All 50 Road Trip-June 1, 2018, Day 21

(click here for today's pictures)

Browning, Montana to Glendive, Montana

We all slept in for a bit this morning. It was just about 9:30 when we loaded up to leave. Everyone must have slept well last night, because Whitman was the first one to wake up this morning. He woke up talking away. Campbell was up right after and even Reagan was stirring before other people. I hurried to get my shower, and then we all headed down for breakfast.

Robby ate some and then loaded up the car. When we finished, we all went to the bathroom and then found the car. We pulled out of the hotel, and you could already tell that that it was going to be a much prettier day. Even though we were leaving the mountainous area, the road was still pretty hilly even though it was through farmland.

The first car activity was a movie. We had almost finished the movie when we stopped at Great Falls, Montana for a snack. I had found 2 great places to eat in Great Falls. One was a donut shop and one was an ice cream stop. They would have been great except that the shops I found were in the Great Falls, Virginia. Ooops!

Robby was able to find a cupcake stop though so we stooped at Crooked Tree Bakery and had a snack. Most everyone picked chocolate chip cookies. Whitman had a vanilla cupcake, Graham picked a carrot cupcake and Reagan had a shortbread cookie. Everything was delicious, and there was a potty there so it was a win.

It wasn’t too much further until our next stop. The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. We have been on the Lewis and Clark trail for a huge part of this trip. We even did a Jr. Ranger book for a spot in Oregon that we never made it to. 

At this place, they were quick to give us a book to finish for the kids for their center. All of that is nice and all, but seriously, we had a 7 hour drive still in front of us. It was almost comical as well because at every turn that we made in the museum was an old museum person telling us more information. They were all very friendly, but we were struggling tying to help everyone finish their books. I try to find all of the Jr. Ranger and other programs and do the stuff before we leave so they are already finished and ready to turn in. 

Of course we did want to watch the movie so that was another 30 minutes. We had planned to eat outside but by the time we finally finished the museum it was time to hustle on. In addition to that, it was starting to sprinkle on us!

We stopped for gas, another redbox movie and drinks for everyone and then were on our way. I made lunches today as we drove down the highway. We ate while listening to a podcast about Lewis and Clark. Robby and I enjoyed it, but I am not so sure about the kids. I think that we may do more podcasts during school this next school year.

We stopped to potty at one point along the way, and I started to drive. Today is just 2 lane roads across all of Montana. I am chicken and won’t pass 18 wheelers on this little roads so that might have slowed us down some. Thankfully, they would turn just when I would almost work up enough courage to pass them each time. 

When we had about 3 hours left, we did spot a nice rest area and pulled off to play for a few minutes. The boys threw the ball and everyone else through a paper plate around. It was so windy there that the plate would fly and fly through the sky. This passed a good bit of time at the deserted rest stop. The kids didn’t stay in the bathrooms long because they had a weather radio playing which was pretty spooky sounding.

The road that we went on actually did go on forever. We would occasionally drive near a town and Robby would say that if there was something to eat, we would pick something up. In each of these towns, there was nothing at all! Not even a gas pump in most of them. I was super glad that we had plenty of gas on this leg of the trip.

Robby is already getting a bit depressed since we are definitely headed towards home now. I think that he could quite possibly travel forever. I guess that I could too though I have quite a long list of things that need to happen at home before school starts in July! We just have one week left on this trip though so I guess it is about time for us to start planning another one.

When we made it to Glendive, Robby picked up pizza while I read about the last time we were here in 2012, Keaton was a fussy baby during the night and our bed was always filled with little Graham or Anderson each night. Possibly things are easier on this trip.

We ate our pizza in the hotel room while our laundry washed. Everyone was in bed at a decent time so hopefully tomorrow will be an earlier morning.