Sunday, September 8, 2002
Time to leave my precious Yellowstone. Goodbye, geysers.
Goodbye, bears. Goodbye, substandard sandwiches. I hate to leave,
but we had a good visit. Now it's north to Glacier National Park!
We passed through Mammoth Hot Springs again on our way out. There
are a number of buildings here, and elk seemed to enjoy sprawling
on the lawns, including one BIG male.
Idle elk
Tom left the radio on search, hoping to eventually get a
signal. As we reached Pray, Montana, gospel music began to play.
Random observation: Deer and antelope do indeed play in Montana,
but not together.
We drove and drove, stopping for little but gas, until we
finally reached Great Falls, Montana. I was desperate to get to a
"real" town so I could get some decent food. Naturally, I craved
Mexican, but the only place we could find was called "Taco Treat,"
which didn't fill us with high hope. It actually ended up being
pretty good, though, except for the salsa.
After dinner, I checked our map and ignorantly suggested we
visit Black Eagle Falls, one of what Lewis and Clark called the
"Great Falls of the Missouri River." I can save you the trouble and
report that the falls have been dammed out of existence.
Missouri River, Montana
Great Falls?
Lots of miles to cover today. North of Dutton, Montana, Tom
was overcome with the power of "The White Swallow," as we have
dubbed our rental Hyundai, and was cruising up I-15 at 90 miles an
hour!
Just before dark we rolled into the parking lot of the
Glacier Gateway Inn in Cut Bank, Montana. I was surprised to find
such a nice hotel room in such a dinky little town. The hotel was
practically on top of the railroad tracks, but so was everything
else in Cut Bank, so what are you gonna do?
The view from Cut Bank
An example of how exciting it must be to live in Cut Bank:
The hotel receptionist told me that right after September 11, 2001,
a train passed by carrying tanks and other military equipment. She
and some other hotel employees hopped in their pickup trucks and
actually drove to the next town to see the train pass by
again!
Home away from home
We'd brought a computer and hoped to get online tonight, but
there was no local access number. In fact, during this whole trip
to the wild west, we only managed to dial up twice.
405 massive miles.
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