Goodbye Montana!

We arrived at Blue Anchor RV Park in Osburn, Idaho this afternoon after a safe trip that was partially in the rain. The drive from Lakefront, Mt was mostly on a 2 lane scenic road that was in very good condition, which is more than I can say for parts of I-90. At least half of the 40 to 50 miles we drove today on I-90 was in construction zones with speed limits of 35 to 45 MPH. I will say overall, Montana has excellent highways and are in good condition.We gained another hour today in that we crossed the time zone into Pacific Standard Time (PST).  Our time here is now 3 hours behind our home time in NC. We primarily plan to spend our time here to catch up on rest and relaxation. We have been on a pretty fast pace since leaving, and have decided it's time to slow down for a bit.

Here are a few tidbits we observed that you may find of interest about our trip into Montana. The Montana American Legion chapters place a small metal white cross on the roadside wherever there is a fatality in a motor vehicle accident. They are placed there as a reminder to the motoring public to be careful and drive safely. We observed as many as 6 in a single location. Quite sobering. We were quite surprised to see speed limits of 80 MPH on some sections of interstates, and 70 MPH on some secondary 2 lane roads. We noticed  unusual birds (to us) throughout the area about the same size as a dove, but with unusual black, white and blue markings. They have a long tail and were quite striking. Pat told us they were Magpie's .In the northwestern section of Montana, there is an area known as Flathead Valley that is very diverse and scenic with many items, areas, governments, and even fruit with Flathead as part of their name. An example is the Flathead Cherry that is very prevalent in the area is grown in Flathead County that is near Flathead lake! Huckleberries are a new fruit to us that is grown in this same area as well. Huckleberries are similar in appearance to Blueberries, but are smaller, and slightly more bitter. We purchased a pack from a young man coming through the RV park selling them.

Flathead Cherries. There are 2 varieties, the gold and the red. To me, the gold are a little sweeter. The berries are very large, about the size of a nickel.

Huckleberries

The Magpie. Isn't he a handsome bird!

I guess some of my family was here before us!

Us Cherry's do get around!

One of many white crosses we saw on Montana highways.

Coming into Idaho on I-90.