Descending the Continental Divide



Day three is complete.  It was a much better day in spite of the fact that it didn't start any earlier than any other.  We had a little panic getting out of Missoula when it turned out we couldn't turn onto the freeway from the gas station and had to find some place to turn the Mammoth/Escort around. But we managed that without damage to either our vehicles or each other, and got on the road.  Sarah, who has overcome her anxiety-driven illness, drove the whole day.  

At a rest stop with the big dogs

We took a few extra rest stops, and the dogs look much better for it.  There were a few mountain passes, but for the most part, people give us a lot of leeway.  Wonder why?  We had great roads, beautiful scenery, and great weather.  

Mariah loaned us her TomTom GPS and it's been fun and interesting using it.  On arrival in Missoula tonight, we went right to our exit, followed the directions explicitly and arrived at the Detention Facility without a hitch.  Huh.  Seems I put an "E" in the address instead of a "W"  Panic began to rear its ugly head as we were obviously in the middle of nowhere and didn't know if we'd be able to find a place to turn the Mammoth around.  I placed a call to the hotel we were supposed to be at and found that, not only were we in the wrong place, but the hotel we picked from the "Traveling With Your Pets" book didn't take pets!  Sarah did breathing exercises as I quickly scanned the book again, made another call and we soon found ourselves at the Comfort Inn.   Fortuituously, they are within walking distance of several fine dining establishments, the least of which is Denny's (where we did not go) and are comfortably situated after dinner at the Outback Steakhouse.  Wine in the lobby while we blog with the dogs watching is the final activity of the day.  'Night all.