Good Day, eh?

It is about 10:00 pm Monday night when I am typing this. I have nothing that resembles internet access at this time. I am about 30 miles west of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I’ll give you a run down of what happened since my last update during laundry on Sunday.

After laundry I went to the southeast corner of Glacier. Most of the roads are outside of the park. The Road to the Sun and the dirt road I took Friday are the two longest roads in the park. I would be pretty confident in saying the hiking trail mileage is much higher than roadways in Glacier. I drove down to Two Medicine and saw the lake there. I was shocked by how barren and prairie-like the land gets immediately east of the park.
I headed back to St. Mary and stopped at the general store in town and was planning on having dinner at a small café there when the Hill family rolled into that same parking lot. I knew they were staying in the area (same KOA), but I hadn’t talked with Todd in a couple days due to one or both of us having no phone signal. This was the first time in 2 weeks I saw people I know. I ended up spending the evening with the Hill family. They (as they always are) were wonderful hosts. They let me tag along with them to the Many Glaciers area of the park to watch the sunset and have dinner and a cocktail. Todd did a wonderful job entertaining the masses on the hotel deck with his wildlife guiding prowess. I think they should resurrect the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom show and place Todd in the role once held by Marlin Perkins. I don’t know who they could get to replace Jim, the sidekick that always had to approach the dangerous animal as Marlin narrated from a safe distance. I believe what Todd was showing everyone was a grizzly bear. It was a considerable distance away and I didn’t have my good camera with me. I have a picture and when I zoom in on the object I am pretty confident that it was a grizzly.
The length of the grizzly event meant it was getting too late to find anyone open for dinner. Everything out there shuts down at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. After several attempts at different locations we ended up back at the café where we first ran into each other. They too had just closed, but Jeannette batted her eyelids a couple times and they let us in. A little time around the fire at their cabin, and we called it a night. Thank You Hills!

This morning I decided to head to Waterton Lakes, the Canadian sister park to Glacier. I headed across the border into Alberta for the first time in my life. In the park I went to the magnificent Prince of Wales Hotel and deeper into the park to see Cameron Lake. It was another beautiful day in another beautiful park. I completely overachieved in the weather and scenery departments this trip.



When I got back to the Jeep, I knew it was time to go home. I saw everything I set out to see and more and I was mentally and emotionally spent. It was time to start the return journey.

I knew the drive back would be long and “dull” after the scenery I was leaving behind. I opted to drive across Alberta and Saskatchewan rather than going across Montana. I have now seen some of the places many of the NHL players are from. Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Moose Jaw are all homes for a number of NHL players.

I have been asked by a few people if I drove the Jeep all the way out here from Minnesota. When I respond yes, they all assume I am going to need physical therapy of some type when I return home. Hands down, the best version of this happened in Lethbridge this afternoon. I was doing my ritual cleaning of the windshield when a pickup truck pulling a gooseneck trailer carrying a farm implement pulled up alongside me. In the best Scandinavian accent I have ever heard, the guy asked me “did you drive that all the way from Minnesota?”. I truly thought he was putting me on and giving me the accent because I was from Minnesota. I don’t know their names, but if they were anything other than Ole and Lena I would be shocked. I spoke with them for a couple minutes about the trip. I really had to listen closely as their accents were quite strong. Apparently there are Scandinavians outside of Minnesota. Who knew?

I don’t know the total, but I am sure I drove over 400 miles today. My total is approaching 3,500 miles for the trip. I am hoping to get to Medora, North Dakota on Tuesday. There is a musical they put on every summer that is a plateful of Americana and a little bit more. I saw it for the first time last August and it is different each year. I hope to catch the show and hike a trail or two in Teddy Roosevelt National Park. After that, it’s the last leg of the journey home. I might be able to do the drive home from Medora in on day. If I had the Denali and the interstate at my disposal it would be a given. If I can do it in one shot, my journey will likely end Thursday. I hope to get this entry to you Tuesday or Wednesday end then another entry or two to wrap this up.

Thanks for your patience and persistence in reading this long-winded entry.

The Goods:
Song of the Day

• Sunday – I really didn’t hear much music, so I’m going to pass
• Monday – I’m going to take the pass from Sunday and have 2 entries. There were dozens of quality choices today, and narrowing it to 2 is extremely difficult today. I am going with the following choices.
  Queen – I Want To Break Free
  Cake – Short Skirt, Long Jacket

Thoughts/Lessons

• Remember 2 weeks ago when I said my bladder was smaller than the Jeep’s gas tank? Today was the day my bladder won. It was really close and almost a horribly embarrassing moment, but I did it. Good thing I got really crappy mileage that tank.
• I think every Canadian movie I have ever seen has Tim Horton’s in it. I finally got mine. 2 Chocolate glazed donuts and coffee for lunch. Yum.
• The road signs in Canada are far more interesting than in the U.S. – I still don’t know what a couple of them were supposed to be telling me.
• Yes, there is road construction in Canada too.
• My friend Mick told me today – “if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need.” Mick is a wise man.
• 2 cars I got pictures of in the past couple of days. A Suzuki Samurai and a powder blue Chrysler Cordoba.
• The pictures I have can’t deliver the sounds and odors that I have experienced.
  
  Thanks again for your patience. I’ll get back to you soon.
  Tom