Our neighbours got home late and made lots of noise, the same neighbours got up early and made lots of noise.
The upside is we are up and on the road by a little after 8am. Don’t
need to wait on breakfast, there is none on offer here. We only drive about 20 km until we arrive at
the border in Carway. There is a
motorbike in front of us but he pulls over to dig out his passport so we mosey
on straight through. A couple of questions about
how long we’ve been in Canada and where we came in from and we are waved
through! No drama whatsoever, in fact I
think we made her day, she would have been bored otherwise!
We pull over to get the GPS out, so happy to have Miss Bossy back
again, we've
missed her telling us where to go! Then get the welcome to USA
sign and the ‘Montana Welcomes You’ sign too.
We turn off at St Marys onto the very scenic ‘Going to the
Sun Road’ to Glacier National Park and stop at the gateway, again first in line
as a new lane was just opening up. We
couldn’t play the 'just passing through' card today so we purchased the $35 pass
which is good for 7 days and through we go.
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| We are early enough to see the glow of sunrise behind us |
What stunning scenery! We would not have been able to do
this in the motorhome, there is a length limit of 21 ft and a height of 10 ft,
and we soon see why as we pass under overhanging rocks.
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| This would be motorhome stress! |
However there are free shuttles from St Marys
at the east end and Apgar at the west and we see many of them along the road and frequent shuttle stops to get off and on and
go hiking etc. We drive past 3 campgrounds, two tunnels (imagine the time and
manpower to bore through 408 ft of mountain in 1928), Golden Staircase with
water cascading down it, Gunsight Pass,
Jackson Glacier, Logan Pass which sits on the Continental Divide at 6,646 feet,
Weeping Wall with a waterfall, Bird Woman Falls cascading 492 feet, a serious
switchback with views of Heavens Peak and Sun Point. We are supplied a handout on Bear Safety, so
I keep my eyes peeled but the only wildlife we see are two tiny squirrels, one
on the road.
It is still hazy but not as bad, I can see shades in the sky
it’s no longer just one solid shade. The
tops of the majestic peaks are rugged, the road although narrow is smooth and
well cared for and there are many more outlooks underway where people can pull
off the road to take photos etc.
We see lots of motorbike groups and bicycle groups too, that
must be hard work. They are very polite,
as the road is one lane each way and some areas the lanes are pretty skinny,
the cyclists hold out their left arm with palm facing us to holding us back to warn
it is not safe to pass, when it is safe they wave us through with a nice
friendly smile and wave.
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| Polite team of lady cyclists letting us know it is not safe to pass just yet. |
We stop at lots of outlooks and get out to take photos, our
windscreen is so bug spattered it shows up in any photos I take from the
car. It’s a pleasant 18C 66F outside,
bit of a change from yesterday 101F+.
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| Still have the wildfire smoke haze! |
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| Yup, snow on them thar hills! |
A little further on at Columbia Falls we see a carwash so
pull in and vacuum the grass from our foray to the reservoir yesterday and give
the car a much need soap up and water blast – it’s just like new – almost!
We are early to check in to our accommodation and anyway we
missed it on the drive in but we wanted to take a look around the town
anyway. We backtrack and find the Cheap
Sleep Motel, which I was kinda dreading after last night’s decidedly substandard
accommodation, but we are pleasantly surprised.
Our room is ready, the parking is good, WIFI is good, the pool is
welcoming and we do take advantage of that after a couple of hours of googling
some more places to stay. The sun is out
and just a little filtered but as the afternoon progresses I can see blue sky
that looks blue.
Take the opportunity to do some laundry, it’s just down the
stairs from us and sit down and write the blog, with a glass of wine!
Dinner was at the Piggyback BBQ down by Whitefish Lake with
live music too, I guess it is Saturday night after all. My Pork Belly Sliders were
yum but I left most of the bread, Kim’s Smokey Joe - Brisket served open-face
on a roll, smothered in horsey sauce, topped with Montana sauce & melted
cheese was also yum but he left most of the bread too!
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| Cheers! |
We had a drive around the lake to watch the sunset before
heading back to the homestead and saw a couple of deer having their dinner in
someone’s front garden!
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| Saw this lovely Bullmastiff waiting patiently, what a cute face! |
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| Catching the very last sun beams over Whitefish Lake MT |
I remember flying a piper Cherokee 300 through the Logan Pass on our way to Spokane back in the 70's.
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