Dennis Dixon is heading West!: September 2026

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

2026 Road Trip - Day 21

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026 - East into The Plains of Montana, then north into Canada - WIDE OPEN COUNTRY! After 432 miles (and 20 Post Offices), I checked into the Super 8 in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada at 8 PM:

20 Post Offices. The "comparison map" shows the area extends from New York City to Portsmouth, NH:

Breakfast at Buffalo Cafe in Whitefish:

Hey - I'm picking up Wendy tomorrow! Got to get a CAR WASH!

I drove along the south-side of Glacier National Park, and there is a beautiful spot where Bear Creek runs into the Middle Fork Flathead River:

I found myself traveling alongside Amtrak's Empire Builder, which runs between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest:

Say GOODBYE to The Mountains:

and HELLO to The Plains:

Looks like "some weather is movin' in":

It is nice to get My Own Private Escort Vehicle:

Once again - "No problem with the neighbors.":

Up until now, I had dodged "train crossing problems":

I entered Canada at 4:15

I don't know - looks a lot like the Montana Plains, except for the occasional DINOSAUR!

BIG weather came through, with huge winds:

At 8 PM I checked into the Super 8 in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada:

Thank you God for this wonderful MONTANA and CANADA Adventure Day!

Music for today:

Hotel room - Acoustic Alchemy - The Beautiful Game, 2000 album, last heard 2/27/2017. Nice new-age music:

Time to hit The Road:

various - Vietnam: Songs From The Divided House, 2001 double-album, last heard never. 33 songs (and speech clips) from that era. Interestingly, the only place I have found "The Ballad of the Green Berets" by Barry Stadler, which hit #1 for 5 weeks in early 1966. Also in this collection are "War" (by Edwin Starr) and "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire, which has some of my favorite lyrics:

Ah, you may leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it's the same old place
The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace
Hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace

Bonnie Raitt - Give It Up, 1972 2nd album, last heard in a blog 10/17/2024. At breakfast this morning, I heard a man say his wife and a girlfriend went down to Missoula over the weekend to see Bonnie Raitt. Big smile on my face because I remember seeing Bonnie for the first time at Penn's Irvine Auditorium (with Little Feat) March 30, 1973. You Go Girl!

various - British Invasion (3 cds), this is actually 50 songs that I put together from various "British Invasion" cds, last heard never. FUN:

various - Back To Mono (1958-1969)(cd 2), 1991 compilation album, last heard never. Great oldies, with this cd ending with "Walking in the Rain" by The Ronettes:

And once I am in Canada, it is time for Canadian artists:

Neil Young - Lucky Thirteen, 1993 compilation album, last heard never. His "Geffen years":

Bryan Adams - Reckless, 1984 album, last heard 6/23/2024. Great Album!

Robbie Robertson - Robbie Robertson, 1987 debut solo album, last heard 6/29/2024. After The Band, he emerged with this GREAT ALBUM - supporting musicians include U2 and Peter Gabriel:

The Band - Stage Fright, 1970 3rd album, last heard never. With Levon Helm being the only American, the other 4 members were Canadian:

Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine/New York:
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

2026 Road Trip - Day 20

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026 - Today was going to be ONLY a hiking day, but I realized that I needed to be in the hotel room at 10:30 this morning (for Thursday Men's Breakfast responsibilities). So, between 7:30 and 10:30 I actually drove northwest and grabbed 6 Post Offices. After the hotel, I drove up to the Bowman Lake Campground in Glacier National Park:

6 Post Offices (plus 1 closed one) - like driving the Providence-Springfield-Boston area:

The morning light on Dickey Lake is lovely:

When I was up in Eureka, I saw some elk - and they saw me!

Hey, sometimes the roads are NOWHERE NEAR DONE:

Driving north to the northwest entrance to Glacier National Park, you go alongside the North Fork Flathead River:

I entered Glacier National Park at 12:30

It was another 1/2 hour to get up to the Bowman Lake Campground:

My Map:

And off we go! Beautiful shots from the bridge in this 1st photo

I made the right-hand turn to take the trail up-and-over to Lower Quartz Lake:

I crossed over a lovely bridge at the Lower Quartz Lake Campground:

MASSIVE OVERGROWTH on this back-side trail up to Quartz Lake:

A nice shot back down at Middle Quartz Lake:

I reached Quartz Lake at 4:30 (3-and-1/2 hours, 7.2 miles) - I had 2nd-lunch next to a family of birds, so it is nice to include them in the "money shot":

From there it was 6.6 miles up-over-and-down to the Bowman Lake Campground:

Bowman Lake at the end of the day:

I hiked 13.82 miles in 6 hours 24 minutes:

Drove home in the gloaming-and-the-dark, and spoke with Wendy when I finally got a signal at 9 PM (11 PM for her). 236 miles driving, and 6 Post Office (plus 1 closed one) - Thank you God for this wonderful MONTANA Adventure-and-Hiking Day!

Music for today:

Hotel room - The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones, Now!, 1965 3rd album, last heard in a blog never - Their version of Bo Diddley's "Mona" is fabulous:

Time to hit The Road:

Neil Young - Hitchiker, recorded 1976, released 2017, last heard never. Wonderful collect of acoustic material, almost all of which has appeared across many albums - sounds great as a single album:

Neil Young - Trans, 1982 album, last heard in a blog never. And from Neil Young Acoustic, we travel to Neil Young Voice Synthesiser (I do like old weird Neil):

Poco - Setlist: The Very Best of Poco LIVE, 2011 album, last heard never. Nice sounding material - I have to check out the tracks versus DeLIVErin':

Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop Vitaminless, 1998 soundtrack album, last heard never. FUN jazz-etc material from "Cowboy Bebop", a WONDERFUL anime that Wendy and I enjoy:

Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop, 1998 soundtrack album, last heard 9/13/2025. I liked that other album so much, I wanted to listen to "the first album" - SO COOL:

Steely Dan - Northeast Corridor: Steely Dan Live!, 2021 live album, last heard never. I love Steely Dan, and I saw them up in New Hampshire right around this time. The Doobie Brothers opened, and did a WONDERFUL JOB - Donald Fagen and The Band (the Steely Dan Band, not "The Band" band) came out and WERE SO PUMPED that they did a GREAT SHOW (the only downside was having to drive 2 hours home afterwards):

Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green, 1970 album, last heard in a blog never. I saw Ten Years After at The Boston Tea Party in February 1970, and they played a lot of the songs on this album. Still sounds great:

The Moody Blues - Legend of a Band, 1989 greatest hits album, last heard 7/02/2025. How can I not play "Tuesday Afternoon" today???