On the Road: Lolo, Montana to Havre, Montana

This morning, it was 30 degrees with a very light snow. Missoula is notorious for inversion weather so I guess this was not that unusual. Weather check via iPhone assured sunshine and warmer temperatures at Shelby, Chinook, Choteau and Havre so I headed in that direction. (Kalispell would have been 120 miles directly north of Missoula but I went east first and then north on the east side of the mountains.)

I went along the Blackfeet river (A River Runs Through It) and into sunshine...through Lincoln, over Rogers Pass and turned north on US287, listening several times to Leonard Cohen CD I had bought at a Starbucks. I have run out of superlatives to describe the Western landscape, but this road seduced me the first time I traveled it, in the spring of 1992. I remember having to stop for a flock of sheep which were blocking the road, and a chagrined cowboy in chaps and on his horse apologizing to me. The mountains rise form the prairies abruptly to the west and this road runs parallel to what is called the Rocky Mountain Front for 100 miles. It passes through the small towns of Augusta and Choteau and a couple of large Hutteritte colonies, over open rangeland, up and down substantial hills and across small creeks. Golden grasses and grains stretch forever to the east and to the mountains in the west. It is usually windy.

I made a short side trip just south of Choteau hoping to find Lapland Longspurs but only saw a soaring Bald Eagle and Horned Larks which I saw in every state whenever I slowed down enough to check out the small birds at the sides of the roads. They are quite tame and I could often see them clearly...even their little black horns and yellow (or sometimes white) throats.

The detour was the Bellview Road, and within a mile there was an odd sight: a dozen military personnel working in a small fenced enclosure doing something. Once, years ago, I was stopped in this area because of fire restrictions, and the official who questioned my intentions and asked why I was wandering about off the main road, told me I had probably been at the "underground missile site" when I told him I had gotten a bit lost and had just turned around at a small fenced enclosure. So today, I figured something similar was in progress, and later, after I drove due west for 6 miles and had turned around, I passed a large black pickup parked along the side of this remote road with the words "SECURITY" on it and also saw a couple of Humvees painted in camouflage. Of course I was curious but of course I had the sense not to stop and take photos. I did feel they were checking me out though.

On US2, I passed a golden eagle pair sitting on a huge stick nest near a small pond, water being uncommon in this part of Montana.

I stayed in Havre in a Best Western which was wonderful. What a difference $20 makes in motel amenities and services. I had a large suite on the second floor and worked four hours with a stable Internet connection watching the late afternoon / evening sky from my second-floor room.

I began craving a salad and soup so called the restuarant across the street (The Duck Inn) since they were advertising things like king crab and huge red meat entrees. What I wanted was a salad with lots of crab and avocado and fresh iceberg lettuce and a wonderful dressing and a perfect hot delicious soup. But that wasn't to be; the pleasant woman didn't "get it" and wanted me to call the adjoining bar as they had "soup" and could help me. I knew it wouldn't meet my standards, so I ate from the vending machine in the motel...popcorn and sun chips.