12-1-08 Monday (Plant Killing Sweeteners)

It's so damn foggy out today. The weather here has been less than stellar. Tomorrow is forecasting snow and the rest of the week partly cloudy. Here's what the fog looks like:

What did you expect? Oh, something like this?

We're combating condensation in the coach. It's a common problem in RV's when it's cold out. Several sources say to vent when showering and cooking. Of course this makes the heat go out. It's a lose lose situation. There's moisture in the closets/cabinets where it typically stays cold. The windshield is single pane, so it's always wet. The house windows are double paned so we don't get moisture there. Between the mattress and the wall is also wet. We have several Damp-rid's all over the place. We'll start opening the roof vents a little and see if that helps.

Today, we're going to the car museum and then on to Butte to see their downtown. It's about 2 hours each way so we'll have to bring Dasher. He'll have to sit in the car while we're in the museum. I hate doing that, but it's not at all hot out. In general, even if the temperature is perfect, I still hate leaving him in a car. I don't want to leave him alone for 6 hours in the coach, for fear of pee. We have peepee pads but he's not necessarily been trained to utilize them.

On our roadtrip, we stopped off in Drummond for a potty break. I snapped this photo: I thought it was humorous:

OK, we're back. 6 hours later. Missoula is still covered in fog. The trip to Butte: The car museum was closed. They're only open Wednesday through Sunday. I guess we should have called ahead. Next door to the car museum is an old prison built in the 1800's. It was closed as well. Across the street was a Prison Hobby store. I just had to see what they sold there. Errrrrr, it was closed too. Sigh. No really. But it did have a back in 5 minutes sign hanging. I'm sure it had already been hanging there for 40 minutes. Why not put the time you'll return rather than be back in 5 minutes. 5 minutes starting now or 2 minutes ago? It's cold out there, and with the common household microwave to thank, 5 minutes is eternity.......must get air...... OK, I've pulled myself together. I looked in the window and saw nothing of interest, so we skipped it. The sign itself was worth my time.

We then went onto the downtown area. Really neat looking old buildings. Lots of historical goodies there. Stopping at the visitor's center, we asked for a unique place to eat. As she watered her plants, she babbled 2 places and gave us directions as if we had lived there all of our lives. HELLO, you're a visitor center and I'm a visitor. How about a friggin' map? We winged it and found one of the places she had recommended called Metals Sports Bar which was an old bank (called Metals Bank) complete with a large vault. The woodwork detailing was awesome, and the window surrounds were in copper. Oh, and I hope her plant dies.

Speaking of copper, Butte was a large copper mining town back in it's day. It still has 14 headframes (mining towers) although I believe all mining has ended.

Another rant (much like the past 2 in this entry), so, I ask the waitress if they have any kind of sweet tea. She picks up the sweetener packet holder and waves it saying "No, but we have this." My first impression was RUDE, but she ended up being nice and attentive. That's not my bitch though. For any of you readers who work as food servers: Do not assume your customer is experiencing their first time eating out. In fact, you can simply say no to the sweet tea, and NOT suggest the sweeteners on the table but rather, shove them up your ass. I'm not stupid; I'm well aware of the stupid sweeteners. Is their a restaurant on the planet that doesn't have the sweetener caddy? Jim had a vidalia burger and I had a popular Butte dish. I breaded, fried, pork chop sandwich. I omitted the pickles and mustard and then added cheese. I probably should have had the mustard on it because it was kinda bland. I like pickles, just not on anything. Mustard is good for hotdogs only. Well, that's me, anyway.

Butte was also the birthplace of Evel Knievel. They have a festival each year.

We're going to go back to Butte on Wednesday. Jim wants to see the Auto Museum and we both want to see the prison..... as long as we can leave.... voluntarily.

There's still more! Keep reading!

A park of sorts with metal cutouts. Like Wyoming only it's Montana. Like Buffalo, only it's people. Oh nevermind. It's almost the same.

Cool building in downtown Butte.

Abandoned building. The one in the background had no windows. I'd abandon it too! They have great bones though.

Look at the rounded part of the building on the left. It just hangs above the sidewalk. Awesome.

Awesome, it was called the something or another mansion.

Did I get a cool photo or what? This is one of the fourteen headframes.

The one on the left was lavender. Neat looking homes.

Another awesome sunset, don't ya think?

And so ends another day of adventures.