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| Somehow
we had less room in the truck ging back than we did
going over. Gift shops, perhaps? |
We were up at 0730, quickly showered
and were in the Great Northern Rib and Steak House dining
room by a little after 0800. The breakfast buffet there
was decent, the atmosphere better. I was having
a hard time of it, knowing we’d be on the road in an
hour. This place grabs you, nearly making it impossible
to leave.
But leave we must. After cramming a few more things into
the car top carrier we drove off the Lodge grounds and to
the East Glacier Exxon to fill the tank. A few minutes
after 0900 we were on our way back to Wisconsin. It almost
hurt me physically to turn the truck east on US 2 for I could
no longer see the mountains. I kept looking over my shoulder
all the way to Browning to get one last glimpse. Yumi
had tried to cheer me up by telling me we’d come back,
but it didn’t help much at the time. Once past Browning
we sped to Cut Bank and got on the interstate at Shelby---home
of the worst McDonald’s in the country. Our route
across Montana would be a little different than it was coming
over. We’d go south on I-15 to Great Falls then
take US 87 east to Glendive and back to I-94 to Wisconsin.
We got to drive a little bit through Great Falls before connecting
to 87 and I halfheartedly tried to convince her this city
was the greatest city in the country---perfect for us in that
it was only a few hours from the park.
The drive on 87 proved to be more scenic than the flat, straight
US 2. We stopped for gas at Stanford and then again in
Lewiston for some lunch at a chinese restaurant. The one thing
we noticed was that Chinese restaurants were located everywhere---even
in the smallest rural communities. I wonder if that's some
sort of plot prescribed in chairman Mao's Little Red Book?
Another first occurred for us just outside
of Bradley, MT while driving through a construction zone.
I noticed a plastic bag floating through the air on the
right side of the road. As we got closer we noticed dust
being thrown around and before I even knew what was happening,
we were driving right through a dirt devil. Very cool.
By 1650 we had finally made it back to
the interstate at Glendive. A short time later we were in
North Dakota--seemingly a world away from the beauty of
the park.
The miles burned a way as we pushed the
truck across the great plains. By 1130 CST we had made it
to Fargo, ND. No bug rain this time, though there had been
a steady bug drizzle the entire way thus far.
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