The rest of the drive to Malmstrom was uneventful, until we arrived in Grand Forks when again the GPS went berserk, sending us the scenic route and even putting us on a dirt road where we had to turn around and call the campground for directions. I guess since Malmstrom is a missile base, they want to keep their location a secret, as we could find no signs on the highway or as we came onto base that we had arrived. The man on the phone gave us the directions to the off base campground (they have two: one just off base and one on base). Unfortunately, they did not accept reservations, but were told there were plenty of spots on base. We got lucky and pulled into the last spot off base. Five minutes after we parked another camper arrived asking lots of questions and because we called the office, we had all the answers: the camp host is on vacation, there are plenty of other spots on base, you can get on base through the commercial gate (no barriers), you go to outdoor rec to pay.
Our original itinerary had us staying the night at Helena, but we made this diversion when I saw on FaceBook that a nurse practitioner (Lt Col Deb Davidson) who worked for me at Fairchild had just taken command of the Medical Operations Squadron here and I wanted to come by and say Hi!!
So after we set up the site and paid up at Outdoor Rec, we headed over to the Medical Group. It was very pretty and just like Fairchild, you walk right into the pharmacy waiting area. But their waiting area was not as crowded for a Friday afternoon. We found the command section, but it was locked down. Curt started knocking on the door, a young MSgt came to the door and asked if she could help us. I said I would like to come in to see Lt Col D, the MDOS/CC. She left us at the closed door to check her office and returned to tell us she was not in. I told her that I was “Col Carey” and a friend of hers and I’d like to leave a note on her desk, could I please come in. She was very reluctant to let us in, but walked us down to where her secretary sits and said that the secretary wasn’t in so we’d have to come back later. It was then that I realized, you’re not the Gp/CC anymore, you don’t get special compensation, people are not going to fall all over you…I’m not sure I like being just another retiree 🙁
I texted Deb and we met up after work at the club. Yes they have a club at Malmstrom, not an event center. But they don’t have a golf course either. The club was having “First Friday” which was a great deal for us. Happy hour prices for beer and margaritas and free food for club members. We were going to get our $10 club fee back with dinner tonight—we’re retired and on a budget!
Catching up with Deb was great and we also got to meet her boss, Col Craig Forcum and his wife. We spent the evening swapping war stories, it was a great evening. So glad we decided to change our plans!
Saturday we headed out to explore Grand Forks. We drove out to see the Falls and that is where we found Ryan Island. So my nephew’s name is Ryan and we texted his mom and told her to tell him we found his island, but we couldn’t find him!! It was a very hot day, but we walked about the island and again glad we left Daisy behind, because there were no dogs allowed on the island. What is it with these people and their hatred for dogs?
After the falls we headed over to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and followed their journey in the air conditioning!! (BTW: If you are active duty military did you know you can get a FREE National Park pass and boy has this come in handy. We picked it up and got in to Glacier for free and now again we are in free with this pass.) We learned so much about Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea’s journey. Did you know that the Lewis and Clark expedition is chronicled in their writings (an early blog) where they described everything they encountered in exorbitant detail so they could report back to President Jefferson all that they had discovered. They were following the Missouri river and knew to expect falls, but what they did not expect was that not only were there on falls, there were five of them. This was one of the hardest parts of the journey—the Great Falls Portage—the group had to move all of their supplies and canoes and carry them 18 miles on land around the falls, it took them a month–back breaking work for sure. They had to leave their boat behind at the base of the falls and would retrieve it on their way back, so once on the other side of the falls, they had to build another boat. Outside the Interpretive Center there is a replica of their first attempt that sank pretty quickly, but they persisted and finally came up with a better model. We also learned a lot about the sacrifices of Sacajawea, she joined the expedition with her 4 month old son Jean Baptiste. She had great knowledge of the local plants and the terrain. She also was an interpreter and was the only one in the party who could speak Shoshone. This was a great help to Lewis and Clark in their travels.
If you ever get to visit Great Falls, I would make sure to make this one of your stops, it was well worth the trip.