Heading South

We awoke for the last morning in Glacier on Thursday.  Today is a transit day… heading from Glacier to Red Lodge, just north of Yellowstone.  It’s close to 450 miles of driving.

We took Hwy 2 across the bottom of Glacier, continuing on across the plains to via Cut Bank and Shelby, then south on I-15 to Great Falls… the change in landscape was wonderful, as the mountains fell away.  The possible highlight was the giant penguin in Cut Bank… although said to talk, he was silent when we were there…   The landscape changes from cattle and hay, to wheat, then back to hay and cattle… towns were marked by grain elevators… We got off the freeway a couple of times… one sad little town seem to consist of two grain elevators, one for wheat, the other for malting barley, a feed elevator, two bars, and a gas pump guarded by an old yellow dog.

In Great Falls we visited the Lewis & Clark Museum, a wonderful museum run by the Forest Service… then stopped for lunch at a brew pub, Bowser Brewing… (one beer only, a nice IPA) then back on the road, but now on lesser roads, I-15 going elsewhere.

At Harlowton there was a Milwaukee Electric locomotive on display by the highway… the town was interesting… lots of substantial stone and concrete buildings along the main street… one burned out, most less used…. We explored a bit and found the old wooden railroad roundhouse and yard (lacking track) down the hill.

Back on the road, in the middle of a construction site area Tina spotted a herd of prong horn antelope off to the side.  We paused but soon returned to the journey.

We spent a few miles on I-90, east bound, before getting off at Columbus, picking up gas and heading into Red Lodge… through deer filled countryside… 

Our hotel for the night, the Pollard is an old rehabilitated place on the main street… it is wonderful, with live music in the bar.  The internet works in ways it never does in a National Park hotel…  The main street if full of motorcycles… the tribe is gathering for Sturgis…