Day 3 -- The Longest Day of the Year

June 21, 2014

We awoke early, cold, wrapped in our blanket.  Temperatures were in the low fifties, much cooler than our Texas summers.  We left Riverside Park in Douglas, WY at about six thirty.  We stopped to fill up at $3.38 a gallon.

Leaving town, Catrina spotted a deer on the side of the road.  Wyoming landscape held a few antelopes, but not as many as New Mexico.  As we crossed the landscape, the magnitude of the trip was beginning to sink in.  Wyoming seemed daunting, massive, and a foreshadowing of Montana and Canada on the other side.

Jason prepared the crock-pot at a roadside park.  We used the last of our fresh potatoes, in anticipation of customs before entering Canada.

At 10:48, we entered Montana.  Then, at 10:49, a passing RV flipped a rock into our windshield instantly putting a foot long crack in the passenger side of the windshield.  The crack began to grow, and we anticipate it growing more before we have a chance to have it replaced, as it is not a windshield most glass companies keep in stock

  . 

  We stopped at what appeared to be the world’s tiniest Flying J in Hardin, MT.  Catrina started to fill up at 3.54 a gallon, but then Jason found that the Flying J had what appeared to be the matching tiniest bathroom.  We skedaddled on to the cheaper gas station, at 3.44 per gallon, down the street.

At 5:30, we filled up again in Great Falls, MT.  Here, we crossed an ordinary looking river, only to discover we had crossed the great Missouri river.  While not being small or slow moving, the river looked tame and mild in comparison to what it looks like at the Confluence with the Mississippi.

At 7:44, we topped off with fuel again, for 3.59 per gallon, in Browning, MT, before we headed into Glacier National Park.

The road, Montana Route 49, we were taking into Glacier National Park had a length limit of twenty one feet.   We hoped for no difficulties, and we had none due to length limit.  We did have beautiful views of The Grand Tetons.  At 8:44, we crossed water over the road.   

We had intended to take the To The Sun Rd. across Glacier National Park, but the road was closed six miles in, likely due to snow still, so we turned around at the five mile mark.  Since we couldn’t see all that we planned, we decided to go ahead and make the crossing into Canada.

The closer to the border we got, the more nervous we all got.  They had us pull over and wait inside the crossing station as they ran our background checks.  Jason didn't want to give anything to the Queen again after surrendering his fireworks decades ago. 

After a few reasonable questions, and a clean background check, we were sent on our way.  So at 10:27, we crossed over the border into Alberta, Canada.

We stopped for rest in Fort Macleod in a closed restaurant parking lot.  Our roast was not finished cooking in the middle, for dinner, so we had a piece of roast and attempted to put it on to cook for the evening.  However, the inverter did not work, and we had to wait until the morning to start our roast cooking again. 

Jason attempted the camper shower for the first time that evening, while Catrina just fell instantly asleep.