Thurs, Aug 6: On the Road to West Glacier, MT and Glacier National Park.

The rain stops about 7:00AM and by the time we are leaving the campground the sun is out and the streets are drying. More than half of the driving today is on I-90 and is rather boring. It is nice to have books on tape for times like this. We are listening to "The Pillars of the Earth." We turn off I-90 at Missoula and head due north to West Glacier. About 45 miles of this stretch is along the beautiful Flathead Lake. There are fabulous lake homes and marinas around every turn. At Kalispell, we stop at a big grocery store and restock our fresh produce for the next day.

We plan to stay at the KOA in West Glacier and arrive about 3:30PM. We meet two rigs coming away from the campground and see that there are about four more waiting to check in. The campground looks almost full. We are not willing to wait so Dick makes a U turn in the middle of the two lane road, not an easy feat when you are 47 ½ feet long, but we don’t get stuck or hit anythying! We head to the second choice, Sam, Suz and Ed just down the road and are glad we didn’t wait around as we meet six more rigs coming up the road to the KOA. It looks like they may be hosting a rally or other group, with everyone pulling in at the same time.

It was good that we didn’t wait around at KOA as we got the last full hook up at Sam et al campground. It is not as new as KOA, but it has big shade trees and has a real camping feel to it. By 4:30PM we are set up. Dick listens to the weather radio and hears that heavy rain is expected for tomorrow so we decide to drive the "Going to the Sun Highway" now. What a spectacular road! It was built in the late 1920's and early 1930's and has not changed much...a real cliff hanger! Since it is late, there is not too much traffic. We stop at a couple of turn outs and take tons of pictures.

There is construction near the pass, but the delay is very short. Going across the pass we get into the clouds and the East side is fogged in.

Dick now has the cold Carolyn had the first week of the trip and his ear plugs up painfully as we head to the pass. We decide to go on down the east side and take the loop around the base of the mountains back to West Glacier. It is a nice drive, but a good bit longer; 120 vs. 48 miles.

We get back to the rig about 8:00PM and fix another round of New Mexico eggs and plan for a lazy, rainy day tomorrow to catch up on the picture sorting and the blog.