Rachael Lake to Havre, Montana

It's been a long day, but the miles flew by. The west side of Minnesota is fairly flat agricultural land; South Dakota is flatter, and equally agricultural; Montana starts with rolling hills that get bigger as you head west, and it's agricultural also.

What these states all share is excellent roads with high speed limits: 75, 75, and 70 respectively. The roads and cities had minimal traffic, and there was essentially no construction delays to speak of. Setting the cruise control at 5 over the limit was not excessive, and I just passed the slower cars, and caught up with the next ones near the horizon... The roads were spectacularly straight and the miles just kept going by.

I played a Dianne Mott murder mystery audio book and all was well with the world. Oh yes, I crossed another time zone, now being two hours behind Stittsville, Mountain Time.

There are apparently fires burning in western Montana at the Glacier National Park, so there are smoke advisories for this evening and tomorrow.  There was a general haziness all day, partly due to the very hot and humid weather, and partly due to smoke as I headed further west.  How hot is very hot you ask? Try 36ºC or 98ºF!  Tonight will be in the mid-fifties [F], that's quite a range in one day.

The other notable item is that I faced a very strong headwind most of the way; the kind of steady wind you have to lean into when pumping gas. A basic fill-up has been under $45 [US$] as opposed to the usual $65+ CDN...  On the other hand, motels are pretty much the same prices when converted to CDN; a major change from just a few years ago.  Mind you, there seems to be something going on everywhere I stop to sleep: I manage to get one of the last rooms available: most places seem quite full.  I've read many 'no vacancy' signs...

No pictures today, but a stop in Coaldale Alta should offer some photo-ops with the rescued raptors there: wish me luck.

I should reach Nick & Colleen's by tomorrow afternoon, so the blog may be delayed...