ran out as far as packing up the next AM. Sneakers soaked as well as a lot of the stuff I wasn’t able to store in the truck. Oh and it was 49 degrees. Brrr. Goodbye Butte you were interesting but time to get back on the road.
Bill and Jo’s Road Trip 