Transcontinental Road Trip Redux

[Cintos]

Greetings:

What a Fantastic day we had!!! Leaving early from Red Lodge, we got a jump on the crowds, and had a smooth and unopposed run across US 212 Beartooth Highway. The weather was stunning. Crisp, certainly, at 8AM, but the visibility seemed like 100 miles! With all there was to see, the run could likely be taken several times in a day to catch every nuance.

The run was made with the top down, our shells and caps on, and the heat on gently warming our feet. The roadway was well paved, and none of the white stuff lingering on the road bed. There were small patches of snow in the sheltered areas, as shown in the pictures. We have way too many photos to post here, but I hope to eventually put them up on the gallery pages I posted earlier.

After the pass, the road falls into Cook City, where we did a little decompressing and shopping at the Trading Post. Then on to Yellowstone, where we had lunch at the Roosevelt Lodge, just inside the NE gate.

We had visited lower Yellowstone last year while shuttling the Alfetta home. But it was only June, so the snow as still falling. Today, we enjoyed about half our visit in sunshine, but a storm rolled in and brought some light rain and heavy overcast. Top up, jackets back on, we traveled out to see the Artist's Paint Pots, and the Mammoth Hot springs. The traffic in the park was not an issue at all, with much of the run done with no one impeding us.

The drive out of the park (through the Roosevelt Gate) and up to Livingston was supposed to be uneventful, but the Montana Highway department chose this week to re-oil and chip-grade the first 15 miles of 89. Ugh. The section was taken at 25-30 MPH behind a Pilot Truck. There had been some delays between the Beartooth Pass and Yellowstone, but those paled in comparison to the hassle of driving over basically loose gravel for 1/2 hour. Had we known, we would have slipped out the West Gate and run by Big Sky, as we did last year on our way in.

- Michael

[Cintos]

Greetings:

This evening we went into downtown and had dinner at the Livingston bar and Grill. Great decor, great food, but the service was a bit slow. Seemed all the help were fawning over a visiting TV personality, James Denton of those silly Desperate Housewives. Tall, handsome brute. The downtown area is quite nice, with numerous restaurants, bars and shops, and the requisite Movie House.

The Spider is running like clockwork, and with the run over the pass behind us, we can breath a bit easier.

Last thing we did this evening is find a self-serve car wash and scrub her down. Tomorrow we are off north to the Glacier National Park area.

- Michael

[Subtle]

Glacier Park--some of the best mountain scenery reachable by road that you can find.

[lowmileage]

[Cintos]

Greetings:

Thanks to Subtle and lowmilage for the motivation!

I find myself so invigorated by the drive we are on. Must be the adrenalin rush of the scenery and being in the Alfa for these roads. I griped a bit yesterday about the 15 miles of slo-go on loose gravel, but Montana has teated us to hundreds and hundreds of miles of grade road that are drivable at 70 to 80 MPH while feeling completely in control and comfortable. Wheee!

Like today's! We left Livingston on I90, running west to US 287 North, which took us in initially up to Helena. We visited the State House grounds, and then went downtown to a pedestrian mall on the former Last Chance Gulch Street. While visiting a jewelry store, we found ourselves discussing the next leg up to Glacier with the proprietor. He steered us to taking the run up the eastern side of the Rockies, rather than our intended route to the west. His justification was that the Rockies are in full and splendid view from the flatlands to the east, while our original route is heavily forested and not at all that interesting. We took his advice and the trip was spectacular as suggested.

Taking I 15 north out of Helena, we then rejoined US 287 for the next leg north. Our lunch stop was at a wonderful MooseHorn Bar and Grill in Augusta. At one point Kathy noticed an old road bed that had bloomed in golden flowers With the Rockies in the background, it made a great photo.The route took us up to East Glacier, and then over the Marias Pass at the bottom of the park to West Glacier, where we had dinner.

Tomorrow we drive back to West Glacier, where we will leave our trusty Spider behind and take a 7 hour Red Bus ride over the Going To the Sun Road.

The first attached photo panorama is from summit of the BearTooth Pass yesterday. BB won't let me load the image in a usable size, so if you are interested you can see it at BearTooth Pass Large Enjoy!

- Michael

[Nicola]

FANTASTIC Michael -
Zach and I mistakenly took the Maria's Pass route on our way to KC in 1999 and never regretted it (of course the Going to the Sun was still closed in June!!).
I am SO happy you are enjoying the full splendor of the third largest state, (and my favorite).
Looking forward to meeting you in Portland. Enjoy that route through Whistler too - you're going to love the next few days!!!

[multicam]

Michael and Kathy
Great photos. The flowered road bed looks very Wizard of Oz like. Great shot Kathy!
You found the Yellow Brick Road??
Kudos to the car for making it over the pass.

[Cintos]

Greetings:

Today's tour of the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park was accomplished by taking the Big Red Bus, not by tooling along in the Spider. We (Kathy, I and the Spider) needed a bit of a rest after 7 days of hard driving. Truth be told, this particular road is better left to the professionals, and in this case that would be the bus tour operators.

While our BearTooth Highway run was wide open, this road is quite tight and very crowded. The bus allowed us to gaze out on the wonder without the hassle of fighting my fellow road warriors. And the buses are neat! Originaly 34 of these White Tour Buses were built in 1936-1937, and back a few years ago Ford Motor undertook a total restoration of 33 of them. Now they have propane as fuel, power brakes, and auto transmissions. The "Jammers" of old are replaced, in our case, by a lovely college student who knows the park like the back of her hand. AND THEY ARE CONVERTIBLES!

The views contrast quite a bit with those of the Beartooth/Yellowstone. The mountains are not nearly as high, as the summit of the Beartooth highway pass is actually higher than the highest peak in Glacier. But the views seem more compact, with so many more mountain peaks in a smaller space. Different, and we are glad we experienced it.

Our lunch stop was at the Many Glaciers Lodge, where fine food and service was provided in their huge dinning hall. Very Alpine decor, scenery, and food (I had a German Sausage, yum!). For dinner we wandered down Main Street in Kalispell and stumbled on a fantastic restaurant, "Capers". Hope they do well, as the area seems to desperately need some fine dining. An observation: "Downtown" areas such as Fargo, Helena and Lincoln have been able to maintain their "Main Street" in some historic state, by insulating it from the modern thoroughfares. The main highway North-South through Kalispell rips right up Main Street, which has IMHO left it a bit stark and inhospitable to foot traffic.

Here are some shots from today, starting with a panoramic view of the Many Glaciers Lodge Large. The small image here can be seen in a bigger view at the following link: Many Glaciers Lodge Large

Tomorrow we are off to Canada!

- Michael

[Nicola]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cintos ...Tomorrow we are off to Canada! - Michael

[Cintos]

Greetings:

This morning dawned dry and sunny, so we set out from Kalispell with the top down for the ride to Lake Louise, Alberta. Another nice run on Montana Roads, traveling up US 93 into Canada just above Eureka, where it becomes BC Rt 93. North of the border we stumbled on a wonderful place:

Quote:

Fort Steele is a Heritage Town, where visitors can travel back in time to the 1890s and enjoy daily re-enactments of the town's past history and heritage year-round. Throughout British Columbia, diverse historic 19th-century forts have been preserved as reminders of how the west was settled by Europeans. Fort Steele is undoubtedly the best example and is well worth a day's visit when travelling through the East Kootenays in summer months.

[Nicola]

Michael -
I've added your trip to my Alfa "bucket list", although I believe it'll be run in reverse - maybe next time AONE hosts a convention???

I am totally immersed in vicariously enjoying your trip. Thank you so much for sharing the travelogue.

[Cintos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicola Michael - I've added your trip to my Alfa "bucket list",...

[Cintos]

Greetings:

We put on another 180 miles today, traveling up towards Jasper to the Coumbia Ice Fields. The trip up the Icefields Parkway was spectacular, easily worth the trip by itself. We took a tour on one of those big-wheeled busses, traveling out onto the lower pediment of the glacial field. Quite a site. On the way back we took the short ride out to Moraine Lake. Truth be told, it looked like a landslide-created lake, but quite beautiful.

We just finished a fine fondu dinner here at the chateau. Tomorrow we ride westward again.

- Michael

[Cintos]

Greetings:

Our ride out of Lake Louise towards Kamloops was invigorating on several fronts. While I am not a formal railroad buff, the subject does interest me. The early pioneer history of British Columbia, as the case with much of the West, was driven by the progress of the Railroad over these inhospitable mountains.

Quote:

Prehistoric people never lived in the central Selkirks. The rugged mountains and harsh climate made agriculture impossible. Deep winter snows restrict populations of game animals so Indians could not rely on them for food. Avalanches were a threat to travellers much of the year. The prehistoric relationship between man and the land was a simple one - it was no man's land.

[MidLifeCrisis]

Michael,

I've been following your posts every day. This is an awesome thread and you've taken some great pictures. This trip is also going on my list.

Glad you're having fun.

Michael.