From Washington to Glacier

On the morning of the 23rd day of our trip we wake up in Idaho to a squirrel chucking pine cones at our tent. It's 30 degrees outside so Alex waits for a few more to hit before he goes to attack the squirrel. When he gets back to the tent he's freezing and I'm freezing so we do the best thing you can do in a tent to get it warm.
I fall asleep again and Alex goes out into the cold.

When I get out of the tent Alex asks, "So, what's for breakfast?"

"I thought you already ate."

"Well I did, but I'm still hungry. Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really but if you're hungry I'll make something for you."

"We'll if you're not gonna eat don't worry about it."

I feel bad that he's hungry to I make aggs, bacon and fried bread for both of us. After we eat Alex says, "See I tricked you!"

"Tricked me?"

"Into eating" he says grinning.

I scowl,"Sneaky man."

"You'll be happy you did. You should eat breakfast you know."

"Why? I'm not hungry in the morning."

"Because it's the most important meal of the day; it gives you the energy to drive and pack up camp and set it up again."

"True, true crazy man. True true." I am secretly glad that he made me eat.

We pack up everything for the third day in a row and head East toward Montana. We pass the small town of Murray whose claim to fame is that a great prostitute moved there about 150 years ago, you can read about it in the book Soiled Doves. Somewhere in the mountains Idaho fades into Montana and we drop down into a huge valley with a huge river. The rock in the mountains juts up at a 40 degree angle.

We keep driving and as the landscape changes from mountains to plains, we come to the town of Crazy Horse Plains. There Alex takes over the wheel. We head north from Plains into an Indian reservation, you could guess it to be one since it's about the shittiest piece of land around. We stop in the town of Hot Springs thinking we might be able to take a bath. No such luck; Hot Springs is full of trailers, broken houses, and broken cars. We stop at the community pool and see very large women and a multitude of babies. We hightail it out of there and as we go i see a man as old as the hills watch us from his broken porch. I wonder how many years he's been sitting on that porch watching strangers pass in and out.

An hour later we're in Whitefish, the hometown of a guy we met in Crater Lake. We go to the Bulldog Bar which he told us to check out. We get 2 PBRs for $2 each. There are football games on TV, Montana just won a game 38 to 0. People are coming in and out, getting beers, eating fries and burgers and hot dogs. The huge beer fridge is covered in bumper stickers from around the area: I like Dick (an auto repair guy), You can eat our cocks (a chicken farm), plus there are a bunch of Bulldog stickers (the high school mascot). We decide to splurge and buy a basket of french fries for $2 and eat them with ketchup and mustard. They're about the best french fries I've ever had.

After beers and fries we try to find a campsite on Whitefish Lake but have no luck. We check the map and decide to go to Hungry Horse Reservoir because it's closer to Glacier and it looks like there's disbursed camping there. As we're passing back through Whitefish we stop at the bowling alley (one of the only places that sells "takeout" liquor) and buy a bottle of Montana Gold Whiskey for $12.00.

By the time we find a campsite at the reservoir its getting dark and cold. After Alex sets up the tent and while I'm making dinner and he's chopping firewood it starts to rain. We go in the tent and put towels along the edge of the tent to help keep the water out. We eat and I pass out to the pitter patter of rain on the tent. . .

Only to be woken up by AKON, NICKLEBACK and COUNTRY RADIO being blared by a family camping down the hill from us. I try to ignore it and sleep off and on until they turn it off at 4:30 in the morning.