We made it! After driving all day, we made it to Andrea and BJ's house last night about 11:30pm Mountain Time. It was a beautiful drive and one I won't soon forget. Leaving North Dakota was pretty much all the same we had seen the day before. I think we wanted so badly to see mountains that we made up a new word....Cloutains.....its the mountains you make in your head with the clouds on the horizon. I wish we would have taken a picture to leave on this post but for some reason i thought we would be made fun of, so we didn't take the picture. We came up on the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and stopped for some good scenic pictures at Painted Canyon. It was a NICE break from the rolling plains of North Dakota. We made good time getting into Montana and once we got off the Interstate we felt like we went back in time as we drove about 80mph on a 2-lane highway. Highway 2, which we spent most of Montana on, runs up in the northern part of the state and is referred to as the High Line. I asked BJ this morning why it was named that and he said that it was the Northern-most Intercontinental Railroad....pretty cool and still very functional today. We happened upon plenty of small towns....they all had a bar, a casino and sometimes a gas station. The wind was whipping so bad on most of this drive that the wheat fields (or grass, or whatever it was) looked like waves rolling on the ocean. It was crazy. We stopped at a little fishing access at the Missouri River and stretched our legs and took pictures. We looked at the map and decided that we would try and stop in Shelby, MT for supper and maybe a hotel room. Once we rolled into Shelby we soon realized we would NOT be staying here. Nothing wrong with the town except that most of the restaurants shut down by 7:00pm. We went into a hole-in-the-wall bar and asked about food and he sent us across the street to the Sports Club. NOT what I had in mind at first but after walking in, we realized that this was the place to go on Friday nights in Shelby. We both had a good steak and left with our belly's full. We didn't feel like staying in the big town of Shelby so we just kept rolling. About an hour later, we could see Glacier out in the distance and this time, they weren't Cloutains....it was the real deal. I got up with Andy and they said we should just save the money and head on in to Kalispell. So WE DID! We were exhausted and so ready for bed. Today (Saturday), David and I slept in while Andy & BJ went to the backcountry office to get our permit and our itinerary is going to remain the same. BJ cooked breakfast for all of us and it was delicious! Blueberry pancakes, eggs and sausage. I think David and I need to head to an outdoor store to get some last minute items while Andy & BJ go for a bike ride. I'll post one more time tonight b/c it will be my last post until next weekend. So, I'll post some pictures that match up to this novel and hope you guys enjoy!
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