Cut Bank, Montana

Sunday June 25, 2006

We got up on our last morning in Yellowstone and hit the road before 8:00 am. We weren’t 100% sure how far we wanted (or able) to drive today, but wanted to a) get as close to Glacier as possible and b) make sure we stayed somewhere with an internet connection. (6 blogs I had to put up today, plus all the pictures.) There isn’t much interesting to talk about during our driving days. On the way out of Yellowstone we saw lots of elk, much more than we saw the entire rest of the week. We also got a great view of a bald eagle’s nest that was on top of a dead lodgepole pine by the road. We stopped in West Yellowstone, MT for a quick pastry for breakfast, then drove north through Montana. Montana didn’t start off as my favorite state. First off we had to drive up this pretty major highway (not an interstate, but one that had a 70 MPH speed limit), and there was road construction going on. It wasn’t the fact that the road was under construction that bothered me, but this is what was going on: They had half the road completely dug up, in which it looked like they were repaving. Then the side of the highway that still had traffic on, THEY HAD TORE THAT UP TOO. So this highway that had a speed limit of 70 MPH turns into a dirt/gravel road where everyone is going about 15 MPH. Now, if you were going to repave 2 sides of a highway, wouldn’t you leave 1 side alone, dig up and repair the other side, then repeat? Why tear up BOTH SIDES? We stopped for gas at an Exxon in Big Sky (yes, it's a town as well), and I took this picture of the pump. I guess grammar isn't their strong suit here. So then we stopped for lunch at a Quiznos in Helena. The people working there were some of the biggest non-charmers I’ve ever met in my life. After my sandwich came through the oven a woman asked me what I wanted on it. “Tomatoes and onions” I replied. She put those on and started to roll it up. The cashier then yells (YELLS) at her, “Wait, you forgot the lettuce!” The first woman goes, “No, I didn’t”, then hesitates a second, then says, “Oh, I guess I did”, and starts to unroll it and reaches for the lettuce. (Note: I don’t like lettuce on my sandwiches.) So I have to speak up, “Wait, I don’t want lettuce on my sandwich.” So then she yells (YELLS) at the cashier, “See, he didn’t want no lettuce.” (Yeah, I know, it's not a big deal, I just wanted something to complain about.) Also, the towns in Montana all seem dead. Like ghost towns, but I know they have some people living there because the stop lights still work. So yeah, I’m not big on Montana. (Though I do like the big sky. And it is big. Huge.)

After lunch we got up to Shelby, MT, right off of I-15 and the exit one takes to get to Glacier from the East. We were thinking of staying at Shelby, but it seemed really shady. Truck stops, dingy casinos (not real casinos…Montana allows slots and keno, and about every other business has those machines in them, and they call them all casinos) and a real dirty quality. We decided to drive another half hour down the road toward Glacier to see if there was anything near Cut Bank, MT. Cut Bank is the last town before the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, so we either were going to find a place or keep driving all night. Luckily we hit the only place in town, the Super 8 Cut Bank, right next to “the Mall” (an IGA, a drug store and a hardware store) and a Pizza Hut. And internet access! Sometimes we just luck out. After hours and hours of uploading, checking emails, finding out the latest World Cup news, and hearing that Big Papi hit ANOTHER walk-off home run, I’m sitting here at 10:15 pm MDT and it’s still light outside. (I think sunset was 9:40 pm or something, but it stays light a long time after that.) Tomorrow we’re off for Glacier, where we have 3 nights stay on the Going to the Sun Road, which (thankfully) we found out has finally opened all the way across to West Glacier. We probably won’t have an update again until we head to Banff later this week.

A word about Rocky: He’s just gone over 5,000 miles for the trip and he’s doing well. After the rough ride in Utah on the Hole in the Rock Road he was groaning and squeaking a bit more than usual, but all of that has gone away now. Another item that’s driving me crazy, though, are bugs. The windshield is getting hit like you wouldn’t believe with bugs. I filled up the car this morning outside Yellowstone and cleaned off the windshield. An hour later I had trouble seeing out it was so covered. I guess that comes with the territory. We’ll need to get an oil change soon…and since “get an oil change in Canada” is on my life list, I think I’ll wait for Banff.