Day Eight: Friday, July 27
Friday, July 27, 2018
The morning brought relatively warm weather, and we headed north toward our next destination in Kalispell, Montana.
The first sixty miles were unremarkable - and were just a means of getting us closer to Glacier National Park.
In a trip of surprises, we never thought about Lake Pend Oreille. It is the largest lake in Idaho, and the 38th largest lake by area in the United States. It is huge: 43 miles long, and 1,150 feet deep in some regions, making it the fifth-deepest in the nation.
The southern tip is home to Farragut State Park, formerly the Farragut Naval Training Station during World War II, of which a small part is still active and conducts Navy acoustic underwater submarine research. My wife’s father went to radio school there, before shipping out to the Pacific with the Navy in World War II.
The highway went across the Lake, reminding me of a smaller version of the causeway across Lake Pontchartrain.
We drove around the lake as part of a scenic roadway. The Lake turned an unremarkable drive into a really great drive. It was a great surprise.
We stopped for fuel, and we found Larry working on a gas pump. You can write the caption: "Larry performing gas pump surgery," "Larry stealing gas," "Larry thought it was a coin slot, and is trying to get his quarter back."
We stopped at a vista, and worked on our selfie portfolio.
The lakes in this area were completely placid. The reflection of the trees off the water made it difficult to determine where the water ended and the land began. It reminded me of Banff.
Unfortunately, we did not see any Bighorn Sheep.
We turned due north, went through the Flathead Indian Reservation and went by Flathead Lake.
Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake by surface area that is west of the source of the Mississippi River, in the contiguous United States. The lake was dammed in 1930. It is approximately 30 miles long and 16 miles wide, covering 191.5 square miles. It is about half the area of San Francisco Bay. It is larger in surface area than Lake Tahoe.
As we proceeded into early afternoon, we had to feed Randle. Accordingly, we exited the highway and drove into a little town called Hot Springs, went to "Fergie's" and had a pretty good lunch.
Hot Springs, Montana is a backwater: population 944. The place reminded of a desert town in Death Valley. Yet they had two bars, a medical clinic and a new high school. Still, it was pretty depressing.
Larry has a new bike, and it needed some maintenance. Accordingly, we had to take it to the Harley dealer and saw this sign posted on the door.
They love their guns in Montana.
We finished the day at 258 miles, and 2,808 miles from Wheaton.
Tomorrow is Glacier National Park.
The morning brought relatively warm weather, and we headed north toward our next destination in Kalispell, Montana.
The first sixty miles were unremarkable - and were just a means of getting us closer to Glacier National Park.
In a trip of surprises, we never thought about Lake Pend Oreille. It is the largest lake in Idaho, and the 38th largest lake by area in the United States. It is huge: 43 miles long, and 1,150 feet deep in some regions, making it the fifth-deepest in the nation.
The southern tip is home to Farragut State Park, formerly the Farragut Naval Training Station during World War II, of which a small part is still active and conducts Navy acoustic underwater submarine research. My wife’s father went to radio school there, before shipping out to the Pacific with the Navy in World War II.
The highway went across the Lake, reminding me of a smaller version of the causeway across Lake Pontchartrain.
We drove around the lake as part of a scenic roadway. The Lake turned an unremarkable drive into a really great drive. It was a great surprise.
We stopped for fuel, and we found Larry working on a gas pump. You can write the caption: "Larry performing gas pump surgery," "Larry stealing gas," "Larry thought it was a coin slot, and is trying to get his quarter back."
We stopped at a vista, and worked on our selfie portfolio.
The lakes in this area were completely placid. The reflection of the trees off the water made it difficult to determine where the water ended and the land began. It reminded me of Banff.
Unfortunately, we did not see any Bighorn Sheep.
We turned due north, went through the Flathead Indian Reservation and went by Flathead Lake.
Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake by surface area that is west of the source of the Mississippi River, in the contiguous United States. The lake was dammed in 1930. It is approximately 30 miles long and 16 miles wide, covering 191.5 square miles. It is about half the area of San Francisco Bay. It is larger in surface area than Lake Tahoe.
As we proceeded into early afternoon, we had to feed Randle. Accordingly, we exited the highway and drove into a little town called Hot Springs, went to "Fergie's" and had a pretty good lunch.
Larry has a new bike, and it needed some maintenance. Accordingly, we had to take it to the Harley dealer and saw this sign posted on the door.
They love their guns in Montana.
We finished the day at 258 miles, and 2,808 miles from Wheaton.
Tomorrow is Glacier National Park.
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