It was with a certain amount of regret that I left Glacier National Park. I think I could have stayed there two more days and still found interesting things to see, but according to my latest map check, I am still way behind schedule to reach Los Angeles by September 8, so I can catch my plane back to Philadelphia (more on this another time).
The route west from the park was very scenic. On one side of the road was the Flathead River (named after the Kootenai Indians, who did not call themselves flatheads). On both sides of the road there were tall green mountains and sometimes whole fields of yellow wildflowers. As the saying goes, "It's not the destination, it's the journey," and this was one of those days.
Seems like even very small towns in America have libraries. I stopped at Libby, Idaho , a two-street town. One street was the main highway and one street wasn't, but it still had a very nice regional library, and the friendly librarian was perfectly happy to let me use one of their computers to do some blogging.
Most visitor centers have an institutional look and feel about them, but not all. There was the one back in North Dakota that had a little pond in the middle of the room. A business that made and sold these ponds had its office right behind the Visitors Center and they had put the pond in for free. At Bonners Ferry's Visitors Center, where I stopped today, the Visitors Center had a corner furnished with a small sofa and a couple of very comfortable looking recliner chairs. Very comfy.
I had difficulty finding a campground today. There didn't seem to be any along the road and my AAA campground book indicated that the nearest one was still at least an hour away; it was already almost 6:00, and I was afraid that by the time I got there it might be full. Then suddenly there it was -a sign by the road that said, "Riley Creek Recreation Area," and he sign also included the symbol for camping. I made a left at the next turn and found the campground. The camp was under the aegis of the Corps of Engineers and wasn't even listed in my camp book. I thought it was 6:30 by the time I settled in, but it turned out to be only 5:30; I had moved into another time zone and was now on Pacific Coast Time. 5:30 - a little later than usual but not too bad.
Signs for the day:
I stopped in at a minimart and bought a prepared wedge roast beef sandwich- to-go for my lunch. "What does the "wedge" mean?" I asked the young lady at the cash register. She explained to me that the "wedge" had nothing to do with the roast beef itself but referred to the fact that the sandwich was cut in half diagonally so that each half looked like a wedge. I learn something new almost every day!
I was on a roll with this cashier and there were no other customers so then I asked her about the road signs that said, "Chain on area," or "Chain off area." She explained that these signs were for truckers in the winter and referred to areas just beyond the signs where truckers could pull off the road and put on or take off chains as snow conditions required. Some days I learn two new things!
I used to think that the bumper sticker that said,"If you don't like the way I drive, get off the sidewalk," was a joke, but maybe not. Today on a walkway beside the road on which I was driving, there was a sign that said,"No driving on the walkway."
Scrawled in big letters on the rear window of an old green SUV:
"Just Divorced," along with a Happy Face.
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