Our first night aboard the TT Bus went well — thanks to both #2 and I remembering our ear plugs. (You can read the first day Captain's Log here.) #3 snores — but only sometimes, so you can’t even take comfort in the rhythm of it — like a rhino whose half-way eaten a wild boar. But he’s the only professional driver amongst the three of us, so we’re keeping him on.
We spent pretty much the entire day making our way across humongous state of Montana. A couple hours after leaving Missoula we crossed the Continental Divide. #2 explained to #3 that one of the things that means is that all of the water you see on the West side of the Divide eventually makes its way to the Pacific. Water on the East drains to the east and the Gulf of Mexico. This isn’t a scientific or nature blog, so don’t use #2’s information to pass a test or anything without checking it out yourself — but it sounded fine to me.
Lots of interesting sites on the way.
But the bulk of the day was spent in Big Sky Country. Big Sky Country they call it because once you hit the flat, eastern part of the state, you can stand outside and see nothing but sky from the horizon up 360-degrees around you. It’s impressive.
A few years back, Patty, the girls and I took Amtrak from Seattle to visit her sister in Minneapolis via the northern Empire Builder route, which passes through the middle of Big Sky Country. One of the more memorable evenings of my life was when we were in the dining car when the train had to stop in the middle of nowhere for about an hour to let a westbound train use our track. While there, an incredible thunderstorm enveloped us and for a while we were treated to a 360-degree lightning storm while we enjoyed an elegant meal, complete with fine china and white tablecloths.
Today, the fine china was replaced with turkey sandwiches and chips on paper plates, but it was still a great day. Still, like too much of anything, it can get a bit monotonous so #2 took on the role of NFL announcer, reading us play-by-play updates from Week 1’s games.
It’s something. Part of today’s trip tracked the route taken by Lewis and Clark as they headed west, just barely 200 years ago. Munching on our sandwiches, grabbing a drink from our on-board refrigerator and tracking NFL games in real-time aboard our hot pink RV…one can only imagine what Lewis, Meriwether, William and Sacagawea would make of the Tinker Tour. Rock on.