Why not stay another night?

Choteau, MT – Monday, June 27, 2011

No pictures today just ramblings.  We decided to stay put and catch up on some busy work.  The story starts like this….

9:30 AM – holy smokes we overslept!  Well that’s not the best way to start the day, although it did feel good.  The temperature inside the RV got down to 57 degrees last night.  We could tell because Mocha (the visible cat) could not be dissuaded from camping out on top of one of us most of the night.  She likes to lay on the highest spot, which means a hip, or your stomach if you’re on your back.  But usually if you wiggle a little bit, she’ll jump off the bed and not come back.  Last night this tactic did not work. No matter how much we tossed and turned, she held on and would not jump off.  At 9:30 AM she was still there.  Although by that time we suspect she was wanting to make sure we knew that breakfast was several hours overdue.

After breakfast (Sausage Gravy and eggs, yumm!) we wandered over to the local library to borrow their internet connection.  Choteau isn’t large enough for a McDonalds.  The population is less than 1700.  We asked the librarian for permission to use their internet connection on our laptop and she said “No problem", just turn it on and connect”.  Right!  It was asking for passwords, secret handshakes,and special codes.  Fortunately we could receive the signal from the coffee shop next door and so we used that. 

We found out that the Going to the Sun Road, which is the only road through Glacier National Park, is not completely open due to 50 foot snow drifts.  Only 15.5 miles is open on the west side and 13.5 miles on the east side.  There’s access to more glaciers on the east side, so that’s where we’ll be headed.

We also checked out the local newspaper and found out the Rodeo we mentioned in yesterdays blog is considered to be the largest one day rodeo in the country.  No wonder the road through Augusta was packed.  We also found out there’s  going to be a warming trend and it will be in the mid 80’s here tomorrow.  By this time it’s about 1:30PM.

Since we’re thinking about hitting the road, and I’m already feeling like a nap, we decide to visit the coffee shop whose internet connection we borrowed and get a cup of straight up java.  I figured the caffeine jolt would help avoid the nap and we could make it to St. Marys.  Well, after making the coffee, one cup at a time, and talking to the wait person about which cell service provider they used in this part of the country, it was close to 2:30.   (It was Verizon, by the way) We decided “Why not stay another day”? And besides, it’ll be in the 80’s tomorrow which makes it a good day to travel and it’s only 105 miles.

Rex’s Grocery got some of our money, and we built up the larder a little more. not knowing what the supply availability will be like for the next couple of weeks.  We’re trying to hold down on the beef and fresh vegetables as we understand the Border Guards may be a little picky about those.  Also the liquor cabinet has to be pretty much empty by the time we get there.  If they want to inspect the cats, I guess we’ll say if you can find them, have at it.

I worked on the RV.  Repairing the main awning and cleaning the population of dead bugs off the front end.  Papers towels and window cleaner don’t cut it anymore.  We’re talking mesh cleaning tools and lots of elbow grease.  Appears that the bugs like this cooler weather also.  I also worked on getting some of the road grime off the sides. Got a haircut & beard trim from EJ. She worked on catching up on some paperwork and other maintenance stuff.

The sun isn’t setting until 9:25PM which is making it real hard to get to bed at a reasonable hour.  We cooked pork chops on the grille, and combined that with corn on the cob and a dessert of strawberries slices covered with whipped cream. And of course a glass or two of wine to go with it.  Took a long walk around the park along the creek A great way to end the day.

BG Miles Today	0	BG Total Miles	3273
Eat Out total $	221.63	BG Total Fuel $	1575.25
Entertainment total $	58	Total Camping $	404.21
E Miles Today	4	E Total Miles	1014.5
E Total Fuel $	205