Great Falls to Whitefish

I started the morning with a visit to Firestone Complete Auto care . I feel like this is becoming a habit. The first issue was the low tire pressure warning light that sporadically starts blinking. Matt and Victor did some inspection and testing. They explained to me that when the icon is blinking, not solid, it means that the battery in the sensor is getting weak. They checked the tire pressure on all the tires as well as the spare. To replace the batteries in the tire pressure sensor would be around $500. We all agreed this was not a justifiable expense, at least at this point. Now that I know what it means, I know that I can safely ignore it. Even the fluctuations due to temperature can safely be ignored if the tires visually look OK. And I do have a manual tire pressure gauge that I can also use to double check. They also looked at the window that is sticking on my driver’s side door. That is not something that will be easily fixed, it is likely a major body shop repair. I will just have to live with it for the rest of the trip. It is also unclear whether Firestone will take responsibility - I will have to sort that out after I return home. Part of the reason I stopped in was for the documentation. It is inconvenient as I use my car as a blind when shooting wildlife from the road. Again, I will just have to live with it for the six remaining of the lower 48 states - I will not be driving in Alaska and in Hawaii I will be renting a car.

The added benefit of stopping in to the Firestone was the tips Matt and Victor gave me, both locally and throughout the state. Knowing that First People's Buffalo Jump was closed on Monday, as was the Lewis and Clark interpretive center, I was going to head straight to Whitefish using the most direct route. They turned me on to a local hidden secret - the recreation road that is basically an access road that parallels the Missouri River. I did drive up and down this road a bit. There was a possibility of Bighorn sheep, but there were not out this morning. There were some nice views. They also encouraged me to take the southern route that winds though the Flathead National Forest to Whitefish rather than the more direct northern route that is straight freeway. This turned out to be an excellent suggestion. The natural scenery in Montana is as spectacular as advertised. And even missing Glacier National Park due to winter closure, this was a was a good introduction. Surprisingly a rain cell came in mid-afternoon. Rain was nowhere in the prediction, but there it was. Overnight rain showers are also now predicted. Hopefully they will abate before I head out tomorrow. Ironically, it is just a bit too warm for snow, which would actually be preferable.

I have two options for activities in this region, Buffalo Range Tribal Wildlife Refuge and driving around the perimeter of Glacier National Park. It will be a game day decision which I do tomorrow and which I do on Wednesday.

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Additional news articles that are relevant to the themes that have developed during this trip:

Native American History month:
The Endless Robbing of Native American Graves
How Native Americans were vaccinated against smallpox, then pushed off their land
‘12 years of hell’: Indian boarding school survivors share their stories
These Native Americans focus on family amid Thanksgiving’s dark history

The African-American story:
It’s time to rethink parole in the age of mass incarceration