Whitefish and Kalispell

Adrianne:

The next day, I still wanted to take it easy on my ankle so we decided to try and find some more no-ankle activities like canoeing. After some internet searching, we found some cheaper boat rentals than were offered in the national park at Whitefish lake a few miles south. The boat rental place was at a swanky resort – so we dressed up in our finest boating gear (ha!) and headed down to the dock.

They did have canoes and kayaks for rent at reasonable prices, but we also noticed they rented stand-up paddleboards. I thought it was unlikely that Joey would want to try one since he always gives SUPers a hard time – SUPers and surfers are constantly at odds with each other. I cajoled him anyways – and the guys working the boat house also said the SUPs were 'totally' cooler than kayaks. The SUPs were twice as expensive as the canoes – but since it was a new experience we were game to spend the extra cash.

We paddled around the lake – the weather was perfect, a warm summer day with no wind made for great paddling. I was a little worried the standing and paddling would hurt my ankle, but I was having no problems. We headed towards a public beach to sun ourselves. I was feeling like Cameron Diaz (she's famous for SUPing and surfing) out on the lake with my sunglasses. Near the shore the waves picked up and it was a little more difficult to balance. Hilariously Joey ate it a few times – haha! He didn't let me relish my balance for long – he ended up throwing me into the lake too!

Back at the boat dock, tired but satisfied with the experience we ended up getting the SUP rental for half off. Joey pointed out a discount listed on their flier, and the cashier gave us half off full price! Nice!

Joey:

After paddling, we stopped in Kalispell to do some laundry, and met some out-of-the-ordinary customers. There was a group of Christian Harley Davidson riders, some baby-boomer van people from LA with lots of customizations on their van, and a few folks who thought that, among other things, sitting on the hallway floor of a crowded laundromat to fold and organize their too-tight tie-dye was cool and a ponytail with bangs was an acceptable haircut for a guy.

We were happy to leave the weirdness of the laundromat at kalispell to look for a campsite about 15 miles south.

Adrianne:

Our plan was to camp in some national forest just west of Flathead lake. (The largest lake west of the Mississippi.) We headed up a road that is used to access a major ski area. The gravel road started past some nice vacation cabins and then headed up some switchbacks up the mountain. It was kind of crazy – the dirt in the area was completely white. The chalky dust we kicked up driving settled on the brush on either side of the road like snow. The pine trees and shrubs were completely covered in the white dust – the scene must have been the same in either summer or winter – white coating the pines.

On our way up the road, we passed a few parked cars. This is unusual in our experience heading up national forest roads – but we supposed they were parked at trailheads. As we continued, I saw some cars parked on the side of the road and some people starting to head into the woods. I was getting a little weirded out. It was like the start of some zombie movie – peoples cars die and they are lured into the woods.

On the next switchback up the road after I saw the 'zombie people' – the van died. (Oh no! Nightmare realized!!)

Joey and I jumped out of the van and started diagnosing the problem. We were quickly covered in a fine layer of white chalk.

Joey:

A few quick tests isolated the fuel pump (again!). Plenty of nice Montana people stopped to check on us and make sure we were OK. I had saved the small electric fuel pump I had installed in Huntington beach for an emergency like this, so a few grunts, groans and a little fuel spillage later, we were back on the road. After having serious problems driving around LA with this smaller fuel pump, we were hesitant to tackle hills – and since the national forest road was heading away from tow trucks and civilization, we decided to go downhill back to Kalispell. The smaller fuel pump was doing great on the hills and at highway speeds.

Adrianne:

Driving back to Kalispell, all of the hotels we called did not have vacancies. Eventually we found the Blue and White motel and drove up to see if they had a room. At this point it was getting late – nearly 11 pm. They had one non-smoking room left, and the lady at the front desk gave us a key to check out the room before we rented it for the night. The lobby was a bit odd, it was rocking shag carpet and a whole bunch of game on display in glass cases over some dusty bookshelves. One of the patrons came in complaining about a drunk man in a wheelchair outside who said he was lost. The lady at the front desk sighed and said, “I guess we'll have to get the police over here tonight.” My eyes got large, I wasn't getting a good feeling about this place.

The room was in the next building over. We walked to the building and we were immediately suffocated with cigarette smell – it was like walking into a motel from the 60s – only it hadn't been cleaned or renovated since the 60s. The room was a disaster, it turned out to only have one made bed and some broken glass strewn in the carpet! When we got back to the lobby, there were people were lined up behind us willing to take the room. We were tired, and had such a hard time finding a place, so we had little choice but to take it.

In the morning, when we were having some trouble starting the van, one of the cleaning ladies walked up to us. “Sounds like y'all have a failing fuel pump. You know a couple of sprays of starter fluid will work out just fine. My truck has had a bad pump for about two years but I have no trouble using the starter fluid.”

Clearly, the maids at this motel would be better employed as mechanics.

Joey:

In the morning we headed to the local Napa auto parts store. I swapped the fuel pump for a new one in the parking lot. I moved the pump closer to the gas tank in hopes it would last a little longer. Fortunately, they don't mind too much in Montana if repairs are performed in the parking lot. The fuel filter had failed which probably was the primary cause of the pump failure, so that was replaced too.

Adrianne:

At the Napa store, another van rolled in. Some hippies leaned out of their van when they spotted us and yelled out - “van repair party – yeeha!”

On the road, and again hoping the fuel pump problems were fixed for the trip, we drove past Flathead lake to Missoula. We stopped at a climbing shop and picked up a Montana guide book. After, we got some internet at a froyo shop, and found a place to camp near Kootenai canyon, our next climbing destination. The campground was just south of town and we snagged the last spot for the night, after some dinner we were primed for climbing the next day.