On west to Williston ND and to St Mary village MT, Glacier park

Heading to St Mary

 

Thursday June 2 

(Not sure why there were no pictures today. Different times, before digital cameras.)

Away by 6:25 CDT, up and away on a gorgeous day (Cath thinks this is poetry :)). We found a Uniroyal tire store in Bemidji and it was open when we got there at 7:25. They wouldn’t honour the road hazard warranty on the tire (Canadian only), so I bought a used one to put on. Decided it wasn’t worth carrying the wrecked tire across the country and back for warranty, so left it there for disposal. Had a really good bfast at a Perkins, and back on the road to North Dakota by 9am. Not bad!

Stopped at a WalMart in Grand Forks ND for ½ hr. We’re running across #2 to Devils Lake ND, with Cath driving (!). Lots of small sloughs, with a few ducks in almost every one. A real chatty girl in the ND welcome area told us about the little towns we would be passing. Michigan apparently has good pie and 15-cent coffee (we didn’t stop for it though).

At about 5pm near Minot the skies opened and it teemed rain for about 10 minutes. Saw a fox at the side of the road, feasting on something. We’ve also seen 2 live deer, and 4 dead ones.

Got to Williston ND about 7:30 pm CDT. Blue skies and 73F. Cruised the town, gassed up for an early start tomorrow, and headed 2 miles out of town to Buffalo Trails cg. Rice & beans, salad, Pringles & beer for supper. 

It was very windy across these miles and miles of nothing but grass, a few herds of cattle, and several herds of horses. The cg is up on a hill, windy, so bugs shouldn’t be a problem. It's a very appealing area to us, even if the description doesn’t sound like it.

Friday June 3

Lovely mild sunny morning, bfast at the campground, and away by 7:30 CDT (the time zone shifts help with early starts when heading West). Great night’s sleep. The van bed is just a jacknife sofa seat, but is really comfortable.

Western ND is very scenic - mild badlands, and lots of grass. Saw 2 antelope close to the road, just grazing. Crossed into Montana at 7:55 CDT. Time zone change, so it’s only 6:55 MDT. We started seeing small white crosses on a red post (all metal) along the sides of the road. Finally saw a sign explaining the crosses represent people killed at those spots. Makes you think, and drive even more carefully.

We picked up 2 airplanes talking to each other on the CB this morning. We were 60 miles east of Glasgow Montana, and the one plane was 30 miles north of Glasgow. Great reception! Ground speed of one plane was 420 mph, somewhat faster than us.

Stopped in Havre Mt for groceries. 26C/79F. Took our first mountain picture on #89 up to St Mary at Glacier Park. Windy road. Scenery somewhat like England’s Lake District.

We pulled in to St Mary’s Triple Divide cg about 6pm MDT. It’s just outside Glacier National Park. The view is spectacular and so is the weather. 

A lovely black Lab wanted to come with us

Supper was hot dogs, chips and beer (good balanced diet!), and bed by 9pm MDT. We met a real friendly black Lab pup at the cg, and several skittish ground squirrels.