Day 15 started out a cool 44 degrees but sunny and got warmer as I headed east. I got off the interstate after a couple of hours and took US route 12 as I headed to Lewiston, Idaho and on to Missoula, Montana. After lunch it started to cloud over and cool off a bit as I climbed altitude – but not terrible. Drove through some mountain fog and quick, light showers that were almost over when they started! And then as I headed to the pass and climbed over 4000 feet of elevation I could see some more fog ahead . . . or so I thought.
I began to see 4-5 ft snowbanks on the side of the road, but I’ve seen this before (thru Wyoming at over 8000′ elevation) so I wasn’t concerned. And then I drove into the fog – except it wasn’t fog – it was SNOW! and ICE PELLETS!! Now I was a little concerned – I didn’t have my winter tires on!! I had on my half helmet, as I usually do except in pouring rain, so those ice pellets hurt like little pebbles being thrown at me from 5 ft away. I tried to scrunch down and look through the windshield except that half-snow, half ice mixture was sticking to the windshield so I couldn’t see a thing. I couldn’t pull over to put on my full helmet because there was no paved shoulder and the little bit of gravel there was covered by 4-5 ft snowbanks. I couldn’t stop because visibility wasn’t great and someone might run into the back of me. I did slow down to about 30 mph and the ice pellets still hurt but by now I was more concerned with staying vertical – and let me just say that winding mountain roads with a cold, wet, slick surface don’t make that overly easy. But at least the snow didn’t accumulate and once I got to the top of the pass (5100 ft) and down the other side to about 4300 ft it turned to rain and I have never been so happy to see rain in my life!!
Once I got down a little further the rain stopped and I drove into a recent wildfire area – it was eerie and beautiful at the same time. The beauty came in the form of the spring growth of bright green and colourful flowers. I’m guessing it was last year’s fire and just like in some of the tornado destruction I have seen it was amazing to see how one house was burned to the ground while another just 100 ft away was only scorched! My card reader isn’t working but I’ll post when I can. A short while later I arrived in Missoula.
For those who are keeping count (in case there is a bonus question later) today’s wildlife count was 5 deer and and 5 eagles.