It’s not our fault! Call your Congressman. The northern US is sorely lacking in available wireless connections.
Where have we been??? Glacier Park to begin. As you can see in the photo, Tillie Tours was right at home among the park’s restored tour buses. She went up, over, around, up, and down the Highway to the Sun giving her passengers (not the driver who was supposedly hanging onto the wheel), a breathtaking view STRAIGHT DOWN the sheer mountain walls she was trespassing. Judy Keck & Karol Kucinski would have been scrambling for position and blind folders behind the driver.
We were so impressed by the beauty of Glacier Park we decided to brave the grizzlies and camp for a night in the park. The ranger told us the campground was full but to drive around anyway as sometimes people leave early. Tillie proved her worth yet again. On our second pass through, campers in a huge RV flagged us down and said they had plenty of space if we wanted to share their site. Yes!
At the entertainment in the hotel that night (we walked the mile over to it), we learned how to use the pepper spray Judy gave us in case we saw a bear. If a bear charges you, drop to a fetal position and spray yourself in the face so you can’t see the awful things that are going to happen. We walked briskly back to the campsite, humming loudly & trying not to think about it.
Friday we started east again. Driving into the FLAT, HOT Montana plains in the summer is not for the weak. WARNING – this stunt should only be tried if you are completely addled or wish to become so.
We would have said the same for North Dakota if it hadn’t been for the Kenmare “Honkers”, Bev & Orv (Kenny’s folks). They live outside Kenmare, the Snow Goose capital of N.D. (hence the town mascot) and only 6 miles from Canada. The canola fields are blooming a cheerful yellow and abut flax fields just starting to bloom with their blue flowers. It couldn’t have been prettier and more peaceful. Bev fixed us a wonderful lunch (Saturday) with cukes & radishes from their garden as was the rhubarb on the cake. And Orv put the heat wave into perspective by letting Mary sit (WAY UP) in the tractor he uses for snow removal…. Think about it!
Then it was on to the geographic center of N. America. Didn’t we already do that? Nope. That was the center of the US in Nebraska. This location is in Rugby, N.D. Saturday night we camped in an undiscovered municipal campsite in Michigan, N.D. It was beautiful, quiet & there were no other campers. A first!
Sunday we headed east once passing by Larimore, ND which is not only home to Miss North Dakota but also boasts, if their sign can be believed, the “Largest Concentration of Tree Shelter Belts in the World”. We decided to keep driving.
Then it was on to Minnesota where we passed a sign for “Pet Haven Cemetery – Winter Storage”. For lunch we took a detour south to Itasca State Park which has the headwaters of the Mississippi River, only a couple of feet wide as it empties out of the lake. Guess it has to start somewhere. Tillie got a bit nervous on our way to see Paul Bunyan and got a flat tire. Luckily the spare still had that NJ air cousin John had put it in and John got it changed in 100 plus temperature in the sun - so hot the jack sunk about 6 inches into the hardtop. However, the tire was easily fixed at the station across from Paul B. (only a blown value stem) and we were on our way. Nice campsite by one of Minnesota’s Lakes – we went swimming with the fish and who cared what else… anything was better than the heat!