La Quinta, Belgrade had a wonderfully comfortable bed and good aircon so a good night’s sleep was in progress when my phone alerted a 5am. In the US they have an emergency broadcast system which seems to hit all cell phones in an area; the message was about a lost 7 year old.
A bit slow rising and Lynne washed her hair. We were both looking forward to the waffle machine at breakfast and were disappointed not to see one (La Q’ usually have them). Finished eating, we walked past reception to see the waffle maker just outside the breakfast bar - Doh!
On the road at 9:30 we made the first 230 miles of the day on Interstates i90 west to Butte, a copper town backed by a massive open cast mine, then i15 north passing the large attractive looking state capital Helena and on to Great Falls. This part of the journey was mostly achieved at 75-80mph on cruise control (legally). We dropped off the i90 for fuel early on and collected a Subway sandwich for later from a delightful, enthusiastic lady who seemed to love having us visit her store.
Montana is known as the “Big Sky” state and it does earn that name. We tried to pin down what it is, there are huge areas where the horizon is a long way off but the sky does seem to start pale blue low down and blend to a deep blue above. It may be just that the air is so clear, the state is so sparsely populated and the primary industries are grain and cattle.
The drive was not a trial as it is through the most beautiful country. The i15 runs north through wide tan coloured grasslands with long straight roads interspersed with climbs and descents through passes with tight curves through rocky cuttings and across bridges. Further north we repeatedly passed over the very pretty river Missouri with the odd boat drifting along as it snaked its way across the landscape.
We stopped for lunch about 20miles short of Great Falls at a very clean rest stop picnic area.
After Great Falls we were on ordinary roads but, whilst the in town limit is 25-45, the wide single carriageway roads were mostly 70mph so progress was still excellent. The land changed from the often poor grassland to intensively farmed grain fields with dust clouds where the combines were working harvesting. Every small town has massive grain silos adjacent to the rail track.
A lot of cattle are also raised; at one point we passed a very large herd of Bison (Buffalo) which would have caused us to stop in Yellowstone but some how here they felt like farmed cattle and not the same.
We stopped briefly at a Visitor centre, mainly to stretch our legs but collected a free Montana state map and some info’ on Glacier National Park, our next destination. The attendant was very keen for us to sign his visitor book as not just out of state but out of country.
After stopping for more fuel and getting some supplies in, we arrived at our lodging around 5:30 and spent a little time with the owner getting tips before carrying our luggage up. We are in the loft of an old granary building which the owner and his sons had rescued from being burnt down and transported and rebuilt in this location.
A trip into East Glacier Park, a very small town and we ate the house special of swordfish at Whistlestop which we enjoyed before backtracking to the row of shops and bars nearer our lodging to buy coffee and take a walk around the only gift shop in town.
Usually we rely on coffee in reception but this place is small lodges and our loft so there isn’t a base open all the time. We also try to use hotels with breakfast included as it saves time massively when travelling and is also usually cheaper than eating breakfast out.
Colourful sky from our room.
Today's route:
Statistics: Miles today: 365 miles; Miles so far: 1841; Fuel added so far: 71.2 gals; States: Montana; Time Zone: Mountain Daylight Saving (UK-7)
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Thank you for stopping by, Lynne & Ged