Glacier National Park

Well, on Sept. 5, I crossed back into the United States, into Montana near Glacier National Park. It was not without mishap, though. One of the border agents told me that I was leaking some kind of fluid in the back of my coach. It looked and felt like antifreeze, but my temperature guage was reading fine. I continued past the border for about 20 miles, the temperature gauge continuing to read fine. I stopped for lunch, inspected the leak (which was still dribbling out), and continued up a rather large (and long) hill. My temperature guage finally started to creep ever-so-higher, so at that point I knew that I wasn't going to make it. I pulled over and called a tow truck, which took 3 hrs to arrive.

He towed me 150 miles to a repair shop which had closed by now. The tow bill came to....$1,100!! However, being the smart traveller I am, I had purchased tow insurance only two weeks prior (after the Alaskan towing incident), and the towing was completely free! The next day, the mechanics at the shop promised me that they would at least look at it that day (they were really busy), and perhaps get it fixed by weeks end. I sat in the coach for about 2 hrs, waiting for them to come over. I got tired of waiting, changed into some grubbies, and went looking for the problem myself. I thought that it might just be a cracked hose, so I poked around a suspect hose for a problem. To my surprise, a hose-clamp securing the hose to the radiator just came off in my hand! I got a new hose clamp, filled the radiator, and I was on my way by noon!

My campsite was about 30 miles away, right near the entrance to Glacier National Park. I had planned a number of hikes, however the scenery was marred by thick haze in the air, caused by the many wildfires that were burning in various parts of the west. I had to settle for driving a very cool road, called Going-to-the-Sun highway, that winds 50 miles from one side of the park to the other. All of the pictures below were taken along that road and from hiking in a bit from time to time.

This would have been a spectacular place if the haze wasn't around. I've seen many pictures of the beautiful lakes and mountains in this area, and I will have to come back (maybe in the spring) to really appreciate the beauty here. Anyway, enjoy these shots (more at www.tomsphotosonline.com):



Lake McDonald