Steve and I had a pleasant morning together. We walked around the two-mile trail in town at the Arrow Stone Park, a paved multi-use trail along the Clark Fork River that passes a beaver pond and goes around the old Montana prison. These two-mile brisk-pace walks are great ways to start a day before a long drive. After the walk we ate again at 4Bs, but this time the server was a tad too kurt for my liking.
Steve also fixed the chip in my windshield, a small chip I got when I drove too close behind an oil tanker in Valdez, Alaska. He checked my oil (I was a quart low), made my dipstick temporarily usable again and he even replaced two burned fuses. The two fuses were from my front DC outlets. I can now use them again to charge my phones!
It's always a pleasure to talk with Steve. We never run out of topics to discuss. We don't talk politics but we do talk about travel-related topics like where to camp, where to eat, what to see and do in places. He had shown me around Deer Lodge and been a great host, but I also had to drive on. I wanted to make it to Bozeman early enough to walk around town and see some of the places I remember from my 2009 road trip (which was the premise of this blog) when Sadie was 18 months old. I had like Bozeman then; would I like it now?
The drive to Bozeman was uneventful. I prefer back roads but this time I used the interstate for speed. The drive took me up and over small mountains overlooking wide, lush green vallies. This is the Montana I love. I stopped briefly in Butte but didn't stay long. I got on I-90 east until I got near Belgrade. The sky opened up to a torrential storm. I pulled over in town to wait it out and resumed the drive into Bozeman. My first priority was to walk the dogs as there are plenty of trails that loop in and around the center of town near the library. The one I found was a parking area for the Tuckerman trail off Goldstein Avenue, a small lot around a marshy area. The gravel trail followed the creek in a northerly direction and passed many shaded areas. It then links with other short trails in various directions. This was perfect for the dogs: getting exercise while in the shade and I had no complaints, either. I had the dogs on the leash tied to each other and when we passed others I simply grabbed the leash and pulled both dogs closer to me.
The trail network formed a rectangular track around a nice neighborhood and patches of wetland. This wasn't the path I was on with Sadie back in 2009, but it worked fine for our needs tonight. I didn't stop for a beer until we were done with our walk. My choice was the Bridger Brewery near downtown, a massive building with two floors and spacious room. While the bar closes at 8pm, food is served until 9pm. The place was packed as I sat at the bar and had a white ale and a pale ale. I enjoyed the white ale very much. It's a nice light summer drink. The pizzas around me looked good but I opted to eat at a Taco John's instead. Why pay $13 for a pizza when $4.50 for a chicken burrito will do?
There was much construction around the downtown area that forced me around detours that my GPS didn't warn me about. I eventually settled by the library to use the wifi and read up on the latest trump scandal. It had been on all the news channels and I wanted more details. Emails between Trump Jr and a Russian businessman seem to show some unethical contact between the trump campaign in 2016, something that trump had denied but which is proving to be true afterall. This story is slowly unfolding into a LeCarre political thriller involving a political candidate, a Russian tycoon, a young Russian rock star and a beauty pageant contestant.
My plans for tomorrow include a hike up Sacagawea Peak outside of Bozeman, in honor of Sadie. She and I bagged this peak in 2009. Could we do it again eight years later? There are so many great trails around Bozeman, but I will do this 9800' peak again. May this be my last big hike before that final push to Arizona.
I drove 166.8 miles today, a lot of that around Bozeman. Total mileage is 9376.9
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