Saturday Summary - Week 36 - Staying Put, Chasing Shade & the Road Ahead

July 5 – July 11 | Shelby, MT (90s) → Saint Mary, MT

Where We Stayed

• Lewis & Clark RV Park — Shelby, MT (Sunday–Thursday)

• Heart of Glacier RV Park — Saint Mary, MT (Friday)

The Long Drive to Shelby

Sunday was a long drive, but a deliberate one. We've learned that we'd rather have one long driving day and stay put longer than move constantly. We took smaller country roads for the first half and then jumped on Interstate 15 for the second half. Lunch was at Missouri River Brewing Company in Helena; we chose it specifically because BringFido listed it as dog-friendly. It was hot. Genuinely, oppressively hot. They have two nice outdoor seating areas, both completely without shade. Fortunately, it wasn't busy, and they kindly let us eat inside with Lucky because there was absolutely no way we were making it work outside.

The drive on I-15 to Shelby was a very visually diverse stretch of road; rolling hills with mountains behind them, then a canyon, then suddenly flat. Completely, totally, almost aggressively flat. Shelby itself is a tiny town, mostly a train depot with a grocery store and a few small shops. We stopped for the week's groceries before settling in, and I quietly hoped we wouldn't have to move the bus again for a while. We didn't. Five nights. No moving. Bliss.

Life at Lewis & Clark RV Park

The Heat

This was our first stretch of five nights in one place without the bus moving at all since the very beginning of the trip, and it was exactly what we needed. Except for the heat. Montana, it turns out, does not have trees. The campground has one lovely long row of pines, and the camp host kindly gave us a site close to them, but they only provide real shade in the late afternoon. The rest of the day we were chasing shadow around the bus; we literally moved our chairs from one side to the other as the sun shifted. One afternoon Don set up at the picnic table outside the camp office, which is a two-story building and provides shade for longer stretches. I took that same spot another day to do the bedsheets and towels. We took cold showers to cool down. We wet Lucky down the way we did in Death Valley. Did you catch that? Like Death Valley. It wasn't nearly as hot or as dry, but some days it sure felt close. We really need to invest in an air conditioner. We keep saying this. One day might will actually do it.

The Wildlife

Since Colorado, we've been seeing ground squirrels everywhere, but Henry's Lake State Park had them in the greatest concentration we've encountered so far. Lake Como is where I first really noticed their call. I was sitting in my camp chair listening to what I assumed were birds having a very animated back-and-forth conversation, with these sharp little shrill calls going back and forth. Then I looked down and realized it was two squirrels. It's the squirrels! I remember thinking. Here in Montana I see their holes more than the squirrels themselves, little trip hazards dotting the ground everywhere, but I know they're there.

There are also rabbits everywhere at this campground, and watching Lucky watch the rabbits has been genuinely entertaining. We have plenty of rabbits back home in New York, but it's been a while since we've seen this many in our travels. She watches them with great focus and absolutely no follow-through.

The Sweet Grass Hills

From the campground, we could see the Sweet Grass Hills, a small group of low mountains rising more than 3,000 feet above the surrounding plains. They are an example of what geologists call "island ranges": mountains completely surrounded by a sea of prairie, not geographically connected to the Rockies to the west. Because of that isolation, they are considered biological hotspots, containing more species diversity than the plains below them. Standing in flat, shadeless Shelby and looking out at these hills rising up out of nowhere, you understand immediately why they've been significant to the Indigenous peoples of this region for thousands of years. The Blackfoot people call them kátoyissiksi. Yes, I had to research all this, but it was interesting enough, I wanted to make sure and share. 

Cooking on the Road

Since this was a slower week for big activities, it feels like a good moment to talk about a fun part of bus life: cooking.

I have never been someone who follows a recipe exactly. For me, recipes are more of a guideline, they are inspiration points, starting places. I look at what we have, I look at photos for ideas, and then I often go completely rogue and make something entirely different. I think of Roy, who makes a fantastic pastry chef precisely because he is disciplined and detail-oriented, the complete opposite of me in the kitchen. He often reminded me of the difference between baking and cooking. Baking is science, cooking can be an art. I can go rouge in cooking, he can’t go rouge in baking. 

On the road, with a small pantry and whatever the nearest farmers' market or grocery run produced, this approach has resulted in some genuinely creative meals. I keep a few staples: feta and cheddar cheese, chickpeas and other beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, spinach. A good salad is always a backup plan. This week we had tortillas with red cabbage, onion, spinach, peanut sauce, and feta, served with mango salsa and fried plantains. Simple ingredients, wildly good.

And then on Thursday, just as I had finished deep cleaning the bus and was mentally planning the week's meals from what we had left, a Mennonite family pulled up in a box truck asking if we were interested in baked goods or vegetables. I certainly was. We bought $30 worth: freshly picked beets, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, red leaf lettuce, radishes, banana bread, zucchini bread, noodles, donuts, nectarines, and eggs. Thirty dollars. Delivered to the campsite. This truly made my week.

The Roller Coaster Trail

The Roadrunner Recreation Trail runs right alongside the RV park, and it is one of the more unexpectedly fun things we've found on this trip. I can only describe it as a roller coaster, hills that require real effort to climb even on my ebike, followed by fast descents with curves that had my brakes working overtime. At points I was going over 20mph downhill. It was exhilarating and occasionally a little terrifying. I biked it twice during the week and covered about 25 miles on my first ride, including a detour through some country roads and past the local little airport. I'm glad I didn't bring Lucky, the heat alone would have been too much, but those downhill curves would have genuinely scared me with her along.

Don tried the trail later in the week and came back describing it exactly the same way. Roller coaster. We're glad we found it.

Pizza Delivery to the Campsite

In South Carolina, back in the early weeks of the trip, Don watched a pizza delivery driver pull into a campground and said: "At some point, I want to do that." I've thought about it many times since.

This week I finally made it happen. I biked into town on the Roadrunner Trail, picked up beer and watermelon, ordered a Pizza Hut delivery to the campground, and got back before it arrived. Don had no idea. The look on his face when the delivery driver pulled in was worth every mile of that bike ride.

Not a no-spend day. Completely worth it.

Heading to Glacier — With a Detour

Friday we broke camp and headed toward Saint Mary on the east side of Glacier National Park. On the way, we'd planned to stop at Browning, MT for the North American Indian Days, a four-day festival happening right on our route. The plan was for me to explore while Don worked from the bus, and we'd meet up over his lunch break before continuing to Saint Mary. It didn't go as planned.

We arrived early, around 8:30, before any of the festivities had started. Lucky and I walked the grounds, which were already full of people camping for the festival. I came across a food distribution area where a woman was handing out bags of basic necessities. She asked if I'd like to take one. I said no, thank you. She asked again. I said I was just a visitor passing through. She asked a third time. I took the bag. I still feel uncomfortable about it. At a certain point, it felt more disrespectful not to take it than to take it. I know the right thing to do is to make a donation to the Blackfeet Food Pantry, and I will.

Then the cell tower went down. No service at all. Don lost connection in the middle of his morning team meeting. We waited, thinking it would come back in half an hour, and used the time to get our kayaks inspected at the watercraft station. This is a required stop before we can put them in the water, so it was a productive use of the wait. Half an hour turned into longer. We tried the nearby casino hotel, thinking we might need to pay for their network access. No service there either. Eventually, we backtracked 40 minutes east on Route 20 to find a signal.  The North American Indian Days will have to wait for another visit, one I genuinely hope we can make.

Next up: Glacier National Park.