Awake: 4:58am Temp 57 sleep 6+11 cloudy elevation 2812 ft
overnight @ Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.
This campground works well for us & it’s only minutes from downtown where
there are many things to see & do. We’ll make a note of that for future
reference. We leave the Riverwalk RV Park @ 9:13am. Smooth roads continue
on I-90 with a lot of mountain climbing & very scenic views.
We arrive @ the Fairmont RV Resort @ Anaconda, Montana @ 3:23pm. We make 1
stop en route for comfort. Today’s travel: 5+01 time 275 miles 36
gal used 7.7 mpg 55.5 avg speed. This is a nice campground + big
rig friendly. Many sites are 30 amps, only a few are 50 & our site is 30,
but we are happy to be here because this campground is full today.
We waste no time in parking & detaching the Suzuki. Then drive 9 miles to
the town of Anaconda. In its heyday, this town’s population was 22,000.
Today it’s a mere 9800. It was a smelting town for the copper ore brought
by rail from Butte, MT (20 miles). We tour the town on wheels & marvel @
the different, old architecture of many classic buildings throughout the
town. We not only witness empty store fronts but also appreciate renovated
buildings; in fact Anaconda has four National Historic districts, incl.
turn-of-the-century architecture such as the ornate 1930’s working movie
theater, the Washoe Theatre (ranked 5th in the nation by the Smithsonian
Institute).
The Anaconda Stack at over 585 ft. (30 ft higher than the Washington
monument in DC) is visible from town and the highway. It is one of the few
remnants of Anaconda’s huge copper smelting plant and is the world’s
largest free-standing masonry structure.
During a break in our touring, we attend 6:00pm Mass @ Holy Family church.
8:15 dinner: Warm beef salad on spinach leaves, Triscuits, and corn on the
cob from F&K.
High temp=78 Lights out: 11:52pm
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