Wednesday, June 29th Some of Helena, then over to Deer Lodge MT.

Spent a crowded night in Camp Wal Mart at Helena, then after getting up and eating, Bette and I drove downtown to see the State Capitol and the Montana Historical Society building. The State Capitol was very nice, built just after the turn of the century in 1912 or so-  You could drive right up to the front door, and park, which I thought was a little weird for the nature of Montana...  no security to speak of, maybe not much because they weren't in session, but they handed you a pamplet, and off you went touring. 

Lots of stained glass, statues, etc honoring famous Montanans, Mike Mansfield, and lots of marble. 
Across the street to the State Historical Society, but I didn't get to see it because they were having a meeting of the staff, and no one was available to oversee.

We drove back to Wal Mart, saddled up, and drove over Route 12 for about 60  miles over to Deer Lodge Montana, our stop for the night. 

We drove over McDonald Pass, which was about 6200 feet or so, and had a great view of the scenery back towards Helena.. It was  a pretty day- 

We then headed into Deer Lodge, and found a spot at a nice campground, sort of right off I-90.  Got settled in, then Brandon and I took off for the local sights-

That included National Park number 142, Grant Kohrs NHS, which is actually a working ranch that depicts the life of Montana ranching back in the 1890's or so.
The ranch was originally a 100 thousand acres or something like that. 

From there, we went a short jaunt to downtown Deer Lodge, and toured the complex of the Old Montana State Prison Museum.  Pretty cool.  The prison was the original and only state prison facility for almost a hundred years, before they built a newer one just outside of town. Pretty forboding place...

 Managed to catch Brandon in  a photo!

 There was also a car museum on the premise, and they had about 120 automobiles there, from very old to a little newer...  Included was this 1951 Mercury, which my brother owned, I think.....

On the outside part of the tour, they explain that the 3rd story window was damaged back in 1959 during a major prison riot, and they actually shot a military bazooka at the tower to try to kill the inmates who were rioting.  During the riot, a warden was killed, and two inmates committed suicide. 

Then we came back to the coach, and now have discovered yet another problem- there is a rather large leak in the washer/dryer area- and we don't know whart the problem is.  I turned off the water to the source, and have called Bretz. It also leaked into the storage bay below. 

Looks like we're on our way back to Missoula in the morning. 

Damn