Trout Creek, MT and Newport, WA

Trout Creek, MT Population: 178 Elevation: 2,372

Newport, WA Population: 2,071 Elevation: 2,142

I am lumping these 2 towns into one blog because it has been kind of a hectic travel situation. We were supposed to stay in Trout Creek for 3 days, but we left the next morning and went to Newport for the next 2 days.

The first picture is the view from Trout Creek. The second picture is the view from Newport.

When we left Butte, MT, everything was going fine. There was a lot of smoke near Butte, but we left that behind. We turned off of I90 at Missoula, MT and went up I93. That led us through the Flathead Reservation along the Clark Fork River. They have their own alphabet that is partially based on the English alphabet, but with some different characters. All the signs had everything in English and the Salish-Spokane-Kalispel language.

Once we left the reservation on highway 200, the air got smokey again. It was getting pretty bad around Thompson Falls, which is about 20 miles from our destination. Once we got halfway to Trout Creek (about 10 miles), we could see the fire. This is the Thorn Creek fire which is part of the West Lolo Complex of fires (burning since July 7). We could actually see flames and a lot of smoke coming up from the forest. From our viewpoint, it was in 2 gorges going up into the mountains.

We checked in at Trout Creek and they said the wind was going the other way so it shouldn't be a problem. Overnight, they evacuated all the way down to highway 200. The wind had changed because you could now look directly at the sun. You can see from the first picture above that the sky was still blue. By the next morning, the sky looked like this.

We decided it would be better to leave now. Besides, the heat dome was in full swing and we only had 30amp hookups so we could only run 1 air conditioner at a time. We need at least 2 going when the temperature is over 100º. If there had been normal weather and no forest fire nearby, we would have stayed. It was a pretty park with private sites. One big drawback, though, was that there was very little cell service. If I went outside the trailer and walked towards the road, I could get one bar. They did offer free wi-fi and it was good enough to stream. Most parks have crappy wi-fi and throttle you so you can't stream (unless you pay).

On to Newport, WA.

We continued up highway 200 and turned on to highway 2. This took us right passed the Priest River Fire in Idaho. This time we couldn't see flames, but we could see the smoke coming up from the mountains.

If you are looking for old, vintage cars, take a trip along highway 200 in Idaho. There are several lots with rusting old cars and trucks. You can pick up a chassis for cars up to 100 years old. One even looked like an old steam car.

We made it to Newport without burning up or choking on the smoke.

The RV park is about 5 miles off the highway so it is quiet. It is also very dry and dusty. Normally, this wouldn't have been our first choice of parks because it has no sewers in the park. They have a honey wagon truck that will come out and drain your trailer for $45. Most parks with no sewer hookups offer at least one visit from the honey wagon for free, but not here. We can go 2 nights without a sewer hookup. I will just have to use the dump station when we leave. This place does have 50 amps of electricity so we can run all the air conditioners we want.

Cell service is not good. Maybe 2 bars. Good enough to stream if you don't mind your show stopping to buffer every 5 minutes. They offer wi-fi for $5 per day (so that's extortion).

Brie is not fond of the park because it is hilly and hot. The dog park is a long way from the trailer and is very dusty.

This is a weird park. It is half KOA which are usually one of the more expensive parks and half Thousand Trails which are free if you have a membership. It's a strange combination. It think they do it so they can charge you for big, pull through sites with 50 amps. Otherwise you get the free sites with 30 amps, back in around trees and more crowded. KOA for the good sites and Thousand Trails for the cheap seats.

After this, we will be back on schedule. A 3 day stop in Spokane and then a 7 day stop in Quincy and finally a 14 day stop in Fall City. We will finally slow down.

In Beer News: I tried a bottle of my Northwest Pale Ale that I brewed with the Kviek yeast. They say that it could carbonate your beer in 3 days so I waited 5. Nope, there was some carbonation, but it was still on the flat side. I will give it a few more days. It may work in 3 days if you can control your temperature, but I am not even trying. I keep the beer in one of the outside bays of the trailer. It gets warm enough in the daytime but it will also cool down at night. That probably slows the yeast down. It will get there eventually.