Jim and Mary’s RV Park, 355 mile jump
After a hearty breakfast, we bought groceries and diesel and still got on the road at 10:15am. The early morning frost had melted and the temp was 34F with bright blue skies. To the south, the mountains of Yellowstone and Gallatin Parks were spectacular, all capped in snow.
Penny took another turn at the wheel for about an hour and did well in spite of some ferocious sidewinds and steep down hills.
As our elevation rose to 4000’, snow on the mountains became snow on the roadside, but the roads remained dry. This alarmed us, but the temp was 55F and then sun was shining. Last week, we chose this day to make our crossing based on the forecast, so we had faith and pressed on.
The pass at 6320’ was dry and bare with no sign of snow anywhere; amazing! It was such a relief to start down hill even though I know there are two more passes to cross before leaving the Bitterroot Mountain Range and the Columbia Basin begins. The first one is Lookout Pass at 4711’ and Fourth of July Pass is 3081’. Before going down there we will stop in Missoula, Montana, to spend a couple of nights in one spot for the first time in a week. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, so we can hunker down, read, write, nap, and relax.