Mark's Notebook

The Big Sky

Sorry I haven't posted much this week. Both of us have been ill, and we've also been cobbling the trail end of our trip together differently than we'd planned.

By the way, I've got the map mostly up to date:
http://www.mixed-up.com/maps/?searchtype=roadtrip

Wednesday, June 28

Today I wasn't feeling well, so I let Mary do a fair amount of the driving again. We drove pretty much straight through from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota to Belfield, North Dakota.

Belfield is about ten miles east of the entrance to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where we plan to visit tomorrow.

We did stop for a few minutes to drive through Barnesville, Minnesota. Why? Back around 1985, I installed some electrical equipment here. I wanted to see if it still looked the same, or if I even remembered it at all. In all those years I've often told the story how I was trying to put some tiny screws into a terminal block in an electrical cabinet outside as it snowed around us. I had lots of trouble because my hands were so cold! The screws were small enough that I could not wear gloves. I looked across the street to see a bank sign that read 19 degrees. I commented that I didn't think I had ever been in 19 degree weather before; that perhaps it didn't even get that cold in sunny California! My co-workers from the local community remarked how 19 degrees was a beautiful spring day in Minnesota, because in the winter it got down to 40 below! Anyway, today I did find that electrical substation on the north side of town, and across the street was a Wells Fargo Bank, although now the temperature sign was gone.

I've also many times told how Minnesota had the friendliest people I had ever met. In those mid-1980's trips, one co-worker from the local community had me to his house for lunch (which he called "supper") including fresh corn from his farm. I got to meet his wife. Also, in the laundromat I met a cute gal and asked her out. We went to a modern music concert at one of the local universities (both Fargo and Moorhead have state universities). I went to her Lutheran church that Sunday, which happened to be Reformation Sunday, so they held a potluck that included Lutefisk, a Norwegian special that some say is not to be missed, others never to be eaten. The church welcomed me like a long-lost family member even though I came to the potluck empty-handed. Afterward, this same gal's family invited me to their house, where I played piano for them and she played piano for me.

This time, we stopped at several places in Minnesota and the people weren't nearly as friendly as I remembered them. But I guess the people you meet at the truck stops are not the same as the people you meet in the local Lutheran church. Or perhaps we just didn't pass close enough to Lake Wobegon.

Thursday, June 29

Today, as promised, we visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It is a smallish park that includes badlands geology and a good assortment of wildlife. We saw wild horses and buffalo among other things.

Before entering the park, we shopped around the little town of Medora, where we found some small binoculars that we liked. We've looked at several pairs before, including expensive ones in the "discount" shops in New York, but until now we've never found any that we both liked. These were inexpensive enough that we bought two pairs, one for each of us.

Anyway, by chance, it is possible to shove our camera into one eye of the binoculars to get close-up photos. I got close-ups of some buffalo calves nursing. We'll find out later how the photos came out.

After finishing up at this park, we wanted to put as much distance behind us as possible. I wanted to make it to Great Falls, Montana, but we only got as far as Lewistown before we ran out of steam. At the Yogo Inn, we stayed in a very strange inside room that had no windows. They said this would be our "budget" option. Nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Friday, June 30

Today Mary is getting a cold. It's probably the same cold I've already had for several days. Fortunately I'm starting to feel better, so I can do the driving. I want to visit Great Falls because it is the Great Falls of the Missouri River, where Lewis and Clark took almost a month to portage 18 miles around five waterfalls. We've been getting a lot of Lewis and Clark on our trip, starting with the Expansion Memorial (arch) in St. Louis, and continuing through the museums in Washington and elsewhere. We heard about these Great Falls before and I wanted to see them.

In the city of Great Falls, we found the Lewis & Clark National Interpretive Center, yet another museum devoted to their trip. Mary braved it for most of the day despite not feeling well, just because it is so well done. The volunteers there were very helpful, and they drew us maps to the actual falls, and also to the path L&C took over the Bitterroot range.

The largest falls are about ten miles out of town, and I found them a little disappointing. First of all, there is a dam, built either in 1913 or 1930 ... I didn't quite understand. Also, they are apparently much more impressive earlier in the Spring, with the as the snow melts. But there is a nice island there in the middle of the river downstream from the falls, and Mary took a few photos.

We drove up to Shelby, Montana, about 70 miles from the east entrance to Glacier National Park.

Saturday, July 1

Today was difficult. Mary was very ill and she slept most of the day while I drove through Glacier National Park. The only glacier we saw was the Jackson Glacier, and it was disappointing, even viewed through the binoculars. It's hard for me to distinguish between a glacier and simple snow pack. In the photographs, they can be distinguished by some "squiggles" on top of the glaciers, caused by the stresses of their extreme weight. But I saw similar "squiggles" on the surrounding snow pack also. Or I was confused. Probably the latter.

I really enjoyed the many narrow waterfalls that dot the road. There is even a section called the "wailing wall" where there are many small waterfalls in a row. But the one I liked the best was a high waterfall that came over several rectangular rocks, through a pipe under the road, then down farther into the gorge. It was very tall even though not very wide.

Tonight we are in Missoula, where we hope to go to a Calvary Chapel or a Vineyard Church tomorrow morning. (There are both in this town.) We're not sure where we'll go from here, but the Lolo Pass is nearby, and this is where Lewis and Clark crossed the Bitterroot Mountains into Idaho. We may follow them, then head down toward the Snake River Canyon in eastern Oregon. Once we get that far, we'll be home in pretty short order ... on the 4th or 5th of July.

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Last updated Tuesday 13 May 2008