Day 8 – Saturday, October 9  (no internet for 4 days)

Nice morning in Havre, MT. A little overcast, but supposed to clear up. Good coffee at those Hampton Inns. Loaded up with ‘to go’ stuff and got on the road. Westbound US 2.

We had the road all but to ourselves. Held up speed. Heading for Glacier. We have reservations in Hungry Horse, MT, on the west side of the park. Easy drive. 4Hrs. Can’t check in until 3p.

No real places to goof off on the way. Until we hit the mountains. Stopped a few times to stretch our legs. Appreciate the vastness of this place. You a can virtually see to the horizon in every direction. Rolling hills. Prairies. Wheat farms that have recently been harvested. Occasional small towns.

At Cut Bank, the foothills were looming into view. A short time later we headed into the mountains at Browning. Signs showing 40 or 50 miles to our destination (I can’t remember).

US 2 passes through the mountains and briefly cuts across the corner of the park. I had to laugh. This is a 2 lane road and the speed limit still was 70mph across the pass. The road was not engineered for 70. The brief section where it passed through the park, it was dropped to 55mph. Well the rental Ford Expedition is happier at the lower speeds.

Scenery is obviously is stunning. You are quickly overtaken with the WOW factor. Not many places to pull off on US 2, but we found a few. We blew by a sign for the continental divide. Somewhere over 5,000’. I had to laugh because depending where you are, these signs pop up. While in ND or in eastern MT we passed one for 1,500’. There ya go.

On the west side of the pass We rolled into Hungry Horse. We had 2-3 hours before we checked in, so had time to kill. Drove by our destination. Closed until 3p. Looked OK from the road. Too late. No refunds.Stopped at a local biker’s bar. ‘Packers Roost’ for lunch. Decent food, friendly staff.

On the way out saw an inviting sign to visit the Hungry Horse Dam and Reservoir. Over 550’ tall. Took a narrow 2 lane road up the mountain and there it was. Who knew? Another worthwhile diversion.

Stopped at a local supermarket to pick up a couple of things. Nice little town. I noticed a distillery right down the road. Definitely a must stop. Headed the cabin to check in. Asked for the WI-fi password. Oh that is down. We called but they haven’t gotten back to us. When did you call? A couple of weeks ago.

Cabin is nice. Back away from the main road. Nestled close to a few others. Unloaded the truck. Settled in for the next few days. At least there is cell service. We poured ourselves a cocktail and sat out on the deck. Very cool out but the sun was bright and as it was setting it was shining right on the deck.. We decided to stay in for the night. We had a big lunch and neither of us was really hungry.

As the sun set I remembered we had satellite TV. The was a Michigan / Nebraska game soon. I haven’t seen a college football ball game yet this year. We canceled our cable a few years ago and YouTube TV earlier this year. I found the game on TV! It was the only game on. Actually we were very lucky. There are only about a dozen channels. I was excited. Only issue with that is the audio is so far out of sync its really tough to watch. No worries just turn the sound way down. Michigan won. Barely.

It was a good day.  And, the most important – Irena and I are still talking!  🙂

Life is good..