Monday, August 22, 2011

Day 54 –Deer Lodge Montana to Fort Hall Idaho– August 22, 2011

Today’s Mileage: 271
Total Mileage to Date: 3134
Miles to Home: 955

We are now in Fort Hall, Idaho on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. We will spend the night at the Buffalo Casino RV Park, $20 for full hookups. Tomorrow we continue on to Charlie’s Service, 144 miles, for our annual coach service plus a few repairs.
The driver’s side windshield needs to be replaced as it is developing a rather long crack from a previous rock strike, the dash air conditioner no longer will hold a charge and the washer / dryer stopped working.
We were hoping to be in Cameron Arizona in time for Raija’s be birthday as she wants to celebrate her “Big Birthday Year” at the Grand Canyon. It would not have been a problem were it not for the unexpected repairs. But now we will most likely have to wait on parts at Charlie’s and we may end up celebrating her birthday at Charlie’s.
The original Fort Hall was located at end of the common stretch shared by the three far west emigrant trails. It was a 19th century outpost in the eastern Oregon Country, which eventually became part of the present-day United States and is now eastern-southern Idaho near present day Fort Hall, Idaho. Though now well in the United States, it was once taken over and operated during the Oregon boundary dispute by the British Hudson's Bay Company. Fort Hall was constructed as a commercial venture, situated on the Snake River north of present-day Pocatello, Idaho. It became an important stop in the 1840s and 1850s for an estimated 270,000 emigrants along the Oregon Trail and California Trail, which diverged west of the fort.

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