Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
RV destination: Montana?
Old 05-15-2016, 07:53 AM   #1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Seattle
Posts: 6,008
RV destination: Montana?

Countdown 10 days until we are homeless. Setting off from the Seattle area to places unknown, but in general east (a bit harder to go west).

We made reservations at a Flathead Lake campground in mid June that has a boat launch for our sailboat, but our house closes May 25 (hope!) so we have some time to putter around in Idaho or Montana before getting to Flathead.

I found Dunn Creek campground somewhere (maybe ultimatecampgrounds.com?) and it looks promising as a first stop. Looks to be not too far off Hwy 2 and has what looks to be a pretty large area to accommodate our 27 foot camper + 17 foot sailboat parking. Free too.

We probably will not be packed correctly initially so this might be a good place to unwind and reorganize. I could also finish up the wiring on the cnc milling machine I installed in the garage portion of our RV. I went overboard building a 4 axis brushless controller and ran out of time to completely finish. No worry as I am taking o'scope, iron, and hand tools with us.

Any Montanites familiar with this campground or other areas we might be interested visiting? Probably will be tooling around Montana until July, when we head toward the great lakes on some uncharted path.

Here is a google view of Dunn Creek and also the Flathead Lake campground (they do charge for that one, but having the sailboat docked right next to where we are parked with the RV is worth the ~$30 a night total)
Attached Images
File Type: jpg dunncreek.jpg (201.9 KB, 12 views)
File Type: jpg flathead.jpg (226.4 KB, 8 views)
Fermion is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 05-15-2016, 09:03 AM   #2
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
RonBoyd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Denver, Colorado
Posts: 6,256
Montana is such a big State that no matter where you go you will be amazed. Instant to mind would be Glacier NP, Fort Benton (imagine that those big Paddle Wheel boats traveled all the way up the Mississippi River to this place), Greasy Grass/Little Bighorn Battlefield, Pompey's Pillar... but, again, there are too many to mention them all.

http://www.fortbenton.com/
__________________
"It's tough to make predictions, especially when it involves the future." ~Attributed to many
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." ~(perhaps by) Yogi Berra
"Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge."~ Lau tzu
RonBoyd is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2016, 09:43 AM   #3
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
Flathead Lake is the largest fresh water body by surface area west of the Mississippi. We were there a month ago. We stayed at a timeshare on its shore in Bigfork (parking our motorhome for a week). The water was low, and a local said the lake was filling up.

And while picnicking at the nearby Swan Lake, which flows into Flathead, we talked to some boaters. They were locals and launched their boats for a quick fishing to get some bass for dinner. Swan Lake has a public boat launch, and also a CG nearby which was not opened at that time. This "Swan Lake Campground" is run by the Forest Service.

We were in Montana for a total of 2 weeks, and one week of that was during a late and sudden winter storm, so did not have a chance to experience more camping area. We had to skip Fort Benton, for example, fled to Denver and still got caught in the storm there. So, I had no recommendations for CG in Montana, but you may want to check out the Swan Lake CG mentioned above.



By the way, going east from Washington State, one can stop in Coeur d'Alene and do a bit of sailing (boating or sailing is something I have never tried).

__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2016, 10:27 AM   #4
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
Another possibility for a stop before Flathead Lake in June would be Lake Pend Oreille in northen Idaho to use your sailboat. I have not made it up there, but figure there would be CGs with a nearby boat launch.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2016, 10:33 AM   #5
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
I just looked at Swan Lake CG on the Web. No hookup, not even a dump station and only fresh water, but only $15/night. On the other hand, there's that boat launch, though you may not be able to leave it docked.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2016, 11:21 AM   #6
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Major Tom's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SF East Bay
Posts: 4,324
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fermion View Post
Countdown 10 days until we are homeless.
Homeless my hat. Your home on wheels is way more inspiring than many of us regular folks' sticks n' bricks abodes!

Enjoy your trip, and send updates please,
__________________
Contentedly ER, with 3 furry friends (now, sadly, 1).
Planning my escape to the wide open spaces in my campervan (with my remaining kitty, of course!)
On a mission to become the world's second most boring man.

Major Tom is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Montana Medical Care Savings Accounts zedd Health and Early Retirement 1 01-17-2013 09:07 AM
Road Trip Thru north Idaho and Montana Keim Travel Information 18 07-22-2010 02:22 PM
Glacier National Park in Montana - thoughts? soupcxan Other topics 22 05-17-2007 09:39 AM
Ted's Montana Grill - good $10 coupon dex FIRE and Money 5 04-17-2007 07:33 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:03 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.