Saturday day nine . Leaving Helena for Bozeman today. The drive is about 120 miles but on straight roads. Said goodbye to our hostess after an unusual stay in an unusual authentic house. Decided to visit the farmers market first. Drove into town and parked. The market was more craft than fruit and veg and very busy. Lots of stalls. Got quite a few presents for family here as nice to know not made In China. The water melons and sweet corn was amazing. Lorry loads to sell. The craft had an emphasis on sewing, quilts but also wood and lots of jewellery. Found a coin man making rings from coins also a guy who makes agate from the rivers into jewellery. It was as usual overcast in the morning and a little cold.

Decided to stop off at Bozeman which is a large u I resort town. Found two hour free parking right in the centre. The vibe here is much younger than Helena. Martin found this great record shop called cactus. The biggest record shop ive seen. Tmartin was in heaven... the shops seemed more up market. Stopped for a coffee and ice cream. Have got the coffee order right now. Drip coffee with 2% milk. They usually serve half and half which is part cream. Yuk... the single scoop ice cream was more like three and the same as the company as at Whitefish. Very tasty.

Stopped at the co- op a food store which had a large takeaway section at the back. It was sold by weight. $9 dollars each. Sale, mashed potato, etc.

Started back to car and our trip to howlers. The wolf sanctuary. The road was fast with speed limit 80 for some of the way. Very fast. Stopped off on the way for a coffee at Townsend.a small town with one Main Street and little else. Found a pastry shop and I had a chococolate doughnut. My calories for the week but very tasty.

A short diversion later on to investigate the best small town in Montana... it wasn’t. Came off the main road to drive up to howlers nestled amongst the meandering hills. It is a log cabin style. The hostess showed us around And two other couples around. Our room has the best view of the wolves and is lovely. The house also has a pool room, sauna, fire pit, television room, Not as rustic or basic as I thought. A queen bed, tele and even wi fi... our room overlooks the wolves. There are five of them in two compounds. We saw them being fed raw elk meat. Two are white, two grey, and a brown one. A sturdy and tall wired fence protects us from them. Amazing to be able to see them so close up. When we got there the owner was in one compund stroking the oldest wolf called Comanche who was born 2007. Comanche was laid on his back and was being scratched by the man. Comanche is paired with

Shasta who is a younger wolf. We ate our co op meal overlooking the wolves and mountains. Back to room and bed....