Glacier National

It's the end of July so alot of snow has melted. We still needed to traverse several hundred feet of it on the Logan Pass trail to Hidden Lake overlook. The bear grass is in full bloom. In the morning it was 58F but quickly rose to 89F.

St. Mary Montana

After watching the elevation rise from 2600' to 3800' over 200 miles, we arrived in Browning at the edge of the prairie. Then over 25 mile of foothills rising to 6,000' we finally dropped back down to St. Mary at 4500'. Nothing quite like driving the plains for 2400 mile and then coming up against two mile high mountains! Tomorrow the Squirrel goes up the pass. Seven days here should be great.

Rt 2 and the BNSF

At Wolf Point we caught infamous vacationer US 2 which runs east/west  across the US just south of the Canadian border.  It is flat and uneventful but does run next to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.  The rail is the most active track I've seen for a while. Looked like trains every 1/2-1 hour with lots of Chinese containers, UPS trailers, and tankers.  All this product must be coming from Seattle. Also got to see the AMTRAK Empire Builder headed east. Tomorrow we finish the last 200 mile leg of our eight day run to Glacier National Park.

Eastern Big Sky Byway (Rt. 200S & 13)

After leaving Medora, S.D.  we needed to get up to Rt 2 so we got off the interstate and headed north.  Rt. 13 is a good two lane but the road methodically rises and falls several hundred feet every three miles for about 60 miles. Beautiful country, lots of Montana sky, and lots of wheat ( but very little traffic).

Reiman Botanical Garden

Also, passing through Ames, Iowa we would recommend stopping at Iowa State University. You can park in stadium parking right next to the largest, and nicest, garden complex in Iowa.  The butterfly pavilion operates year round and was outstanding.  They also had a Lego exhibit occurring throughout the park. My pick was the life size buffy and calf.

Hoover Presidential Museum

Forgot to mention our stop at Hoover's birthplace in West Branch, Iowa.  It's a nice little rural Iowa town. We walked the streets the park service has taken over but didn't go in the museum. It made a cool morning stop before the temperature skyrocketed to 95.

Teddy Roosevelt National Park

Spent today at TRNP.  More of  a badlands than a grasslands but a pleasant park. Had a buffy within 5' of the squirrel. After we passed he walked the centerline for several hundred feet.

Teddy had a cattle ranch in Medora, S. Dakota around 1883. This was his first cabin (Maltese Cross brand).

Mississippi River

Have now moved on to an over night in Monticello, Minnesota.  Just northwest of St. Paul, our site overlooked the river.  West central Minnesota looks like a nice place to live (in the summer).

Winnebago

Squirrel wanted to see where Moose was born so we stopped in Forest City, Iowa and took the 3 hour tour.  Quite a place but the service department wanted $1600 for a replacement side window which we can get for $400 in the aftermarket. Below is the first motorhome made in 1967 for $4,000. Now they cost a little more. It was a pretty nice rig for 45 years ago.

Rock Island Arsenal

Always knew about Rock Island but had never made it there (one more notch on the bucket list).  This place had the largest gun collection I've ever seen, from captured indian rifles, to German/Jap/US grenades, to Iraqi RPGs plus alot of weapons I had never seen before. I got the impression they have a billion dollar budget supplying products to the military without going through offical GSA channels.

Back on the road

After 1-1/2 years we will try starting up the blog again.  This trip we are headed to Montana. To avoid Chicago traffic we took the RT 24 direction through central Ohio, Indiana, & Illinois ending up in Davenport Iowa. Davenport has a very nice botanical garden (rather dry this year), and is home to John Deere and Rock Island Arsenal.

Below is John Deere's 35' combine, cann't wait for the neighbors to put this one on our 16' road.