Joe & Wilma's Excellent Adventures

 Sunday, June 23, 2024

Happy 11th birthday to our grandson, Andrew Thomas Froeschke.

After fueling, we were on the road to Glacier National Park by 10 AM. We started out on Interstate 15 but then went off on US 89 to St. Mary, right outside one of the entrances to the Park.  We’re seeing snow-covered mountains in the distance and lots of planted fields on both sides of the road. We passed the brightest yellow field I’ve ever seen. Don’t know if it’s mustard or canola or something else. 

As we entered the little town of Fairfield, we were met with double rows of grain elevators, and as we left the town, maybe two blocks later, there was another row. They are irrigating the fields here, although it rained several times while we were in Great Falls.  These grain fields here are huge.

We just passed a "crosswinds" sign. Joe said the closer we get to Glacier National Park, the harder the wind is blowing and with going up and down the hills, he’s guessing we’re getting about 2 miles to the gallon. He has fought the wind all day, and it is rough.  Gusts up to about 40 mph, and they are pretty constant.  There are lots of cattle being pastured in Montana.  I don't know what they do with them in the winter, but now that it's summer, they dot the landscape.  There are also a lot of horses up here.  

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This is a pretty drive, and we have been in view of snow-covered mountains all day.  I assume this is some of the snow they got last week.  I don't know if there is always snow on these mountains, but one area looks like it could be a glacier.

We are now on Indian Reservation, and just outside of Browning. Joe looked out his side and he saw 3 teepees. I looked out my side and I had a herd of buffalo. Way cool.

We got to the park about 1:00 so it was a 3 hour drive.  It is very, very windy but the temperature is 64°. Our campsite is a premium one and we paid dearly, but we have a view of the mountains and the Park just right out our front windshield, with Lower St. Mary Lake just to the right.  The girl at the office said she saw 6 bears last week at one of the other entrances, so we have high hopes..

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This is the view out the front windshield of our campsite.   We had reserved 5 nights but were able to extend to 7 upon check-in.  But it doesn't look like there are that many roads through the park, so we may have over-extended ourselves.

After Joe's hard work on the ladder yesterday getting the bugs off the big, front windshield, his knees are really bothering him today and he can hardly walk.  My help washing below the windshield made my arm and shoulder sore and it has been sore ever since I fell.  We are both a mess.  But I think this week will be mostly driving the Jeep, which comes with its own set of issues, but we are probably not doing any hiking.

There is a restaurant "world famous" on-site, so we had lunch/dinner there.  Their fried chicken Sunday special, $22/person.  We have not explored the little town to see what our options are here.  We were low on propane, and Joe had wanted to fill up in Great Falls -- they had it on-site -- but they didn't have anyone to fill us on the weekend, and Joe didn't want to "de-camp" before we were leaving, so we didn't get that taken care of.  After we checked in here, on the way to our campsite, Joe spotted a propane tank so we called back to the office and they sent someone out.  $6.00/gallon!

After our meal, we finished setting up, and were in for the night.  The wind continued to pound the RV, sounding like thunder.  That went on until about 3:00 a.m., then it settled into just a strong breeze.  

We were afraid we weren't going to have internet or phone signal here, but we have both so that worked out.  We are up on top of a hill, that may have helped with those issues.  We are looking forward to finding some wildlife here!