Daily Life

20 Apr 26!

Monday, April 20, 2026

(Photos by DD#1)

I still guard the Princess after this expedition.

Man, that is a LOOONG way down…

I think I will wait here.

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

Filed in Family, Historic, Holiday, Humor, Life at Home, On the Road, PAD 2026, Photography | | Comments (0)

19 Apr 26!

Monday, April 20, 2026

Skeeter and ‘Stache fishing.

No luck, but lots of fun.

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

Filed in Family, Historic, Holiday, Landscapes, On the Road, PAD 2026, Photography | | Comments (0)

18 Apr 26!

Monday, April 20, 2026

‘Stache’s 13th Birthday!

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

Filed in Family, Historic, Holiday, Landscapes, On the Road, PAD 2026, Panorama, Photography | | Comments (0)

‘Stache’s Birthday (#13!) was this weekend, and he wanted to to go camping. To go somewhere different the DD#1’s family went to the fishing access near Hardy Creek Bridge, on the frontage road on the way to Helena.

We decided to go visit them…and the trouble started…

We order Jimmy John’s to pickup, and they were slammed by the Saturday lunch crowd when we got there. I waited in the store for at least 25 minutes. Then the sirens started!

There was a funeral for a former fire fighter, and everyone in town seems to have shown up. The road from 9th Street to at least Warden Bridge was packed. All three lanes: cop cars, fire trucks, well wishers, and funeral attendees. We thought we’d head down to Central and use the other on ramp to southbound I15.

We finally got on I15 and it wasn’t bad until the fender bender in the right lane between the 10th Avenue South exit we missed and the Airport exit, which funneled everyone into the left lane. After that the funeral traffic returned to the right lane and we sped off in the left at…40 MPH. No one wanted to pass a cop car with their lights on.

The first photo is going down the hill into Ulm. You can see all of the steady stream of cars from Great Falls getting off I15 and trying to go through Ulm. The second photo is the center of the first enlarged.

Passing them all…

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

Filed in Historic, Landscapes, On the Road, PAD 2026, Photography | | Comments (0)

16 Apr 26!

Monday, April 20, 2026

Coming back from Belgrade fir Avis had a bit of dramatic weather…

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

Filed in Landscapes, On the Road, PAD 2026, Photography, Weather, Work | | Comments (0)

15 Apr 26!

Monday, April 20, 2026

I drove a fairly new (2025?) Ford Expedition to Belgrade for Avis. Instead of all of those buttons on the steering wheel for cruise, heat, lane controls, radio, and so on, it had two touch pads, basically unlabeled.

When you touch them the choice of controls comes up on the screen above the steering wheel. However, your choice doesn’t stay in place and when you try to touch the activate button in the middle of the touch pad the indicator on the screen floats off to some other choice. Please note there is a map app running on carplay in the middle, and another map app from Ford running on the screen behind the steering wheel.

Just getting into a car to drive isn’t easy anymore…

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

Filed in Historic, Humor, On the Road, PAD 2026, Work | | Comments (0)

14 Apr 26!

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Here is the usual run to Belgrade for Avis. This was a group driving down in one vehicle and driving a bunch of cars back. Some times it is the reverse. Sometimes we drive a bunch down and bring a bunch back.

This day started out a bit foggy.

Then it got sunny.

The it got foggy again.

Most of our trips are to Belgrade (near Bozeman, Montana, where the airport is) or Helena. Occasionally to Missoula. These are better trips than when we went to Idaho Falls a lot (long-+300 miles each way) or Calgary (as long but BORING, with a border crossing to boot!).

~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>

Filed in Landscapes, On the Road, PAD 2026, Photography, Sunrises, Weather, Work | | Comments (0)

13 Apr 26!

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Grandson Lugnut and I started on the GoldWing timing belt replacements. I thought we could do it without draining the radiator. That was incorrect. At this point we have removed two front fairing sections, and three fairing pieces from each side. This is still less than if I was changing the air filter. The biggest downside to a GoldWing is maintenance is a royal pain in the rear. Everything is buried under multiple sections. Authorities in the field have loudly lamented that it has only gotten worse on the two generations after mine…Origami, thy name is Honda.