Day 2-Montana Tuesday, February 7, 2011

Butte, Montana 

Watson is unsure about the snowfall...on the plus side he looks snazzy in his jacket

Last night we saw a storm was headed our way and Marc (my husband) wanted to switch drivers so he could sleep. His reasoning "so I can be rested and take over before it starts to snow." He has the enviable ability to fall asleep instantly, any time, anywhere which he promptly did before I had finished adjusting my mirrors. 

Five minutes later the snow started. It was going fine until I was pacifying one of the perpetually hungry teenagers in the back, uselessly promising to stop at the next exit for food. That turned out to be 100+ miles of nothing. We filled up in Butte and decided to stay the night as the plows weren't out and the snow was piling up.

Thankfully Marc slept, as I did only fitfully in spite of the melatonin. Still, the Motel 6 was clean and didn't charge extra for the 3 dogs. I'm sure they will think twice after our incident in the elevator on the way down to the truck...

I've got Watson's leash (15 pound Silkie Terrier broken down into approximately 5 pounds dog/10 pounds attitude) and my backpack, blankie, toiletry case as well as feeling like Ralphie's little brother from A Christmas Story. Still not used to all the stuff! Colin (16 year old) has his backpack, Genevieve, and Scout's leashes, in addition to various luggage type trappings. Sean (13 year old) was asked to go back to the room to pick up the garbage sack of food (yep, we're classy! Their air tight food storage container was nixed at the last minute in trailer packing, so we dumped a bunch in a bag), their bowls, and his backpack. Genevieve is a 70 pound mutt who we think has Rhodesian Ridgeback in her from what the vet said when we adopted her 11 years ago, Scout is some kind of hound and 80 pounds. He has no respect for personal boundaries. Sean catches us at the elevator, laden down as we all were, when Scout decides to greet Sean. He opted to do away with any preliminaries and go straight to his 'ace in the hole' attention grabbing maneuver. Normally we find this adorable on mild mannered Scout.

His sizable hound nose went unerringly to the stacked food/water bowls Sean is holding, the un-emptied food bowl on top. Like a shark testing for prey, he bumps. Many things happen at once. The bowl flies in the air, bits of kibble sprays in all directions, Scout zips to the back of the elevator in response to the UFO's/succeeds in tangling the leashes around Colin and my legs, and finally, the 3 bipeds look down in shock at the destruction.

The track that the elevator doors travel along are now full of dog kibble. The doors, having the good sense to realize nothing good is happening on the 2nd floor, decide to try to close to try for a quieter view. This was not to be. Cue the reverberating alarm while I mash the "hold open" button and the boys dive for the floor to try in vain to dig out the food. The canines, in their infinite doggie wisdom, decide to alternate cowering in the corner and trying to make stealthy breaks for freedom away from the freaking buzzing noise, all the while twisting previously mentioned leashes into a rats nest. Triumphantly out pops Colin's pocket knife! He thinks he can flick the morsels out with leverage, but alas, these suckers are suddenly akin to diamonds in indestructability.

15 minutes later, mortified, frazzled, slightly deaf, and overheated from being dressed for the great outdoors, we descend from the second floor to the lobby. Marc, quizzical and slightly irritated expression "Where have you been?!"

After explaining to the kind woman at the front desk about our mess and asking to use a vacuum/broom/atomic bomb to remove evidence that we had been there, she good-naturedly told me not to worry a bit, they would take care of it. I gratefully grease myself up with bacon fat and slide into Geoff, already slightly worn out. 


Yay-the roads are plowed! Wait...5 miles out of town, not so much. Holy crap is that a SNOW PLOW in the ditch?!

The back half of a snow plow in the ditch just outside Butte

So much for the plowed roads!

 
Next stop is Great Falls because my Las Vegas doctor's assistant called me in between Butte and Great Falls. She didn't get my message before we left, and she can call in my prescriptions that need refilling, just needs a pharmacy. Thank goodness! We find a Kroger there, and due to typical doctor's office wait times, are held up for hours. Thanks to the delay, we don't make the Canadian border until after dark.


Bummer. I wanted a picture of the border crossing.

Thank you Kroger of Great Falls, MT for the use of this reasonably priced recliner while waiting for my doctor's office to call in my 'scripts!