Day 8, June 23, 2010
Ate breakfast this morning at the Night Owl Restaurant in Columbia Falls, MT. Saw a double hopper style trailer and talked to the driver. He said he can scale 140,000 lbs. He said he hauls primarily fertilizer, potash, etc. He was going to get a load of landscaping gravel this morning. Going to East Glacier to get a spiral spoon (www.spiralspoon.com)for Floyce, I took a wrong turn and went about 35 miles before I discovered it. On the way back, I caught up with a highway maintenance truck sandblasting the loose paint off of the center line. He was only going 4 mph and I followed him for about 30 minutes before I could get around. It wasn’t too bad, though as Floyce saw a sign for “Huckleberry” ice cream on the way back. It was really good and tasted like a cross between blueberry and blackberry. On the way, while traveling on Highway 2, we stopped at the “goat lick” where mountain goats come down to lick the rocks for the minerals they contain. We were able to see several. At “The Wooden Spoon Shop” in East Glacier, where the spoons are all made “one at a time” by hand, Floyce found several that she liked and, of course, they are now on their way to Palmyra. As you might guess, they were pretty expensive. She learned about this as it was featured on PBS just a few weeks ago. While I am writing this, Floyce is touring the garden of Norma Sangray. Norma is Blackfoot Indian and her garden will be featured in an upcoming issue of Montana magazine. Floyce learned about her while talking to a lady at the spoon shop. On the way back, we had to slow down to let a moose cross the road in front of us. Next, we went up into Glacier National Park on the “Road To The Sun” highway. The views were breathtaking and the cliffs were scary. How they built that road, I don’t know. We could not go through Logan’s Pass as it was closed for road repair so we had to turn around and come back down. We then drove up Highway 93 to Eureka where we will spend the night. Montana has been such a beautiful state we hate to leave it. The mountains are so grand and the drives have been spectacular. God did some of his best work in Montana. Tomorrow we will drive to Sparwood B.C. where I hope to see a large strip coal mine. The truck driver I talked to this morning said they have some giant equipment. I can’t wait.