After a restful night's sleep and showers, we hit the road again. We did notice that we were feeling the workout of all of those steps and climbing yesterday. WOW, are my calves sore! It was so much nicer to actually take in the sights as we were driving today. It is so very different from home. We are now beginning to come into the smoke from the forest fires. At first glance, it almost looked like a morning fog, but as we continued on, it began more obviously smoke - though we are still not smelling it much. Most of what we are seeing is large ranches and rolling hills/buttes and very few houses. It seemed to take us forever to reach our intended destination from last night! How could Billings be soooo far away?! We stopped before reaching Billings when Nathan discovered a sign for gas. It's wise to not chance another opportunity nearby. As he exited I-90, there was no sign of life, but a sign pointing to the left indicated a gas station. As we passed under the interstate, we noticed a long metal building and kept rolling. We had almost passed the building when I noticed two old-fashioned gas pumps out front - no awning, no gas island. But hey, it works! Coffee can wait.
We rolled on and on and watched as the mountains we had been seeing in the distance grew loftier and loftier. We made it to Billings and then came through Bozeman. We saw exits to the east side of Yellowstone in both of these cities. We also watched as the Yellowstone River snaked back and forth under the interstate as we crossed the state. We pulled into Butte and discovered a statue of Jesus perched high on the mountainside watching over the area. We are also beginning to see letters on the sides of mountains indicating the mountain cities we are entering. We found this fascinating the last time we drove through Montana.
One of our favorite parts of traveling across the country by car is watching the changing landscapes. We have moved beyond the flat, open farmlands into farms and ranches with mountains off on the horizon. Now we have come into mountains speckled with trees, mountains with no trees, bald mountains between grassy mountains - all within one view. The pictures just don't do it justice! The view stretches on and on in every direction. Nathan says that we are seeing some SERIOUS mountains! At times, they look like a sand art creation. We even found a river winding along the base of the mountains by the interstate - so lovely and peaceful to watch it gently winding along off into the distance.
Andrew learned to distinguish climbing versus descending mountains by watching the tachometer. We were doing some serious climbing when we suddenly topped one in Butte to an AMAZING view!! We just thought we had been seeing mountains. It was breathtaking and jaw-dropping all at once...MOUNTAINS!!!
Pulling into Missoula, Nathan felt he had finally arrived. We found huckleberry cinnamon rolls and shakes! Then just down the road, a roadside a stand selling hucks and cherries. Of course, we stopped! Then we kept rolling up after the shock wore off. $15 for half of a plastic sandwich bag and $25 for a full (not packed) bag. We're going to hunt to some of our own. Getting closer and closer to Jan!! Uuugghhh, another roadside huck stand. Here he found some yummy huckleberry lemonade and soft-serve huckleberry. Gotta get it while the gettin's good!
NOW, we have finally reached Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi - beating out Lake Tahoe by about 50 square feet. We followed it all the way up its coast to our "final destination", JAN'S in Kalispell! We grabbed some pizza with her and Grammy Martha at McKenzie River Pizza Company. The smoke has really rolled in up here. There is currently a fire burning south of us on the east side of the lake and west of us north of Glacier. The sun glowed beautifully through it though as it set. Martha made an excellent point. As we explained to Andrew that pollution is what makes beautiful sunsets, she expressed that even when humans mess things up and pollute things, God can make something beautiful out of it.
Nathan began working on a "little" project for Jan, and Andrew eagerly requested a trip to the lake. So, Jan, Andrew, and I headed back down to Jan's dock at Flathead. She and Andrew are much more adventurous than I. They both ran and lept into that frigid lake. Not this southern girl! I did manage to wade into my waist, but that's as good as it was gonna get for me. It's fun to be back here. I love their rocks! So many beautiful colors sparkling beneath the lapping waters. Red rocks were formed above the waterline and the green rocks were deprived of oxygen and formed beneath the waterline. They even use these gorgeous rocks in their asphalt! Not quite streets of closer, but so much prettier than ours!
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