"It's all uphill from here..."

September 4, 2010
Hungry Horse, Montana

Yesterday was a "puttering around the house" day. Geri got a bunch of things done inside and I did a few outside chores, including washing a thousand miles of road grime off the Rover. I got out the silicone and touched up a few seams, plus did a general "make sure everything looks OK" review. We're in good shape. Geri made her Famous Pork Medallions with pan-roasted red potatoes and haricorts verts for dinner, and we enjoyed that a lot.

Today, we were back on the road, leaving Great Falls behind (beating our planned 10:00 departure by half an hour) and heading north and west to Hungry Horse, just outside the West Entrance of Glacier National Park. After a stop for fuel and a short segment on I-15, we cut off onto US-89, first heading west and then north through a handful of small towns. It seemed like we were climbing all day. This, in addition to the strong cross- and head winds (depending on our direction), made the drive seem longer than it really was. Near Browning, on the Blackfoot Reservation, we caught up with US-2 and looped west around the southern edge of Glacier NP. We were soon parked at our next "home", Canyon RV & Campground in Hungry Horse.

We noticed this rig as we were leaving; they must have come in the night before.  It takes all kinds!

Just as we got off the highway for fuel, we saw this "weather-vane" spinning around in the wind, right near the Great Falls Airport.  It reminded us of the DC-3 version we saw last year in Whitehorse, YT.

We're on the edge of the "footprint" of the satellite we use for Internet access; we've been having spotty service since we left South Dakota. We have Verizon access via USB to the phones as a backup, but most RV Parks (at least the ones we've been staying at lately) have Wi-Fi these days. Another bonus for us: we have a Wi-Fi "repeater" that has an external antenna so we can "jack up" a weak signal. It takes a little configuring, but works great in places like this, where the signal's just a little weak.

We did a quick walking tour around the Park with the pups, and enjoyed a glass of wine outside until the bugs arrived. By then, it was after 6:00 and the pups were telling us it was well past dinner time. I got the pasta water going and did up some orecchiette al dente, which was a fabulous match for the second half of the Lamb Ragu we had earlier in the week. I doctored up the Ragu with a bit more leftover sauce; Geri felt that the original was a little too gamy for her taste, and she was right as the second batch was excellent. With a nice Gabbiano Chianti, we had another nice meal.