Oh no, it was time to head for home! Say it isn’t so? But yes, it is the day I’ve dreaded. Time to head home. Today is a driving day as we head out of Canada and make our way toward Holiday Hills. It was also going to a long day since had to make it to Sheridan, WY by tonight.
This morning, the siren went off again. The siren is a 2 year old who doesn’t want to do anything that is expected of him. Last night, his family returned to their room around 10:00 PM. He screamed and cried for almost 2 hours that he didn’t want to go to bed. I went to bed, but had a tough time getting to sleep with his screams across the hall. Why you would keep a 2 year old up that long is beyond me. Of course, why didn’t he just fall over tired? They had arrived late on Tuesday and he cried that night also. He cried Wednesday morning and then again Wednesday night. Now on Thursday morning, he was crying that he didn’t want to leave! Not fun for those in rooms around them. We saw them in the parking lot as we were leaving. He was pretty small for those big lungs.
It was kind of cool that it didn’t get dark up here until almost 11:00. I hadn’t thought about it staying light that long. Then again, it was not cool that it didn’t get dark until almost 11:00. There was no shade on the bathroom skylight and the room was rather bright for a long, long time when we went to bed. I kept thinking someone left the light on in the bathroom.
We got moving a little later than expected. We walked down to Trapper’s Grill where we had dinner the first day in town. They appeared to have the best breakfast around. It was delicious. I had a waffle with Saskatoon berries. They were basically huckleberries. The coffee was delicious. Rich got an omelet with bison chili over it. This should stick to some ribs for a while.
We packed the car and took for the border. It was a 30 minute drive to get back to Chief Mountain border crossing. Along the way, we noticed a sign telling us to slow down due to foxes on the road. We didn’t see any foxes on the road. I wonder if they warn you about every type of animal that comes in heat and uses the road a path to go courting.
As we drove around the bottom of the lake, we noticed that it was still hazy around the mountains. It finally struck us that the wildfires in Canada and Washington state were drifting this way. That’s why the scenery appeared to be wrapped in a hazy film. It was worse today than yesterday. Too bad for anyone just coming in.
We arrived to find quite a line with a tour bus. Turned out the car line had been closed and it reopened while we were waiting. Rich was telling me that the border guards were tougher than back in the day when we went to Nova Scotia. Now I was wondered about what he was going to ask me. The van in front of us was from Michigan and the guard was holding a handful of passports. He kept talking to them and asking questions. Finally, he pointed to have them pull over by the building. Oh my gosh, they weren’t going to let me back in!
It was our turn. He asked pretty standard stuff and I knew the answers to the questions. Pretty quickly, we made it through the customs check and were on our way. No need to worry. As we pulled away from the border, the people from the Michigan van were sitting out front of the building. They appeared to be Japanese. Rich figured they had other passports rather than American.
We were back in the U.S. We headed to St. Mary’s and stopped for coffee and bathroom break. As we drove through Many Glacier and St. Mary’s, the hazy was covering up all of the mountain views. It was a good thing we already had our pictures from these parts. The hazy just wasn’t too pretty.
Then it was back on the road into Montana. We were making fairly good time. In Great Falls, we got gas and Rich took over the driving. We turned off of 89 on 12 as part of our zigzag across the state. We were met with road destruction. This wasn’t here a week and a half ago. The road was all torn up for several miles and a pilot truck led you through the destruction. How had they done this?
Also, Rich wants me to tell everyone that he drove over 300 miles and passed 6 cars. Two of his passes were for twofers. We probably saw a total of 8 cars until we go to the destruction and saw 6 cars in the line. It is pretty desolate out there on the byways of Montana.
We got to Billings and decided to have dinner. We’ve been lucky enough to find brewpubs in Billings. This time, there were more choices. I picked Uberbrew because the beers sounded good and the food was what I expected from a pub. We found the pub right downtown. Walking inside, it was very light and bright with lots of wood and stainless steel. We got a table across from the bar. Cathy, our waitress, gave us the low down on the specials of the day. Rich ordered a beer and we ordered up food. Rich was giving Cathy a hard time about okra in the gumbo. She didn’t really care and said it was great anyway. I got a sandwich and beer cheese soup. It was wonderful and warm.
After Rich enjoyed a second beer, we got our bill and a t-shirt and got back on the road. I had a little trouble getting out of the town. My navigator was busy with his phone instead of helping. We managed to get turned around and out to the highway again.
It was another 2 hours to Sheridan, WY for our stop. I was getting really tired of Montana by this time. Didn’t this state ever end? It was 544 some odd miles before we hit the Wyoming border. About time? Was I just a little crabby after being in the car for so long? Probably. I had managed to finish my book and made some notes for this blog. Still, I was ready to relax and sleep without a screaming kid across the hall.
Ah, I put my feet for a while. We went down to the bar to get a drink. Why not, I had gotten a free coupon for the bar when I checked in. Rich had another beer and a taste of bourbon. Then it was back to the room to write up the blog for the day. No pictures. I did take one of the road destruction, but it is too much trouble to load it up. Maybe tomorrow.