We made it to Montana – but oh, what a ride!

Sunday morning, 8/7, we left sunny skies in Spokane and headed toward East Glacier. One of our goals is to try new routes and see parts of the country we haven’t seen before, so we opted for the less traveled Hwy 2 over I90.

The storm begins innocently enough. 

We crossed into Idaho and the rain began. A little rain, no worries. Thunder rumbling, ohhh, did you see that flash? Hmmmm… raining harder now. Soon we had to shout to be heard over the noise of the storm. Then the wind kicked up in earnest and we were in for a white knuckle drive. The last straw was crossing a high, narrow bridge with low side rails in the driving wind and rain. Visibility was so poor we were on the bridge before we even realized it. I could see straight down into the ravine and easily imagine our watery end. A little further down the road Rog pulled into a parking lot and (when my hands stopped shaking) we had a nice cup of hot tea and a cookie and waited for the worst of the storm to pass. I wish I had a picture of the bridge crossing, but grabbing the camera was way down my priority list. I think you may still be able to see the impression my death grip left on the arm of my seat. Lol.

McGregor Lakes

 By the time we reached our planned stop at McGregor Lakes in Marion, MT we were back to blue skies and calm weather. Monday’s drive into East Glacier had its own set of challenges. Following the GPS, we turned off Hwy 2 onto SR49. After several miles of very narrow, very windy two-lane road we came to a size restriction sign limiting the route to vehicles 21 ft and under.  Dang. We had to turn the bus around and continue further on Hwy 2 and then Hwy 89. It was still narrow and windy, which makes for a tense drive but we pulled into St. Mary’s Campground in East Glacier around 4pm.

The campground is in Glacier National Park near St. Mary’s lake and we have awesome views of the mountains around us. As an added benefit we’re literally parked in a huckleberry patch! A few minutes of effort and we had blue stained fingers and a couple pints of fresh huckleberries. I’m thinking huckleberry pancakes with huckleberry syrup and maybe even a huckleberry pie! Yummm.  We’re here for three days and, if the weather cooperates, have a couple of hikes planned. More thunderstorms are forecast, but at least we’re not driving through them!

Parked in a huckleberry patch.

Huckleberry pancakes, huckleberry syrup, huckleberry pie.... YUM!