Montana

Sunday June 24th
I am so happy to be in Montana!  Big Sky -- a better name couldn't have been found.  I tried several times to take a picture that would show Big Sky, but I just couldn't capture it.  This is the state where my dad grew up and that I heard the stories of -60F temperatures, grizzly bears, mountain lions...  Yes, very happy to be here.  My grandpa was a road surveyor who worked on (I think) US-2 and the eastern access to Glacier National Park (I know).  All of this Montana history makes me think of the songs that my dad, who had a beautiful voice, used to sing.  She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes, home home on the range, Tennessee waltz, I've been working on the railroad.  I miss you, dad. And I wish I'd quizzed you more about the Ramey family history, even though it sort of made you sad sometimes.

Wide open spaces.  HUGE ranches. But no wildlife sightings, not even a buffalo -- come on!  I did see in a local paper that a grizzly bear killed 70 sheep.  Ok, now I'm a bit scared about seeing wildlife.

I like the people here.  In another one of our many gasoline stops, the attendant gave me a free cup of coffee.  She asked "Is that all you're getting?  Did you get gas?"  And it was free.  How nice is that?  Can't imagine that happening on Rockville Pike.  Oh, and one of the customers was wearing spurs.  Loved it.

As we've traveled US-2 in MT, we've seen a few unique things.  One -- We saw the side of the highway and the median strip being mowed, raked, and bailed for cattle.  Very green.  Second, road construction -- on steroids!  Many miles of US-2 were under construction -- a major highway was turned into a gravel road!  With the traffic in the DC metro area, can you imagine if a highway were gravel?

 And when we again had paved road, there is a huge black cloud with lightning hovering over our route.  We are out-running it though -- what??  Driving rain, buffeting wind, 10' visibility, and shooter marble-sized HAIL!  The hail only lasted a few minutes, but the camper took a beating -- dents everywhere.  Hello, State Farm.

Because of yesterday's ND campground fail, we traveled farther than planned so we didn't camp in MT where we planned.  So tonight we are at the Riverview RV Park in Cut Bank, MT.  Thank you, Montana.

(Photos: US-2 as a gravel road; dark skies before the hail; view at our campground)