Saturday July 2--Glacier to Glasgow

On Saturday morning we were ready to leave the Fish Creek Campground and it's "joys". Again the sound of the beeping garbage truck forced it's way through my earplugs and woke me up. After a quick breakfast we were out of there.

One of the most famous roads in the world is the "going-to-the-sun" highway that bisects Glacier National park. It's the main reason I wanted to visit there. The plan was to spend the night, drive the hiqhway and explore the east (and less crowded) side of the park. Only, because of so much snow, the road was closed about 1/4 of the way there. We decided to go as far as we could and maybe get in a hike at Avalanche where they were making people turn around. The drive was lovely and there was nothing but sunshine as we started.

But when we got to the turn-around it reminded me of the traffic after a Duck game....everybody going everywhere without a plan. Too many people with too little sense. When we finally got turned around we decided to find Highway 2 again and head for the plains. It was too far of a detour to go to the East side of the park. Maybe someday we will get to visit that side of Glacier.

When we left West Glacier, headed East, the scenery was outstanding. Jeff took a nap and unfortunately missed the sight of a lot of huge looming mountains covered with snow. (Too many people wear me out) We followed the Flathead river (for which the mt. range and lake are named) for a long winding while. When I stopped for a photo opportunity, Jeff took over the driving.

Soon we came out of the rockies. I could see those magnificent mountains in my rearview mirror as we drove East. In front of us were miles and miles of green waving grass and crops and cattle. We stopped for lunch at a bar/casino in Havre and donated to the local Native Americans. We met a very attractive, friendly woman at the bar and during the conversation, she mentioned that she worked as an escort. A very long, pregnant pause until she added that she worked escorting oversized trucks down the highway - a good, relieved laugh was had by all.

The rest of the day was spent talking, laughing, listening to music, watching the miles go by, and looking for propane. Our first tank had run out at Glacier and we weren't successful in getting tank 2 to work. It was late on Saturday of a holiday weekend and we were losing hope, when we saw a propane sign on an old battered looking farm store. The owner himself came to help fill our empty tank. Everyone we met in Montana was helpful and friendly.

Jeff's smart phone came to the rescue as we were wondering where we were going to spend the night. We looked for motels and found the Cottonwood Inn in Glasgow, called and made a reservation for the last room in the Inn. Glasgow is a bustling, destination point for all local ranch hands - Saturday is Satelite Saturday where Glasgow gets free HBO. We arrived at 9, dragged our tired, sore bodies into our room, got some food and after 3 nights camping, a much needed shower!

I had imagined what the Montana prairie would be like. I thought it would be really flat the whole way. But it was more like green rolling hills. There was actually a lot of variety. The best part was the people - friendly, courteous, helpful and kind. But, it's a long, long, long way to go from one side to the other. K & J