The drive up to ghost town......

We were driving along the I-90. We had to cover some ground so we took to the interstate knowing that we would go and visit the ghost town....... Advertised on the KOA campground, listed as "things to do" it was about an hour drive from the Koa in Missoula. But since the Koa for us was passed the ghost town we would take the route in from the East side, instead of the West side. Thinking it would be just as easily reachable as it would be from the KOA. Remember, families stay at the KOA. Families with grandparents. Families with kids. So it had to be easily reachable, you think......How WRONG were we!!!!!!

Please observe the picture above closely. Try google maps and type; Bear Gulch rd, Montana. just have a go. Zoom in if you like. And you will see the nice roads we had to travel, all gravel, if we were lucky. Connect it to Garnet Ghost town and you will find the perfectly paved roads we had to travel. First off it was nice asphalt going through Drummond. No sweat. Then we left Drummond and got to a nice paved road which would take us through some mountain passes as we saw the sign. Garret Ghost town, take a right. A steep unpaved path going straight up the mountain. A second sign said "watch for turning trucks"? Up a steep gravel path on a mountain hill? Turning trucks? What were they thinking......? Or looking back, why did I not read in to that.....? Anyhow, a couple of 100 ft further up the hill, making good use of the V10 roaring power, I understood the sign. A stone quarry doomed up in between the rich pine tree filled hills of country side Drummond Montana. "there you go, I said to Suus, that's all. It will be easy ridin' from here on in. The next sign said take a left to Barnet ghost town, and luckily for me the path was paved. So again I told Suus; "don't worry, nothing to it". Boy was I wrong!!!! A couple of turns later a little stream came to join us along the paved path. Ohhhh....look at mother nature, so pretty. Another 500 ft passed and the stream crossed the road. The stream had been crossing the road for some time and the further we got the more meltwater came running down the road. The road had gave way at some places, making some dents and uneven pavement. "don’t worry moppie" I said again to Suus who now was holding on to her seat, nothing serious. Good thing we got that V10, I thought to myself. After the next 90º turn with an incline of 4 to 5% the little stream took it upon himself to wash away the last pieces of pavement. We were off road!! "Luckily my V10 has got some lower gearing as well. Time to use it! Around the next turn the sun was shining on the slopes of the Montana mountains, what a view it must be. If we could only see through the thick forest. The road got worse and worse, little dips turned into potholes. Potholes turned into water filled potholes. Water filled potholes were closer and closer to the trees. Branches were sticking out over the road. OK!!! Choices to be made. Do I mess up the suspension, or do I scratch the sides of the RV.....

For just a second my mind wondered off to the moment we picked up the RV. We had just had a nice 4 hour ride in a coach bus, when we ended up in Middlebury Indiana. At the road bear office a nice gentlemen assigned us our RV. And since Suus and me where the ones that had travelled lightest, our RV got chosen to do all the explanation to all the drivers. During this the guy told us that the RV had the feature of the lower gearshift, but we should probably never have to use it. Having had the explanation we all had to go into the office to sign the weavers on all risks bla di bla, oblige to county and state rules and laws while driving. Always give way, if you're not sure who has it. Don't travel over unpaved roads. I dismissed it, I knew better than that. Signed blind while the guy was still talking, thinking; "unpaved roads? You must be mad!...........”

I looked out of the window and saw the next pothole....ouch....this is gonna heard. I found myself driving through an enormous pothole, at the lowest speed possible. It was either the pothole or an big branch scratching the roof. Pothole it was. I heard the suspension make noises I did not know where possible, but we plough on, or at least I did. Suus just casually mentioned, "should we turn around?" but where to turn on a mountain road 2 inches wider that the 10 ft our RV was. No other choice then to keep going. We took another pothole beating, and just missed another branch when we came to a clearing of some sort. It was a fork in the road, with, believe it or not a road sign saying keep right. And another one, speed limit 25 miles. Say what. How the devil are we able to do 25 an Hour on a pothole invested dirt roads, with streams on the side and branches hanging down like big hands trying to pick us up. The sun had hidden itself behind the last turn and did no longer wanted to follow us. Thoughts came in to our minds, and we joked; did you see that movie, Cabin in the woods. And just as we were joking about it when passed a wooden Lodge. It was a 2 story log house cabin. No one was there....it looked abandoned apart from the old Chevy pickup that stood 20 ft in front of the cabin to the left. In the trunk a flagpole, with a handmade flag. It spelled "TRUMP FOREVER", from the highest point of the house all the way to the ground a big white bedsheet hang, cut open to be twice as big. Mounted on a crossbeam at the top of the house. In big blue spray-paint letters it spelled "BUILD THAT WALL". I am not kidding, not a word of this is a lie! The rest of the house was hung with patriot flags, and other American flags and banners. another movie sprung to mind. What were we thinking. the sun was still coming through the trees as we followed the path. The narrow turns and steep inclines looked to become a bit wider. and the path looked to be a little more even. We came to a big clearing in the woods. It was a crossroad point for 4  paths. Big enough to turn the RV around if we wanted. At the far side of the clearing I could see a sign but could not make out what it said. As we were figuring out what to do, we saw a woman coming out of the woods, hand signalling us. She was in her 50ties wearing a black snow boots, and black ski pants. A pink tank top and a jacket tied around her waist. What the...... I looked at Suus, and Suus looked at me. In the middle of freaking nowhere. In the woods. just done 30+ minutes of RV survival. A woman, walking about in the woods.....this can't be a coincidence. She signalled and I roll down my window. Out of breath she told us that she had driven the same path as we did. And got to the same clearing as we were. She had seen the same signs as we did. And had followed the path to find the same ghost town we were looking for. The path we were about to take had a sign. And it said, "not recommended to take busses or RV's beyond this point. That did it. In the meantime the woman explained that she did take the path. But with her normal 2 wheel drive car. And got stuck in a snowbank, started sliding and could not get the car to move an inch.

The morning had started with a nice warm shower. Which I had already stretched for to long. But the warmth of the water was to nice to turn off. After showering, I walked to the RV where Suus had already made me breakfast. Toast and eggs. I had gone to the KOA office to get change for 10 dollar in quarteres for the laundry we need to do at the next KOA. We still had to find the campground for the last stop before we would get to Seattle. Seattle, the last city of our trip. The end is coming and we are not ready for it. Planning our visits to meet up with other lammies, to make new friends like we did when meeting Jill, Jennifer, Chris, McKenna and Caleb, along the way. Browsing the internet, finding the first Starbucks, space needle and the Museum of Rock. We left at 10-ish and had a nice drive ahead of us. A long, but easy drive to Missoula. All interstate apart from that one visit to Ghost Town, Garnet.

Whit a bit of hesitation I of course offered the woman a helping hand. Again that thought, the cabin in the woods. This time with the earie sound from the movie as well. What to do. The woman said that her car was just around the bend. I certainly did not want Suus to come along. But I also did not want to leave her alone. But how can you not help someone in that situation. At this time speaking a language which only we understood came in handy. We debated it and decided I would go with her to see if I could help. And Suus would keep all doors locked. We did see a man at a small cabin earlier, and I offered to take her there. He lived in these woods and probably had some equipment to help her out. But she said that we would probably would be able to do it. I had a quick think, "what do I have in the RV". nothing more than the levellers, which I took. They might work as a shovel. Walking up the path with the snow becoming more and more a difficult to walk on I kept looking around. What was this woman thinking, with a city Honda, through the woods into 2 ft of snow, getting herself stuck. We walked for about 3 minutes, and as she had said her car was just around the bend. We tried, but after 2 tries I knew. It was not going to work. We walked back to our RV. Suus was there, and we were both a bit relieved. I offered the woman a ride and we took her down the mountain. We passed the Trump house again, weird........ After another 10 minutes we were at the little house where we had greeted the man on our way up. In the meantime Suus had been talking to the woman, it turned out she was a X-ray tech, as she said it, correcting us when we said nurse. She was travelling alone, with a rental car, came from Alabama and ended up in the Montana mountains. It just did not add up. the man was walking his dog on the path. And I drove alongside him, rolled my window down. I excused myself and asked if I could have a minute off his time. At that moment I thought it was wisest to be as polite as possible. Before I could continue the woman spoke through the window that she was stuck and needed help. Luckily the man was able to assist. Her said he had some chains, and a four wheel drive so he would be able to........the men stopped talking, as if he was re-thinking what we and he himself had just said. You could notice that he was not the brightest of men. After a few seconds of silence, in which the cabin in the woods scenario again crossed my mind, he continued that he would get his chains and car. I asked if he would need assistance when pulling the car clear of the snow. Keeping my fingers crossed the man answered. And the answer was that one I hoped for. "No Sir, I can manage". I asked the woman if she was ok with that, and with a bit of hesitation in her voice, she also said she would be ok. Before she finished her sentence I was in the RV, turning the key. The roaring V10 came to life and with a honk on of the horn I waved goodbye.

We do not know the name of the woman nor the name of the man in the woods. We do not know who lives in the Trump house, nor do we understand why we saw a man digging in the rocks along the path. But who cares. For us the ghost town of Garnet, stayed a ghost town. We never reached it, and we will not go back to try a second time.