ON THE ROAD TO KALISPELL

Kalispell, MT  High 82  Low 48 (just about perfect)

I very seldom see the sunrise, but I wanted to be on the way to Kalispell kind of early so this is what I got to see this morning. So beautiful, but not enough to get me up early every morning.

We left Helena about 8:50 and headed up over MacDonald Pass which was originally a toll road over the Rocky Mountains. It is 6,299 feet at the top and was named after Alexander MacDonald who built the first road across in 1870. Going down the west side there is an 8% grade and then a 7% grade for several miles. Really not very hard to do. The east side is much curvier and warns truckers to drive 25.

Highway 12 is four lanes going over the pass but becomes two lanes on the west side. Sometimes two lanes isn’t quite wide enough.

Also, as in the rest of the country, summer is road construction time. We had a couple of places where we had to slow down but not really anything that held us up for any time. Notice the hitchhiker on our windshield.

I’ll never forget the first time someone gave me directions to get from Kalispell to Helena. They told me to go down Highway 83 to the cow and turn left. Well, it’s actually a bull but you can’t miss it and you have to turn. I couldn’t find any history on this bull but he’s been there at least 40 to 50 years. Somewhere I have a picture of my Dad standing by this bull.

Driving through the Seeley/Swan valley is one of the prettiest drives. There are many lakes through this area and you drive along their shores for many miles. Because I was in the passenger seat I didn’t get any good pictures. I’ll take some on our way back to Helena.

In the winter time driving this road is like driving through a picture postcard. When the trees are covered with snow and the world is white, it is just amazing. But that is one of those things that I’ve done and hope to never do (I really do not like that snow). A lot of the trees have been killed by the beetles but just picture it with a white blanket on it. (That is a logging truck in front of us – lots of them in this area.)

Arrived at the Rocky Mountain Hi RV Park in Kalispell and got set up. We don’t have the river front view that Sue and Doug have but it’s still a pretty good view. Hope to meet them this week.

Met Paul at The Back Room for a rib dinner last night. We’ll be seeing him a few more times this week while we are here. We met Paul over four years ago at an Escapade and have been able to meet up with him several times a year since then. Sure do love this RVing life.

My internet connection is better up here so hopefully I can make comments on blogs again.