Roadtrip Part 5: The Northern Road Home

Between when I left the cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) and when I got to Glacier

7/21- I was supposed to stay in Orr, but there was molding food in an turned off refrigerator and bugs so I did not stay in Orr, instead I ate the cost of that hotel and booked another an hour up the road in International falls. Got to my hotel and crashed

7/22 Woke up to the low tire pressure light so I started my morning by putting air in my tires- hoping it was just major temp changes...this would prove false but I wouldn't be aware til later.  I got an over priced chai at a local coffee shop before going to the lake in Ranier (yes that's how they spell it here)  and stopping for a photo with Big Vic.  After a quick walk around town and enjoying the views of Canada, I drove out to the Rainy Lake Visitor's Center for National Park #35 Voyageurs.  

Here I took a boat tour, as that's is the only way to see the park. I'm glad I did it, glad to check it off the list, no reason to visit again as I don't do well on small boats and honestly am still a little nauseated 6 hours later. 

I got in my car with the hopes of getting as far west as possible either Thief River or Grand Forks, my car had other plans. At some point between the town and only gas station on the Red Lake Reservation and Thief River, my low tire pressure light went on again. CRAP. I am literally in the middle of no where, no cell service and 40 miles from anything. So I check my tires and yes my front right tire is low but not flat so I drive on a hope and a prayer to the next town Thief River- to fill it up. Tire pressure was down to 29 and should be around 35 so not great.  Unfortunately there isn't a discount tire in Thief River, but there is on in Grand Forks that opens at 8am.  So the plan as I go to bed tonight is wake up early, Make sure I dont have a flat, top it off with air and drive the 1 hour to Grand Forks where HOPEFULLY they can patch me up and send me on my way. If not tomorrow will look alot different. 

7/23 Tire is completely flat- like 11 PSI flat. SO AAA has been called, probably should have just done that yesterday I do have a Spare tire after all but anxiety stress all the things, it didn't happen. So I've called this morning.  New plan- Swap out for Spare- which after 1 minute of driving on I knew would not make it to Grand Forks, SO change of plans AGAIN to find a shop in town. One said it wouldn't be able to get to me til the next day, another shop said at least 4 hours and the third- Pennington Lube & Repair got me in right away and I had a fixed tire for $25 in less than 1 hour. These guys were great, really efficient and I would recommend to anyone who happens to be in the Thief River Falls area. 

All of the chaos this morning did put me about 90 minutes behind schedule which did interrupt the rest of my days plans.  I didn't get to go inside the Stave Church replica in Minot nor did I get to have a whirl-a-whip- tonight (I'll have to get one tomorrow since it's why I'm in Stanley) but I did try to make my drive enjoyable even if not going according to plan. 

I still stopped in Grand Forks and had a coffee and wonderful french toast bagel at Urban Stampede which had a very interesting bathroom with a very interesting "guest".  I drove through Rugby which as it turns out (Or so they claim) is the Geographical Center of North America. 

I did make it to Minot and could see the sculptures and the outside of the stave church which I suppose is better than nothing before the additional hour in the car to my final stop of the day and spot to Sleep of Stanley ND.  

7/24 

Struggled to fall asleep las night but did feel pretty rested. I had a breakfast shake at Whirl-a-Whip on Mainstreet in Stanley ND (raspberry and french vanilla). The frozen raspberry pieces added a nice crunch and I have ZERO regrets about ice cream for breakfast. 

Today was a beast of a travel day and by far my worst nerve pain day all trip. 

Today's road stop was 3/4ths of the way to my stop for the night so I did pull over to a rest area and made myself chicken, hummus with naan for lunch. 

I made it to Malta which held 2 museums to visit. 1 totally dedicated to dinos and one focused on local dinosaurs as well as general local history.  It was a great stop, totally worth the 75 minutes and $5 entrance fee each.  

I made it to Havre for the night and am pleasantly surprised by my motel. It's clean- like very very clean crisp white bedding, spotless bathroom and vintage charm.  Also a kick butt A/C unit which is working overtime to keep me comfy at 68 while it's over 100 outside. I'm doing chicken salad with Naan again for dinner tonight because anything hot sounds horrible today and also trying to not spend so much on food. 

Upon leaving my hotel in the morning I do wish I'd had more energy to explore Havre more, but that just wasn't in the cards for this trip. 

7/25

The day I get to Glacier. 

Today's fstop was less than an hour into my drive in a very small town called Rudyard.  The welcome sign lies- they have no where near 500 people but they do they do have 1 Sore head- they ELECT one.  Which I find super cute. 

This town has another dinosaur- this one was found by the local science teacher.  What an incredible experience for his students to have had this as part of their education. 

Anyway it was also very complete missing just the head when they dug it up, though the feet they have on display are replicas as the feet they found were in far to many pieces to display safely. 

There are other bones on display as well.

In addition to the Dinosaur museum, A group of retired town residents (now deceased) decided to build a museum to honor their community and those surrounding them.  What started as a Depot building focused on the Montana homestead experience has branched into several buildings as well as arrays of farm equipment and a massive collection of Kerosene lamps.  

Needless to say I did fully enjoy myself and spent 2 full hours exploring both the dinos and the depot. It's entirely free- but please leave a donation and make sure to sign the guestbook- it helps places like this get funding from the tourism board. 

The rest of the drive was pretty standard Montana until Glacier became visable. 

I did make a mistake with my dates today and ended up doing an extra 4 hours of driving on the sun road, so by the time I got to camp for the night I was ready for bed.

Thanks for following along for my journeys and Glacier will be posted probably the 31st of July

Claire