Our faithful RV kitty, Poquita, went to cat heaven the other day. We miss her—waiting at the door at the sound of our footsteps, looking at us for a helping of chow, always wanting to jump up on Keith's warm lap sometimes even before he settled into his chair. She preferred a black and white quilt for snuggling, somehow seeming to know she matched it.
Poquita led a good life in a regular stick house till we set out on our RVing adventures. She turned into a good RV kitty, not trying to dash out the door, always staying nearby when she could go outside. She loved cheese Pringles, a treat my daughter got her used to when she was a tiny kitten, rescued from abandonment. There is a big hole left by the presence of a loved cat, a feeling of absence on the bed at night when we were used to her sleeping next to us, an ache to think of her sitting on the table watching us eat. There is no longer a furry friend we can reach out to pet. Thanks, Poquita, for your years of friendship—thanks for traveling nearly 9000 miles back and forth across the country with us!
Montana landscapes are amazing. I can fully understand the phrase "big sky country". This photo is near Hamilton, about 50 miles south of Missoula.
We visited the Daly Mansion, built in 1910. This was the summer home of the widow of Marcus Daly, copper magnate. It's right outside of Hamilton, a lovely town of about 4100 people.
This is what the widow saw from the back porch of her mansion. There is a vast lawn with a view of Hamilton in the distance, framed by the Bitterroot Mountain range.
Even more than the beautiful home, we were amazed by the biggest cottonwood tree we'd ever seen, and we've seen plenty of huge ones, especially in Rapid City and in Missoula. This one is colossal, probably there hundreds of years before the mansion was built and when the Nez Perce Indians roamed the Bitterroot valley. 
A further view of the giant tree with the mansion in the background.
And another, with Keith standing in its shadow. We enjoy seeing and exploring the towns, buildings, etc. of man, but God's creations are much more wondrous to behold!
We were out just meandering down the Bitteroot Valley the other day, always looking for "eye candy". That's not difficult to find in this beautiful state! I took this photo on a back road near Lolo. It was a warm day, but it looked like a storm up in the mountains. The tops of the hills are still wearing their snow-caps.
I put this picture in my last post, saying we planned to hike up to the "M" soon. That time came today, 'do or die'! We and lots of other folks had the same idea.Just a little history from a sign at the parking lot: "Mount Sentinel has provided one of the state's most popular hiking trails since forestry students cut its switchbacks in the early 1900s. In 1909 students built the first M with whitewashed rocks, and freshmen gave it an annual whitewashing until a concrete M was built in 1968. The M is 125 feet long and 100 feet wide and sits 620 feet above the Missoula valley floor."
(You may click on any of these photos to enlarge them.)
The path is quite steep, at least to two old 'out-of-shape' coots like us. We saw several young people actually jogging up or down the trail, as if they were using it for their work-out time. This is Keith huffing and puffing. 
And here I am looking back at him.
The view from the trail was outstanding. This photo shows a building on the grounds of the University of Montana. The building is central in the campus layout, but I don't know what it is.
This photo is for my daughter, Jessi, though it's not a baseball stadium. It's the Washington-Grizzly Football Stadium. Quite impressive from this vantage point!
I love these flowers, the arrowleaf balsam. They remind me of the Wenatchee Valley in springtime. Below is the city of Missoula, so beautiful and full of lovely, large trees. The highway in the upper right of the picture is I-90 going west. The river flowing through the middle of town is the Clark Fork River.
And here I sit among the flowers after taking the above shot.
We really made it to the top! Once there, we couldn't tell the white concrete was an "M". It was too large. We climbed to the top of it and looked down, and pretended it was a "W" for Wenatchee! Or it could have been for the University of Washington instead of the University of Montana. Just being silly!
Here we are, two old coots feeling quite proud to have climbed to the "M" even though we were exhausted. A friendly fellow climber wanted to take a picture of us with the city in the background.
And one last photo. I like old stumps and was glad to find this one on the hill. You can barely see Lolo Peak in the distance.
Our faithful RV kitty, Poquita, went to cat heaven the other day. We miss her—waiting at the door at the sound of our footsteps, looking at us for a helping of chow, always wanting to jump up on Keith's warm lap sometimes even before he settled into his chair. She preferred a black and white quilt for snuggling, somehow seeming to know she matched it.
Poquita led a good life in a regular stick house till we set out on our RVing adventures. She turned into a good RV kitty, not trying to dash out the door, always staying nearby when she could go outside. She loved cheese Pringles, a treat my daughter got her used to when she was a tiny kitten, rescued from abandonment. There is a big hole left by the presence of a loved cat, a feeling of absence on the bed at night when we were used to her sleeping next to us, an ache to think of her sitting on the table watching us eat. There is no longer a furry friend we can reach out to pet. Thanks, Poquita, for your years of friendship—thanks for traveling nearly 9000 miles back and forth across the country with us! 
