After 2 nights of wet wipe showers, we hoped to change our fortunes today, with Michael heading to the RV shop that we parked alongside overnight. The RV shop had not one, or two, but THREE water pump replacement options--success!
Michael was able to install it in record time where we had parked, and it turned out to be the best pump we've had. The other two pumps vibrated violently and noisily whenever we'd turn on the taps, but in comparison this one made next to no sound. Since we've had water pump issues three times already on this trip (and it seems to be a common RV issue), we figured we'd buy another one as backup, particularly as we had such a challenging time tracking one down and this brand & model may not be as easy to find in the future. When Michael went back in to the RV store, the store employee was shocked that he'd just installed the pump in front of the shop, so clearly Michael has been building up his exceptional RV handyman skills!
Downtown Missoula
Thank goodness we have running water again, because it proved to be a very hot day in Missoula. A fellow paraglider, William, who Michael met in the Bay Area lives in Montana, and he recommended that we check out the Lake Missoula Tea Company, which sells premium, organic loose leaf tea. Lisette hadn't met him, but she was impressed with this recommendation, because nobody ever shares teahouses or stores for recommendations of places to go to!
Lisette is a major tea lover (her last teahouse visit was in Salt Lake City), and she immediately fell in love with the store upon walking in, with its walls of rooibos, black, white, green, herbal and blended loose leaf teas. Naturally, she ended up buying a couple of small bags of black tea blends, getting a sample of an oolong tea, and getting a chai to go, despite it being a hot day! Michael also loved the "coming up chai" special, which had rooibos, cinnamon, ginger, rose, rama basil, cardamom, chamomile, lavender, chai spice, and sweet condensed milk. A very spicy, sweet and delicious concoction!
Caras Park was our next stop, a public park that overlooks the Clark Fork River. What's unique about this river is that despite Missoula being a landlocked mountain town, there are manmade waves on the river rocks, that provide ideal conditions for surfing, kayaking and even white water rafting! Boards are also available for rent to take to the Brennan's Wave part of the Clark Fork River. We saw a several people there jumping onto the wave and taking turns to ride it. It looked so fun and refreshing to do, particularly as the temperature hit 31 degrees Celsius (almost 88 degrees Fahrenheit).
The hot temps meant that we carried Sheila along the bridge overlooking the river as we realized how hot the concrete would feel on her paws, but she gets quite heavy to carry after a while! So we aborted our goal of walking further along the bridge towards the river, and made a more logical decision: buy another huckleberry shake! We went back to Big Dipper Ice Cream, and as we did the same right hand turn as the day before, we noticed that the same wide pickup truck was still parked before the turn, but this time, its owner had folded its mirrors in. Clearly they'd realized that we'd hit it, even though their vehicle was completely unscathed!
The Ohrmann Museum & Gallery
Leaving Missoula, we drove down Highway 1, where we saw signs leading us to Ohrmann Museum & Gallery, which is "usually open." The outdoor area was free for us to walk around, but nobody was around to show us the indoor gallery, so we guess it was not open this time! The outdoor museum was filled with many impressive, life-sized, metal and wooden animal sculptures, including a bear, elk, donkey, mammoth, and turtle (the latter is welcome for visitors to sit on, but we probably would've gotten some burns from the hot sun beating on the metal!). Bill Ohrmann, a rancher and artist, began creating these animals; he passed away over a decade ago so it's operated by his family, and his son continues to create steel sculptures today.
A couple of other Atlas Obscura places showed up that we saw in the distance as we drove along. The first was an Anaconda Smelter Stack that we saw on the horizon far in the distance, which stands at an lofty 178 meters (585 feet) tall, so we couldn't miss it. We also saw Our Lady of the Rockies, the fourth largest statue in the US, which looks down at the town of Butte over 2.5 kilometers (8,500 feet) above sea level, measuring 27 meters (90 feet) high. It would take 2.5 hours from the town of Butte to get to the statue, and it was facing away from the road to get there towards the highway and town, so we skipped the long trek to get there.
Seeing the Anaconda Smelter Stack and Our Lady of the Rockies from afar, however, caused a debate between us: if we see it but don't go right up to it, does that count as having visited it? Michael reckons yes, because we still saw it, but Lisette wasn't so sure. What do you think?
How Now Brown Cows
Our final destination for the evening was Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park, Montana's first state park, known for its limestone caverns. The Visitor Center was already closed for the day and the permitted place to park was the paid RV park nearby, otherwise it seemed we would have to drive around 45 minutes back to park off road. We couldn't book a space at the RV park online, the office had closed for the day and we didn't have any cash to pay, so our best option was a pullout not too far away.
It turned out to be a wonderful stop, overlooking the Jefferson River. On the other side, there were cows dotted along the ridge, loudly mooing (and sometimes making some oddly hilarious moo sounds, from high-pitched moos to long drawn out ones). Because it was still so hot (and it was cooking inside the RV), Lisette pulled up one of our outdoor chairs to sit and enjoy the view. Sheila also hung outside for a while and was absolutely in her element, rolling around in the grass several times in pure bliss. We stayed outside until the sun started to set, and with it a horde of mosquitoes. Fortunately the road was quiet, with not many cars driving past as we fell asleep.