The plan was to meet at the Holiday Inn (Great Montana) at 11:00 am. I left my motel at 9:30, so I’d have time to find the meeting hotel, charge my cell phone, get permission to park my car, park it, and load my stuff in the van. 11 o’clock came, but I saw no canoes or van. I decided to drive around the front of the motel and found the Wilderness Inquiry van and canoes. I unloaded my gear, went back to park and walked back to the van. After introductions, we loaded and drove toward Coal Banks Landing. Along the way, we stopped at an overwhelmed gas station deli (overwhelmed by us, by the way), a gas station with a “just closed” restroom (that we managed to “open”), and worked our way to Fort Benton. At Fort Benton, we pulled into the Visitor’s Center parking lot (Missouri River, BLM) as the staff was leaving for the day. So, instead of looking at displays, we walked along the river to downtown Fort Benton. Most of us ate at the same place--I think it was Bob's Place or maybe Bob's. I had a good meal, but it took a loooooong time. When we left, we found that someone had parked pretty close to the van and trailer. I was afraid they had blocked us in, but Ethan, the lead guide, did a good job of getting us out of that parking place.
We drove toward Coal Banks Landing, and were lucky to see an antelope by the side of the road. We got to the Coal Banks Landing campground in time to put up tents in the daylight (after Ethan demonstrated). Most of us seemed to be "meeting" and tweaking our stuff for the trip. It turned out that Terry, Martin and Nolan, with Ethan and maybe the other guides, were filling Dromedary Bags with water. They filled 30 bags with 2.5 gallons each—enough water to take us to Judith Landing, over five days. That’s a LOT of water. Thanks guys!
Margaret, my tentmate, and I chatted for quite a while. We finally slept. We had the vestibule door open, so we could look out and see the river and stars during the night.