Leaving Garret ghost town

The clouds of dust finally disappeared from the rear-view mirror, and we could see the stone quarry again. We looked at each other, and without speaking a word we knew that this would be the last off-road adventure for this road trip. The sun by now had set behind that house in that forest upon that mountain and we were heading for the I-90. What were we looking forward to a smooth black asphalt drive. I went down the same steep path we had to climb coming up the mountain and saw the same sign. "Watch for turning trucks". The GPS said; "Take the next right" and so we did. We were on a ranchers drive. Still not paved but lots better than the gravel an potholes from an hour earlier. After about 10 minutes we passed the gate of the ranch, and followed the road for another 10 minutes until it connected to the I-90. We made it back to civilisation. I need to remind myself to delete the history from the GPS unit before I return the RV, just to be sure because if they do a read out.

We still had to drive another hour to get to our spot for the night, at the Missoula KOA. And due to all the commotion of the Montana woods we both had forgotten that we still needed to eat. Since Suus was not going to cook after this adventure. And we had thought to have a quick in and out of the ghost town we expected to be at the campground at a reasonable time. But since the woods thought otherwise we decided to get something to eat before arrival. And if there is one thing you do not have to search for. One thing that is always around the next corner. It is a food court. As I forgot to eat beef jerky in 2015, did Suus forget to go to Cracker Barrel. So as luck would have it, where it left us earlier this day. This food court had one. We pulled in to the parking lot and parked in between to other RV’s. As soon as we stepped out of the waggie, there was a nice home cooked food smell. I did not stop to wonder what the cracker Barrel was. And just assumed it was another fast food burger place. But no……no…… The food is a home cooked style food. More choices then my brain could take, so I went for the safe option. Rib-eye, and hubba hubba, did I make the right choice. As well as Suus, she took the fried steak. As we would call schnitzel, also a fine choice. And just as you have made your choice and put away the menu, the waiter came to our table. Full confidence I tell him what I would like to order. And then it starts….. Do you remember the story with Dunkin’ Donuts coffee choices?? Well this waiter started. With this steak I could get either fries, baked potatoes or mashed potatoes. So I took mashed. And which gravy do you like sir? What do you have? I asked. White or brown, he said. Let’s do brown, I replied. And what do you want as a side this he continued. I’ll have the kettle corn, the coleslaw and the cornbread please. We already read the menu and it said a choice of 3 sides. Suus was up, and she aced it as well. We were starting to be the real deal!! We both did it with it without thinking. And this at one of the last dinners we will have in the US of A.We had a real good meal, and even for just that hour forgot about the whole ghost town adventure. We left the Cracker Barrel, and as every meal. Suus had stopped in time. And I ate it all……..

After a 5 minute drive we drove up to the office to register ourselves and the real friendly lady behind the counter told us that we had to wait for her colleague to get off the phone. She was a trainee. She continued to do some work at the computer behind the counter pushed her reading glasses back up along her nose to her eyes, and put her pencil through her grey permed curly hair behind her ear. I think she must have been early 70ties. She had taken a new job at the front office of the KOA. After a few seconds she stopped typing, and continued. "There is another Dutch couple on the campground, do you want us to put you next to them?". Hell no! Not again, I thought. But said, no thanks ma’am. We try to get away from the Dutchies on our holidays. We see them Year round in Holland.

In the meantime another KOA men came up to the counter and said we could pick any spot we liked. It was still off season for them. He showed us a map and pointed out were all the amenities were. We picked one closest to the showers. We installed our waggie on the spot we picked and started our routine. Just as we sat down and I opened a cold beer, we could see those 2 Dutchies strolling around the same campground. Looking at our RV, discussing if we were who they thought we were. We managed to stay out of sight and off their radar. They walked by and went to their RV at the other side of the park. We were só not in the mood. We were both exhausted. Took a nice hot shower to rinse all the mountain dust off our bodies and went to sleep. We had another day of driving ahead to Suncrest RV resort in Lake Moses Washington State. We will do another 2 states in 1 day.