Up Over: 7/14/16 Sun

We rode in and to the sun today!

A thermometer barely breaking 40 made it difficult to crawl out of our warm nest, but bright sun peeping through the curtains gave us inspiration to rise and shine. By the time we had layered on most of the clothes we had packed, it was a balmy 50 degrees.

Heading out into the sparkling Montana morning, we bid farewell to our penguin and rethought Cut Bank's claim to be the coldest spot in the US. Through the Blackfoot Nation, our spirits lifted as jagged peaks, iced with caps of snow, filled our horizon. We were going to the sun.

Glacier National Park provides a spectacular ride through the ice caps on Going To The Sun Rd. We jumped into the park on the East side at St. Mary Lake and began 50 miles of absolute artistry that can only be created by the Divine painter. Each hair pin turn that wound us up through Logan Pass presented new panoramas that stole our breath. The dense tourist traffic and slow ascent accommodated us with more time to relish the waterfalls and internalize the mountainscape.

After reaching 6646' at Logan Pass and the Continental Divide, we tracked down the mountain. Lunch time and all the picnic areas were crazy with other hungry day trippers. So we found a rock. Sitting in the sun, by the road, alone together, we waved at tour buses and RVs as they crawled by. The temperature rose and by the time we reached McDonald Lake, the west side of the park, it was 80 degrees and we had peeled like two ripe bananas.

Leaving the park behind, we headed down Route 2 to another experience. Two years ago, when we came to Glacier, Logan Pass was closed ( in July) because of an avalanche. So we found the Hungry Horse Dam. Today we revisited this amazing road that twists up and around the reservoir . Vistas of the Glacier Range framed the lake as we soared alone on this road, so close to the hubbub of the park, yet uninhabited. Rascal got to stretch her wings as Jules throttled and leaned into curve after curve. I, along for the ride, held tight and became one with the dragon and her master.

Back to earth In the small village of Hungry Horse, we looked up an old friend, Tom, from New Jersey. Leaving the flatlands almost thirty years ago, he landed here. A real mountain man, he lives to hunt and his dogs are his best friends. We sat for hours and reminisced about the past and caught each other up to the present. He will never leave here and dreads visits east. There are too many people and too many cars. After today's two very different rides, we can understand his angst.

Hungry Horse is our home for the night. A day filled with sun and warmth was a pleasant respite from the weather of the last few days. Tomorrow we head into Canada and the next leg of our journey. Thousands of miles away, Alaska calls to us over the mountains and the plains. Enticed by her siren song, we trek to the Northwest, mesmerized and a bit daunted by the unknown. But, no matter what tomorrow may bring, we'll be there side by side.