Wilbur MT – 16/17th July 2021
After and excellent nights sleep I awake refreshed and ready to enjoy my stay in my wee log cabin. It is just delightful
Inside is also very compact but perfect
The toilet is actually very clever, when you flush the refill comes in via the brass pipe into the bowl on top of the cistern which you can use to wash you hands, so the water is recycled.
I love it here so much that I actually arrange to stay an extra night.
Next door is a very nice RV
and they have a really adorable dog
There is a launderette on site so I collect up my washing and wander over. On the way I pass through a grassed area full of antique horse drawn vehicles, they appear to be wonderfully preserved and one can imagine just putting a horse into the rails and jumping aboard to ride off into town.
I also bump into my neighbour, he is out walking with his dog who I learn is called Lucy. His name is Tom and it is very nice to meet him.
I drop my clothes off and while they are washing take a little tour of the area. The first thing of note is this outside the Launderette itself
Glad we don’t have to use these nowadays. Then across the street I come across these outside the local Wilbur Visitor Centre
I have no idea what the Geese and the Pig represent, maybe it’s the farming community here??? She’s looking well fed up and the dog is definitely past it.
I also see this.. oh yes indeed
Not an ‘onion’ but no matter, it will do very nicely thank you.
Back to the launderette to put the washing into a dryer, I only put in enough coins for 15 minutes, it can dry off in the sunshine, it’s certainly hot enough.
Back to the cabin then out on the bike to the local shops for some supplies and to find somewhere for breakfast/brunch. This is a very small town so there is only one petrol station with a small grocery shop and one larger supermarket where I go to pick up something for the next couple of days. On the way back I stop at a diner and eat before returning to my cabin and settling down outside on my front porch to get on with some serious blogging.
Tom comes out to have a chat. He and his wife, who I later learn is called Peg, sold their house in Illinois and have been travelling the country for the last 3 years in their RV. They met while studying at Notre Dame college and Tom, who is quite short in stature, tells me about the Notre Dame mascot, which is a Leprechaun and how he was tricked into being it for 3 years by his friend, even though he really tried very hard to resist. Lucy, the dog, is a rescue and has separation anxiety so they have quite a difficult time leaving her as she howls constantly. They think she was kept for breeding and when her puppies were taken away she escaped and went looking for them, hence the anxiety. Well, she obviously has a wonderful home now.
I am having real problems with the wifi, yeah what’s new, so I do go to the office and talk to them about it, but it seems they are also having problems despite paying for a high level service; they think it might be down to the wild fires.
Back at the cabin and I happen to mention it to Tom who says they have their own wifi networks, he will see if he can set up a guest account for me to use, how wonderfully kind of him.
I do manage to get onto the camp wifi eventually but it is very weak and of course I have videos to upload… just agonisingly slow.
Later, as the sun moves over and casts some shadows, Peg comes out and I get to meet her. We have a lovely chat and it just so great to have such friendly and warm neighbours for the next couple of days.
Later they are planning to go and eat at Billy Burgers, which is just a couple of hundred yards away from the camp site… mmm don’t know how I missed that… they invite me to join them, how nice of them.
We walk round to the eatery and I love the neon sign… here is Peg and I posing in front of it… luckily I also got a better picture of the sign itself, I must come back when it’s dark to get one of it all lit up.
I very much enjoy a Billy burger with chips, delicious. Tom has now given me the details of the guest wifi so I am using that, it is so much better than the camp one.. so grateful, thank you.
Time for bed zzzzz
The next day I again sit outside on the porch to continue to try and catch up this blog. I also spend quite a lot of the day chatting with Peg and Tom, which is very enjoyable. Peg tells me about the pig, it is Wilbur from the book and film ‘Charlottes Web’. I don’t know it so Peg explains… It’s the story of a pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur (such as “Some Pig”) in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live. He is of course named for the town so that is why they have a ‘statue’ of him… still don’t know about the geese though.
I take the opportunity to get a few photos with them and Lucy of course.
She really is the most wonderful dog, so laid back as to be positively horizontal. She really enjoys lying on her back on the cool green grass, legs akimbo, soaking up the sun.
They are planning to stay a few more days here and will visit the Grand Coolee dam, which is very near to here. Tom also gives me some ideas of places to visit, including the Crazy Horse monument which is near to Mount Rushmore and in their opinion far more interesting.
In the evening I take myself off to Billy Burgers again and have some chicken fillets and chips, very good it is too. I also decide to buy a souvenir tee shirt… well why not… but forget, again, to get a photo of the neon sign lit up… drat!
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