As I was filling in the dirt around the tie Curt had finished his breakfast and shower and came over to help.
Once the tie was in place, and the corral fence attached to the tie, I needed bolts, washers and nuts for attaching the gate. Curt and I visited five hardware stores across town in search of two large lag hanger bolts. We found a few small ones but no large ones. We were able to find the bolts we needed to attach the bottom of the head gate.
The bottom attachment was different than the top attachment as we attached a 4x4 to the post and tie, then sat the gate on the post and attached the gate to the 4x4. The top of the gate was to be attached directly to the post and tie.
By the time Curt and I returned home it was shortly before noon. Larry, Diane, and Cathy no longer wanted to drive to the National Bison Range. They were a little tired and wanted merely to sit around the ranch. The drive would be long and we wouldn't be back till the evening, which meant a late supper. For them at least, a normal supper-time for me.
Hmmm. I didn't feel like I would be a good host unless we went sightseeing, especially after all their hard work on Thursday. I tossed out a few ideas and eventually they consented to visit Bigfork, only 35 miles away. We'd be back in time for a normal supper. Or so they thought.
Bigfork is more of a touristy town than Whitefish with lots more cute shops. Cathy and Diane were happy we came to Bigfork as they found items they wanted. Diane got a cute pair of stainless steel wine glasses. Curt bought a hat for sun protection as he showed a little color from yesterday's bright sun during the cattle feeder build. Cathy got a straw cowgirl hat.
Curt has had a hankering for huckleberry ice cream and no place in Kalispell came to my mind that would sell it. I found that the shop near where we parked sold it. Curt bought huckleberry ice cream waffle cones for everyone. Thanks Curt!
In the second store we visited Cathy met a woman she knew who formerly worked in her dentist's office back in Washington. It has been over a year since Traci moved to Bigfork and initially those two kinda recognized each other but weren't sure. It wasn't till Curt mentioned where he was from that the lightbulb clicked in the two women's heads. A small world!
A few locals mentioned that we should walk down to the bridge over the Swan River. The walk was short, but longer than everyone imagined. The return had a slight hill to climb. See... the locals are on my side in getting exercise.
The bridge is an old one lane bridge, and the view is pretty.
After we finished shopping and sightseeing in Bigfork I talked everyone into visiting Yellow Bay State Park on Flathead Lake. The distance to the park was further than I remembered. I think the park that I was thinking about was the park just outside of Bigfork. Usually I travel the opposite direction so that is maybe why I got confused. The view from Yellow Bay Park is also nice.
The rest room had a bear warning sign which got Cathy excited. That was a quick rest room visit.
Since we were over half way down the east side of Flathead Lake, we drove the rest of the way around the lake.
In Polson at the south end of the lake at Larry's suggestion we stopped at their Ace hardware. No large lag hanger bolts either. That didn't matter as before we left for Bigfork we measured and Curt came up with a different way to bolt the gate to the post and tie. We found the two bolts we needed at the ACE hardware store.
There is a winery for wine tasting along the lake on the drive back to Kalispell, but as it was now near 6 pm, the winery was closed for the day.
Here is a view of the lake from the west side, near Big Arm.
At Somers I convinced them to take ten minutes to drive through Somer's small windy streets. Larry and Curt were timing the drive. They had noticed I usually say "about" or "just a bit" or "a little ways", etc. At the six minute mark we found the Tiebuckers restaurant and stopped for supper. Their 10 minute "clock" stopped while we ate.
Tiebuckers is a cute little restaurant tucked under some large trees. An old stoplight over the entrance showed green. The stoplight worked as it was yellow when we left, and the restaurant was fairly busy.The owner was a jovial guy as he took time to chat and joke with patrons as he helped out here and there. He made a few jokes when at our table and Larry joined in with a few jokes of his own.
The restaurant had a variety of food with specialty being seafood. I was concerned as my relatives are from the Tacoma area and know good seafood, having taken me to a few excellent seafood restaurants when I visited last Fall. The food at Tiebuckers was very good and compared favorably to seafood restaurants in Tacoma.
We ordered a couple appetizers of clams. Curt had wanted to order three clam appetizers, but I convinced him to go with two plates to start with. The waitress said the clam plates were large, and I remembered the very large dessert at a seafood restaurant in Tacoma where Curt pooh pooh'd the waitress's warning that the dessert was large and were we really sure we wanted two desserts.
While we were waiting we noticed a large bee inside the window near our table. By the time we could notify a server the bee disappeared. Uh, oh. And no, it was not our imagination. When we noticed the bee the second time the server was able to catch it with a napkin. Being a young woman she wasn't exactly thrilled at having the job but did it well anyway.
My uncles and aunts all worked hard on our waitress to fix her up with me. Larry seems to have started a trend when after the auction he asked the woman at the road construction her availability. I suppose I do need help, as similar to not being aggressive in buying stuff at the auction, I am not aggressive in pursuing a girlfriend.
The waitress wasn't available for dating even with all my relatives none-too-subtle prodding and questioning. The waitress did have a younger sister but she finished at our table and moved on before my relatives could pursue the younger sister's availability.
If my relatives had stayed here little longer, I am sure they would have left me with a girlfriend.
What did get our waitress's interest was when Diane said I made an excellent huckleberry jam. Diane even mentioned the name of the mountain where I pick my huckleberries. Mentioning a location is a no-no as most ardent pickers jealously guard the location of their favorite patches. The waitress must have noticed me biting my tongue when Diane was speaking as the waitress graciously mentioned huckleberry pickers don't mention the location of their patch. The waitress did mention I could come back to the restaurant later this year after I pick this year's crop and made my jam.
We were so full from our meal no one had room for dessert.
After we returned home Curt, Larry, and I attached to bottom 4x4 board to the post and railroad tie. We also drilled some of the top two holes before it got dark. I didn't have a drill bit that was long enough to go through the post and tie. I also needed to find another extension cord as the drill barely reached the post or tie. These solutions had to wait till the next morning.
Cathy had wanted to go gopher hunting but it was too dark by now. We had to wait till tomorrow.
