I Left My Heart In Montana

August 3-5, 2019

Cottonwood Inn, Glasgow, Montana

Day 50-52

The drive from Harve to Glasgow was pretty much a straight line, 50 miles south of Canada. It continues to be hot (95F) and sunny.

The prairie on this stretch of Highway 2 east is a little hilly, though relatively flat. The road is bouncy so I continue to drive 55-65 mph. This section of Highway 2 is less busy; so, I don’t feel the pressure to drive faster. This is still a major road thru the northern states. I see a lot of deer hazard signs and am on constant look out.

Oh, the colors! The prairie fields vary from butterscotch to white gold with touches of greens and yellows picked right out of a 64ct Crayola Crayon box.There are more trees today, though sparsely dotting the landscape. Seeing less and less cattle. It seems the cows in the south and western part of the state have a lusher landscape to enjoy. Does that make them more delicious? It’s funny to see how some herd of cattle graze at the fence line, with all that open space behind them. Maybe they see us going by as entertainment.

I’m told that other RVers call Airstreamers “fancy”. My rig is so dirty; and I don’t really want to draw more attention to me, so I leave it dirty for now. Not fancy. Plus, washing it is NOT like washing your car. It needs to be dried with clean microfibers so as not to scratch the aluminum, plus I need a ladder. Sounds like a reason to have a profession do it. I will be stopping at the Airstream “Mother Ship” in Jackson Center, Ohio in late September…hopefully I can have it done then.

I am staying at the Cottonwood Inn in Glasgow tonight. The hotel is like a Days Inn with an RV parking lot with full hook-ups. It’s clean and safe, and on the way to where I am going next (North Dakota). I eat lunch then pack up the pooch and go to the faire.

Today is the last day of the East Montana Faire. It’s free! Country band Sawyer Brown is playing tonight. That’s not free. The fair grounds are open to dogs, so I bring Sparky. It is so hot and dry. We are both miserable. We go thru the classic car show (about 20 cars – mostly American mid ‘50’s and 60’s in excellent, original condition) which is their indoor ice-skating rink. The rink is not cool but it's better than being outside. They had about 7 food trucks/stations all with foods I can’t eat. Most of the 4H club displays were being taken down as well as any retail booths. It was looking a little sad, so we left about 15 minutes in.

Dropped Sparky off, had lunch in the hotel bar, and went to the grocery store for produce. Once again, very sad. I broke down and purchased some frozen vegetables. Back in the rig, I am happy to have TV reception and watch Flashdance and Soap!

Day 2 – I have a water filter attached to my hose that probably needs to be replaced. The water is coming out white and cloudy. When the water settles, it’s clear but tastes funny.

Took off for Fort Peck today – about 15 miles south. Built during the New Deal, this is the largest “earthen” dam in the US. An earthen dam is made with compacted earth. It’s almost a mile long, not including the spillway. There are lots of recreation spots in the park, unfortunately none are dog-friendly, but I found one easy access swimming area that I snuck Sparky into just to cool off his paws. I wish we could have stayed, the water was nice.

Got back to camp and stayed busy with emails and writing, too uncomfortable to be outside. Tomorrow we are off to North Dakota to see the Theodore Roosevelt National Park were supposedly the Bad Lands are even better than in South Dakota! (It will be interesting to compare to two. I'll be there in a few weeks.) Kind of sad to be leaving Montana. I loved it and look forward to coming back again one day.