Ottcrew--Day 20, July 22nd...

IT is coming to an end. It is hard to express the feelings of packing so much into such a short time and yet it seems like we haven't been gone that long.

Bucket List Day 20---July 22 Thursday Sparwood –Lake Louise-Butte

No one slept especially well at our rest stop makeshift campground. There was a lot of truck noise and paranoia. The area through this part of the mountains is called Crowsnest. There is a whole area called Crowsnest. It has historical significance. We will have to look it up. There are cool Highway 3 signs with a crow and a 3 in the middle of it. I wanted to steal one. In a town called Coleman, gas was cheap at 96.9 a liter. The bigger towns jacked up the prices. There were lots of resorts, golfing, skiing, flyfishing spots along this trip.

WE made it to Pincher Creek Walmart. Their prices were more Americanized. We got food for lunches and breakfast as Harold promised we could eat out tonight.

Waterton Lake sat at the bottom of a mountain and had a 1920s lodge called Prince of Wales that sat overlooking it. The lodge was fantastic architecture and looked like the hunting lodge from the movie Beauty and the Beast. It was overcast and the lake was probably not as spectacular as it would have been on a clear day.
We made our way out of Waterton toward Baab. It would not have been a bad mountainous choice except for the road work that stopped us. The border crossing here to get back in the USA, featured an especially obnoxious border guard. Note: Do not say anything to them or give them any information until asked for. He lifted our hood and opened our truck into the back seat. We had to stop up the road to shut the hood again as he didn’t get it shut. From Babb on Hwy 89 to Browning, the road wasn’t too bad. The locals told us to take Hwy 44 to Valier and then to I-15. This road (44) was a welcome smooth relief after all the weeks of bumpy, winding, up and down roads. We were sad when we got to I-15. Right after getting on I-15, a family of badgers was going across the road and Harold barely missed hitting them. They scurry and do not move too fast as they are low to the ground.
We saw beautiful, spectacular landscape from GreatFalls down to Butte.
We are glad to be back in the USA. Gas prices better!!!! We got a 44 oz for 99cents. We hardly saw fountain drinks while we were up north. HA.
At this time we are in Great Falls and on our way to Butte. Amy has the pedal to the metal and we are on our way home! No other tourist stops planned. ;)
We stopped in Butte as it was approaching our 730 twilight time and we needed to eat. We went to old town Butte and found it full of people, bikers, etc… celebrating Evel Knivel
Day. Evel is a Butte alum. They had extreme sports i.e. motocross jumping (down a main street), arena boxing matches, bungee slingshot rides, etc… We ate at another “hit by accident” hot spot called Freds Mesquite Grill. The food was good. Our #1 spot is still Denali’s Salmon Bake and #2 is Rays in Seward. The breakfast best spot was Gwennies in Anchorage.
We pulled up to stop at a KOA….and you guessed it, it is by the Freeway. We are trying to figure out how we can be so out in the wilds and still have to deal with freeway noise. But…. We wanted something quick and with a shower… Amy said Harold was stinking. Note: Tim does not stink. The price was 25 with $5 for each of the guys additional for showers. With the tax, it came to 40 something.
Off to sleep. We are 454 miles from home. We should be home tomorrow. A day early. Tim wants to be there for a rugby game.

Thanks for all who have followed us on our journey. I don't know what I will do at night without having 5 people within a close distance to me! The journey has been totally a life experience that we will talk about for the rest of our lives.

Check out the blog in a couple of days and I will get some pictures posted. It is 1030 and I told myself I would be in bed at 1000. Everyone else has zonked out. xxoo