May 24 and 25

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Up by 6am. On the road by 7:30. We had no special destination today. Had breakfast at a rest area near Glaskow. On the way, we passed a house where a guy made huge metal sculptures. The roadside was lined with dinosaurs, bears, eagles & such. Another interesting habit is for the farmers and ranchers to leave their worn out equipment sitting on their property right next to the road. It’s fun looking at the old tractors, wagons, harvesters, etc. Like a drive-thru museum. One of our favorite camping reference books is Don Wright’s Guide to Free Campgrounds. Not all “free” but very low priced. We found a County campground just south of Harve. The Beaver Creek County Park. There are 2 lakes on 10,000 acres. What a super find. As I type this, we’re camped about 10’ from the edge of a beautiful, clear lake. Just us and two other groups. One is a guy named Ted and his wife. Probably 70+ years. . Born & raised around here but now they live in Great Falls. They come back here every year to visit the cemetery where their family is buried. By appearances, I thing he built the travel trailer they pull behind their old Ford truck. Ted, his wife and their two dogs. Tomorrow we head towards Glacier National Park. Ready for some mountains after two weeks on the plains.


Thursday, May 25, 2006

On the road early as always. Dogs fed, two cups of coffee. Stopped at a historical marker along the way to Glacier and had breakfast. Only one campground in Glacier was opened; St. Mary’s. Tomorrow another opens. This is very early in the season. Going to the Sun Road won’t be plowed and opened for another few weeks. Saw a black bear today. Got lots of good pictures. Went down to Saint Mary Lake. It’s a beautiful shade of green and as cold as ice. Even Gopher wasn’t interested in swimming. Glacier is pretty but not dramatically different than the Rocky Mountain National Park. Of the two, we would probably chose the RMNP.