Butte to Big Fork
Spent the morning in Butte. Jeri worked on tax returns; the imminent 9/15 tax deadline was pressing. I visited the laundromat. On the road again, we headed north and west over the mountains to Big Fork, but the air quality was terrible. The fires burning in the west have caused smoke to cover the entire area and even with the car’s AC set to recirc it was noticeably smoky inside. At around four in the afternoon, just south of Polson, I pulled over to allow Jeri to drive and heard a loud bang. For the first time in decades we had a puncture! The right rear tire was completely flat. We soon had emptied out the back of the car and jacked it up with the scissor jack. Then we saw a four-inch lump of metal embedded in the inner fender well. Apparently, the metal must have punctured the tire and then been thrown into the inner fender. It did not take long to install the temporary spare and put everything back, but the full size damaged wheel/tire takes up more space and so the equipment tray had to be stuffed in on top of everything. After a few calls, it became obvious that it would be impossible to get a new tire on Sunday afternoon in rural Montana.
On the way north, three bears crossed our path when we were driving north on highway 35 on the east side of Flathead lake. Unfortunately, we could not get the camera out in time. Got to Big Fork at 5.00pm and Chris let us into the garage. After a few glasses of wine, we headed out for dinner with Chris and Terese to a bar called the Raven, about 5 miles south of town. Jeri enjoyed her ribs but it was cold on the patio.
However, given the poor air quality the remainder of the trip is in doubt.
You were very fortunate that chunk didnt do more damage. The smoke sky is impressive but it seems best that you head back south soon,
Yes we were lucky; also we were pulling into a stop so were only going 5 mph or so.