Day 13: Lewistown to Missoula, MT

This drive from central Montana to Missoula (which is in the base of the mountains) was mostly more of the rolling plains, but gradually changed to foothills and then mountains as we went west. We continued to drive MT200. It was mostly rural with few towns and still few cows. We were surprised how we rarely saw a train. We crossed the Missouri River at Great Falls, but didn’t get to explore that town. Eastern Montana and a lot of the land we saw on this day was green, not showing the drought we’d heard so much about. The heat was on however. On arrival in Missoula the temperature was unusually close to 100º. Of course we can use that tired old “but it was a dry heat” since the humidity was only 15%!

This is the lodge we stayed in near Lewistown. Great place, cool weather in this little mountain.

As I mentioned yesterday, there were many fireworks stands in Montana. Since they are closed most of the year, most of my fireworks stand photos are of closed stands, so I was happy to get many open stands. Most all I shot were after asking the proprietors who all said yes with a smile. Except one kid who said, he thought he’d have to “ask his boss”, who wasn't around. I told him that I’d just do it. He smiled.

Casinos are everywhere in Montana. But they are usually very small places with limited games.

Another casino.

We passed through many small towns that looked about like this.

Another fireworks stand.

As you can see in the background we finally got into real mountains and crossed the continental divide before getting to Missoula. We were starting to cross paths with Lewis & Clark who’s journey crossed many parts of Montana.