Day 1 – Headin’ East

The camper and truck were cleaned up after our trip to Canada and Alaska. Some minor repairs had been completed, so we were ready to go again. On this trip we plan to head east and revisit some spots we have been before in Montana and then on to visit with family in Minnesota.

We had a minor delay, when we went to load up the refrigerator and found that it didn’t start. This fridge runs primarily on propane while we are traveling, but we can also run it off electrical power when that is available.  It had been plugged in and working fine for days, so it was perplexing that it wouldn’t run off the propane.

Back in the house we went with the owner’s manual. It turns out that when the propane is turned off, it may allow some air to get into the lines.  To solve the problem, you have to repeatedly turn off the fridge about 7 or 8 times. Yeah, it worked! After the morning traffic let up, we hit the road.

We made a quick lunch stop at our favorite Cle Elum restaurant, the Cottage Cafe (Great food for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And they have delicious cinnamon rolls!). From there on was an uneventful drive to Slo Way National Forest Service Campground in Montana. However, we did see where there had been several wildfires alongside I-90 near Spokane. Thankfully, there had recently been some rain to help put out the fires.

Even though it was almost Labor Day weekend, about nine hours later we were able to pull in to one of the many open sites at Slo Way campground. We have camped here many times. It is easy to access from I-90, sits along the bank of the Clark Fork River, has large sites separated by foliage, and there are tall pine trees. The main drawback for this site is that an active train track is just across the river. Often you hear the train whistle blowing during the night.  Evidently the trains have to slow down through this area, which gave rise to the name of the camp “Slo Way”.

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