Heading to Montana – July 9

It’s been nine days, 3,000 miles, and seven states since the subject of my last post.  Time to try to catch up again!

SEATTLE to MISSOULA, MT

Fortunately, getting OUT of Seattle was easier than getting IN!  On the way to Montana, I stopped in Spokane at another Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Hill’s Restaurant & Lounge, where I had the sandwich featured on the show, the elk burger.  It was delicious!  And the seasoned fried were great!  I had the company of a retired airline pilot from Alaska while I dined.

I really needed the one and a half hour respite that I took there. I had fallen asleep with my contacts on two nights previous, and I guess it caught up with me. My eyelids were burning all morning as I drove! I had to stop every hour in a rest area to close my eyes for 5-10 minutes to get some relief. I tried drinking a 5-hour Energy, thinking that maybe it was my exhaustion that was causing the anguish, even after my 10-hour sleep in Seattle last night. That seemed to help a little, but I was still struggling. The skies were almost completely clear, so I thought perhaps some relief from the sun would help. Already wearing sunglasses that fit over my glasses, I pulled out another pair of sunglasses and put those on top of the others. They didn’t sit flush, but it DID provide enough relief that I wasn’t struggling to keep my eyes from crossing. But I was quite a spectacle (so to speak)! Can’t imagine what other motorists were thinking!

The accommodation I had originally arranged for that night in Missoula, Montana had fallen through, but the woman I had made that reservation through seemed like a really nice lady and we had discovered that we share a common interest in dance (she does swing, square dance, and contra), so we had agreed to keep in touch and try to get together as I drove through. Luck would have it that every Thursday, this lovely, small town in the mountains has a food truck party in the park under the bridge, complete with two full live bands!

It was great to meet Mary, one of the people along the way with whom I wish I would be able to continue a friendship.

And Elvis enjoyed the opportunity to find someone to jam with!

But it was time to move on to my room for the night with a lovely couple, Tod and Monica. They had a wonderfully-decorated home whose backdrop was a meandering river and the mountains. Such a peaceful setting that I just sat out back for an hour after I arrived, watching the sunset.