3 September 2015, Thursday Today is the day of our glacier hike. Grinnell Glacier, Grinnell Lake- upperand lower, and apparently many other things around Glacier are namedfor the man who was instrumental in protecting this area and thenpublicizing it so people would come and visit. The morning is cool and cloudy. Our gear is ready to go from yesterday’shike. We decide to have breakfast early at the Glacier Lodge so wecan make the
2 September 2015, Wednesday I forgot to mention in yesterday’s entry the burned swaths of forest we saw aswe drove down the east side of Going to the Sun Road. We were veryfortunate to arrive in Glacier on the first non-smokey day in months. It hadrained the day before our arrival. It also turned out to be the lastsunny day before what looks to be a week of clouds and rain. We
1 September 2015, Tuesday We have a great breakfast in Missoula at the Hob Nob Cafe. A sign in therestaurant has one of those 1950’s smiling Moms saying, “Drinkcoffee. Do stupid things faster and with more energy!” Back at theMotel 6 we chat for awhile with a wheelchair bound vet with a mop ofwind-blown curly dark hair. He is travelling the country solo on histrike. He is from Rhode Island and does
31 August 2015, Monday After eating our cinnamon bun hubcap and our apple fritter, we are on theroad to Missoula. The haze has lifted considerably and it is apleasant 70 degrees. Our journey goes well. This part of the trip is much more scenic. Wecheck into the second of two Motel 6’s off I-90. They are less than amile apart, and it was not clear which one had our reservations. Next,we
30 August 2015, Sunday We are up and on the road before 7 am, stopping at Baker’s Bakery in Custerfor a huge breakfast of omelets, enough bacon for an army, hashbrowns and toast. In case of sudden starvation later in the day, we buy a gooeycinnamon bun the size of a hubcap and an apple fritter for emergencyrations. We can barely fit them into the car. Now on to Devils Tower, the first
29 August 2015, Saturday After breakfast we return to Wind Cave, arriving for the 9:30 tour. Thecaverns are huge and unlike the caverns we’ve seen in the East withtheir stalactites and stalagmites. These caverns are noted for theirboxwork formations. Gypsum, which absorbs water, entered fissures inthe limestone which had been laid down in a huge inland sea. Calcite later crystallized in the fissures, and as the limestone graduallydissolved, it left behind the
28 August 2015, Friday Breakfast is “from scratch” oatmeal pancakes and black raspbery jam. Westudy maps to plan our route after we leave South Dakota. O hasextended our stay at Custer State Park for a third night. In the townof Custer we have much better phone reception and wi-fi so we cancheck on the fires in Glacier. Campers we spoke with yesterday saidit was a bit smokey up there but not
27 August 2015, Thursday Our 40% chance of thunderstorms parked itself over our campsite from midnightuntil 3 am. Winds were 30+ mph with gusts to the mid-50’s and notrees to shelter us. Our REI quarterdome shook and rattled throughthe storm. At times I felt as if we were in a little bubble beingtossed on the ocean. Sometimes the windward side of the tent (myside) almost flattened in the gale, but it always
26 August 2015, Wednesday On the trail again. We are up and back in Jazz, aiming for breakfast inSioux Falls, SD.The skies look a bit threatening, but the forecast isfor only scattered showers today with a front passing throughtonight. The chosen restaurant for breakfast, which advertises“brunch all day, doesn’t open until 11 am. We arrive in town at 8am. We are directed to a nearby diner by a young woman in a
25 August, Tuesday We wake lying on very flat ground (it is prairie after all) in Blue MoundsState Park. It’s a warm summer morning. No blustery winds! I startsinging “Oh what a beautiful morning…” O admits he has thesame song going through his head. We take our time preparingbreakfast: potato cake flavored with onion, cheese, pepper andbutter. We have some of our fresh grapes, an apple and cherry tomatoeswith it. After 9