Day 4 (Part 2) - Welcome to Big Sky Country

Author’s Note: I apologize on the lack of photos. We are using wi-fi hotspots on our phones to update this, so the technology isn’t so good. But I promise you, that there is going to be 12,000 photos of this trip, and we will be setting up a slideshow viewing for interested parties. Perhaps we will make a meal of corn, buffalo burgers, and Idaho spuds as a viewing meal.

The only exciting thing about Idaho was that we found a Wal-Mart… we needed to re-stock on lunch meat and ice. We both ended up with impulse purchases… a new camera for me (it was HALF OFF) and a backpack camera bag for Lindsay. It wasn’t a SUPERCENTER… so we had to go to the Albertson’s next door to get our food rations. We did some much need re-organizing of the car and the cooler and off… back through boring Idaho. Now we only saw maybe a 100 miles of Idaho so I’m not saying the whole state is like that, but what we saw was just farm land….. I’m not sure what potato plants look like…. but my common sense says that potatoes are grown in the earth so it would be hard to really tell what a potato plant looks like. Just before the Montana border we stopped in the town of Spencer to gas up and so Lindsay could get an Idaho Spoon. Maybe from now on, she can eat her spuds with it. Spencer is also the Opal Capital… and the gas station had an old school pump…like the wheel with numbers…and that pumped from the ground, and you could hear it. The state claims it is the "Gem State" and it finally made sense why... the state isn't a gem, they just have them.

We switched drivers since Lindsay was getting tired, and we stopped to take a picture of the Montana state sign. Now Montana. Almost instantly the landscape got more interesting. Mountains everywhere. Lindsay fell asleep and I had some alone time with me and my IPOD. Which most of you know is an enjoyable afternoon in my eyes. I played some country music as I drove through Montana, surrounded by majestic mountains. The sky had threatened rained all day, but the sun appeared and made the mountains more dramatic. I turned off the major highway…from I-15 through Idaho, onto I-90 (so many miles on I-90 this trip) for a bit, then to Montana’s highways. The speed limit in Montana is 75 mph but on these country roads, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t one. From 35 miles on this one road, I saw only 10 cars, one of which was a UPS truck… guess they do deliver everywhere. I passed lakes and rivers, surrounded by mountains and fields, and tons and tons of cattle, and ofcourse Montana’s famous “Big Sky”. Maybe it was just their advertising but the sky really did look bigger. Like the view surrounded you… and your eyes just kept going, trying to soak it all in. The clouds had begun to form above the mountains…due to the pressure change…(mountains often cause clouds to form due to the forcing of air). Hello, those weather classes are paying off.

The drive was about as beautiful as they get… like the true American road trip, two-lane roads through the countryside, surrounded by mountains, soaking up that big sky and the sun. For the record, I am also a fan of Montana drivers…no lollygagging around. Lindsay finally woke up, not that I minded my solo time, I just wanted her to see Montana, but she had told me not to wake her unless I saw a moose, mountain lion, or bear. She missed all the signs telling me that Meth was bad for me… maybe Meth is a probably here in Big Sky country. We stopped to get gas (which like every other gas station we’ve seen, offered a casino too), and clean the windshield so we could resume road photography. Lindsay got mad because I always make her do the windshields while I pump gas. I thought it was a fine time to explain to Lindsay the economic concept of comparative advantage. When each person (or on a macroeconomic perspective: country), specializes in things they are good at, the economy or system operates more efficiently. Therefore, while I am better at navigating, planning, and organizing the details…Lindsay is the more athletic, outdoorsy, and handy one. Who is not surprised by this. It’s not like I’m sitting in the front seat doing nothing, I am pumping gas… something a monkey could do. While at the gas station, we saw our first true American cowboy. Hat, boots, and chaps. Welcome to the West. We kept driving, heading towards Glacier National Park.

At about 7 pm, we decided it was time to look for a campground. We passed through the town of Seeley Lake… a mountain Minocqua. We passed a bunch of large lakes including Salmon Lake and a bunch of creeks..Dog Creek, Goat Creek, Pony Creek, Soup Creek…. It began to rain. Or as we like to say, that big Montana sky let loose on us. It would’ve been find if we had been traveling on less rough roads. But the roads were “rough”. There was a crack in the center and large sinkhole type puddles that like sucked you in. We passed a sign that read “Rough Break Ahead”…we both laughed to ourselves. Now if that wasn’t a LIFE road sign, I’m not sure what is. Like you are already driving in the rain, and you get a sign that tells you things are just going to get worse ahead, but you just have to keep going, because stopping makes no sense, and turning back isn’t logical. We found a campground near Swan Lake..run by the National Park service. Camping rookies we knocked on the trailer of our “campground host”, and she told us that there was a self service box and to “have fun setting up in the rain”. I’m pretty sure I jinxed us…since when we were at Walmart I thought I should go look at rain gear since I hadn’t been able to find stuff that fit me that wasn’t really expensive..but got side tracked and forgot. Setting up camp in the rain..if that’s not hardcore, I’m not sure what is.

The lady had told us we could park wherever so we found a strategic location next to the bathroom and pulled up into the grass. This was not the luxurious campground we had stayed at in South Dakota…no electricity and a “pit toilet”. The toilet…hmm, like a fancy portapotty. I violated some sort of rule, not sure if it was a road rule, but I looked into the toilet. Don’t do it. It’s not pretty. Just sit and pee. There was some reading material in the bathroom, telling us to close the lid (I do have to admit it was not smelly) and “don’t spit snoose”. Not sure what that is. We used our outlet converters to get electricity to blow up the airmattress. Thanks for your contribution of outlet converter Charles. We got to work setting up the tent first… we must have looked like a sight for sore eyes… two girls, in the middle of Montana, in rain jackets and flip flops (although Lindsay may have had on her pumas), putting up a tent in the rain. Lindsay fashioned the umbrella in a tree so she could put our cookstove underneath it… (no fire tonight..and I was getting really disappointed, I wanted some flippin’ smores. 4 days of outdoors and no smores. Something’s wrong here). For the record, we have both of our grandparents juju (I think that’s the word Linds used). We brought Gram’s umbrella which she gave me with Cream Puff. We made some cheese hot dogs and stood under the umbrella in the tree to eat them. It was times like this that I think a reality show about this adventure would’ve had good ratings. We did get filmed in Wyoming at Hot Springs and the Dinosaur Museum for the state’s tourism office, so who knows, maybe we’ll become tourism icons. Lindsay violated rule #1 of bear country…don’t cook near the tent. (See, I was listening Uncle Charlie), so I slept with the pepper spray next to me. We had some more potatoes and some hot cocoa. We changed into dry clothes in the tent and got to bed… first time we’ve been asleep in the tent before it got dark.

Side note: From Lindsay, she’s driving. She’d like the blogging community to know that everytime we pass a sign for Butte, I pronounce it BUTT. And then giggle to myself. We just passed a sign for “Heart Butte”. Every time it makes me laugh. I’m a sucker for road signs, yesterday while Lindsay was sleeping I passed an interstate sign for the towns of Anaconda and Opportunity or as the road sign said “Anaconda Opportunity”. Yep, definitely laughed to myself. Doesn’t sound like an opportunity I’d want.