May 2 - East Through the Mountains into Montana
This morning we left Coeur d'Alene after a 9-day visit. I wasn't really looking forward to the 'hum-drum" of I90 but it's the only show in town. We have to get through the mountains before we have a choice of routes.
Jennie took a couple of pictures from that "bump" I mentioned the other day.
CdA sure is a pretty place; we really enjoyed our stay.
Okay, so after traversing the 4th of July Pass, then Lookout Pass (4,860') at the Idaho/Montana border, we were in the Mountain time zone – a quick way to lose an hour!
We drove past Silverton, Gold Creek and some place with a reference to copper in its name. I guess there are a lot of minerals in them thar hills!
At our first rest stop just inside the Montana border, we found these information boards:
The scenery changed from verdant forests covering almost every square foot to wide open grasslands with few trees. Snow covered mountains peeked out from behind the lower hills.
Amazing what you see on the road today!
Yup, a tiny house on wheels (THOW) on its way to its new home.
We made it to Missoula, MT by about 2 p.m. We decided it was time for a rest so we parked, hopped in Ali and crashed for an hour.
Batteries recharged, we got back onto I90 and continued our trek east. The town of Anaconda has one of the world's largest free-standing brick structures – a 585' chimney, completed in 1919, by the Anaconda Copper Company. We just had to go take a look. Wow, I cannot imagine what it must have been like building that thing back over 100 years ago!
We ended our day at the Pilot/Flying J truck stop just outside of Butte, MN elevation 1,688 m / 5,538'), all gassed up and ready to go for tomorrow.
We'll be heading for Livingston, MT and an RV park there. Before we get there, we want to stop at the Lewis and Clark Caverns and the Madison Buffalo Jump.
See you in the morning.
