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October 6, 2009, a Tuesday
Glacier National Park (St. Mary) to S of Belgrade (Town Pump), Montana, USA
— Moving on down the road
I awoke before the 6:20 alarm and it was blowing like crazy and the RV was being buffeted — terrible conditions for photography! I turned off the alarm and tried to go back to sleep. When I got out of bed, there were some nice clouds overhead, but there wasn't any good light on the mountains because of a cloud bank to the east. It was 39°F (4°C). Had my normal breakfast and worked up a blog entry. After the sun rose above the cloud bank, there was nice light on the mountains. Prepped the RV to move. I went up on the roof of the RV and de-tilted the solar-electric panels. We left at 9:56 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.

We went to the Sinclair gas station in St. Mary to fill up the RV ($2.999/gal). Hooked up the Jeep to tow while fueling. We left at 10:20.

Gas was $2.749/g in Browning, not too far down the road. :( I wasn't expecting cheaper gas until we hit the interstate. We stopped for a flagman at a construction zone, then followed a pilot car over a dirt road for a while.

Had Clif Bars for lunch: Chocolate Peanut Crunch, Oatmeal Raisin Walnut, and a Cool Mint Chocolate.

We stopped at 12:20 at the Bynum Post Office so I could stretch my legs and J could mail a card. We got underway again at 12:25.

Listened to an episode of Car Talk. J enjoyed the scenery along the narrow, winding two-lane road, and I found the driving a bit stressful.

We stopped at the Cenex gas station in Helena at 2:45 to fill up the RV and Jeep ($2.539/gal). We also dumped the gray and black tanks at their dump station. They didn't have any water for our fresh water tank though. We left at 3:22.

We went to Northern Energy in Helena at 3:30 to fill up the propane tank. While our tank was getting filled, J asked if we could load up on fresh water, and the guy said we could use the faucet on the side of their building — bingo! After the propane tank was filled, we pulled the RV over close to their building and took on fresh water. We left at 4:03.

Listened to another episode of Car Talk.

We stopped at the Albertson's (grocery store) in Belgrade at 6:08. We went in for what I thought would be a quick stop for some essential items, but it turned into a major shopping haul. We finished shopping at 6:50, and the mountains and clouds had some fantastic pink light on them. Unfortunately, we couldn't photograph it from the parking lot because of power lines and business signs. We put away most of the groceries, then ...

Walked across the street to McDonald's. We got a Deluxe Angus Burger, a cheeseburger, and a large fries to go. The color on the mountains and clouds was really intense on our way back to the RV. :( We ate dinner in the RV in the Albertson's parking lot. That was the first time I've had a Delux Angus Burger, and it'll probably be my last. The burger and bun were dry, so I'm going back to the Big Mac. We left at 7:23.

We went to the Exxon in Belgrade to load up the RV ($2.599/gal). I cleaned the RV and Jeep windows while fueling. We left at 7:39.

We stopped for the night at the Town Pump (gas station), south of Belgrade, around 7:56. There was a tractor-trailer and another RV already parked at the back of the big lot next to the store, so it looked like a good place to spend the night. We weren't too close to the road, and we had Broadband Verizon internet access. :) Did some computer work before going to bed.