Road Trip: Day 14

When I woke-up it was 48° in Kalispell, so it took a while for me and the G8 to warm-up. It gave me a chance to load the next few days worth of drives into my GPS… how would I function without GPS? Today my drive took me over the continental divide and through Glacier National Park.

View Larger Map

I arrived at Glacier National Park fairly early and was happy to see it was not packed with people. The Going-to-the-Sun Road winds 53 miles across the park and was completed in 1932… I kept trying to imagine what it would have been like to drive it back then. The fleet of 1930’s “Jammers” tour buses helped…

The views from the road were second to none. I found myself needing to stop to take photos far too many times.

There were a few delays for road construction, but I didn’t mind… it allowed for more time to admire the scenery. Unfortunately there was one section with a “bump” that resulted in the G8 completely bottoming-out. How bad was it? The entire construction crew bent over to see if I left anything behind… fortunately it was just my sub-chassis brace (a non-vital component).

The drive down from Logan Pass and out of the park was quite enjoyable. All along the road people were stopped taking photos of the mountains, but I just wanted to stop to take photos of the twisty roads. Driving at 70mph around corners with “recommended speeds” of 45mph was epic… the cow standing at the apex of a blind corner was less than ideal. Fortunately I dodged him and the rest of his friends and made my way out into the plains.

I figured the drive across the plains was going to be dull, but boy was I wrong. Mixed-in with the high-speed passing on straights, there were all sorts of sweepers that moved with the land. I also saw a guy who looked like The Postman walking along the side of the road.

Tomorrow is a short day of driving in preparation of spending a few days in Yellowstone National Park. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a few places to take some photos, as I’d love to see some wildlife someplace other than the middle of the road.