2023 CDT - Day 32 - Valier to Essex, MT

Summit, Highway 2 on the south edge of Glacier NP

I woke up at about 0200 and thought, what a great opportunity to do some stargazing. I'm in the middle of hay country in the middle of northern Montana. No big cities, no moon, no campground flood lights, clear skies, and on the edge of a lake. I got up, opened the door, and was blasted by the light of an RVer making his political statement of a full-sized led American flag hanging from the side of his trailer. It wasn't patriotism, it was political because of the other banners I noticed on the front of his RV earlier in the day. I'll spare you from all the other words and thoughts that went through my mind besides totally inconsiderate and why did he have to bring that out here camping. I stayed awake for probably an hour thinking of all the things I wanted to say to that guy and all the things I wanted to do to his power supply. I eventually fell off to sleep praying for tolerance and patience.

!$@&?!%. Or maybe a bear would get agitated enough to deal with it!

Waking at 0600 I felt exhausted. I rigged the T@B for departure, took Beau for a walk, made a coffee to go, and got underway. West on Hwy 44 and north on 89. I stopped in in the town of Browning to a Subway that reportedly online opened at 0700 and it was now after 08. The door was unlocked and the employee said they don't open until "around 10". I went to two different grocery stores, topped off with gas, and went back to the Subway and waited. 1030 and the door was still locked even though another employee had come in. I was done. Tolerance, I expired my patience.

East Glacier Amtrak Station; East Glacier Lodge.

Driving on to East Glacier, I stopped at the hostel and bakery. I ordered a muffin, a danish, and an "Edgy Veggie" sandwich that I thought might satisfy Runningbird's Subway Veggie Delight need. From there I went on over the Summit to the Glacier Meadow RV Park in Essex. It was beautifully situated albeit a bit close to the highway. After checking in and getting the rig set up Beau and I went for a walk about the park. Then Beau found two very large Great Danes laying on their backs on the grass in the sun. Beau says "PLAY TIME"! Not! They were not happy, and then they stood up. Maybe 120 pounds each. One was angry and let Beau know it. The other was still trying to figure out what to do. Fortunately their owner made an appearance from behind her truck and had them well trained; they chilled out but remained quite protective of her. For the first time I think Beau realized these guys (Athena and Stryker) actually didn't really want to be his friends. I apologized to Janis and we moved on.

Memorials to John F. Steven's, Civil Engineer (RT) and President Theodore Roosevelt.

I packed up Runningbird's sandwich, Gatorade, some other snack, and my book and we headed back up the highway to Marias Pass, the Summit campground, and the rest stop where we were to meet up with Runningbird. There was a large obelisk there dedicated to President Theodore Roosevelt for his leadership in conservation, and John Stevens, the civil engineer who pioneered the railroad through Marias Pass and along the Continental Divide. We were there for about 30 minutes before she arrived. I was exceptionally glad to see her. Likewise, she was very glad to see us. She was exhausted and beat up. Later she showed me pictures of what the trail looked like. It didn't look like a trail to me. I evidently involved a lot of bushwacking and navigating over and through a lot of downed trees. After she had a shower I saw her legs. She wasn't crying so I wasn't going to either. They were bruised, cut up, punctured, scrapped. Not pretty. Sad. Bactine, Neosporin, Bandaids, Tylenol. Fluids, crackers, chips, hummus, cherries, Cesar salad, garbanzo beans.

Runningbird wants to talk about revising the schedule again. We'll wait until tomorrow after some rest.