It was time to head out. Since we wanted to travel as far as possible on the first day, we left home at about 7:30 AM. Straight south to the Coutts, AB-Sweet Grass, MT border crossing. We tried to think of any potential border crossing issues in advance. We checked out dog food ingredients for lamb or goat, made sure we had our passports & vaccination documents for us and Baxter, and we left behind any fresh fruit. As it turned out, we only needed passports and assured the border agent that we were vaccinated, and we were on our way.
First stop was Great Falls, MT for fuel - which was much cheaper than Alberta. We were in and out in 10 minutes, and on our way to Helena, MT and beyond. The skies were clear, there was no wind, and it was smooth sailing. A perfect day to travel. As we have done in the past, we avoided the the mountain pass into Butte, MT and turned off I-15 at Boulder, MT. The road traveled along to the east of the mountains, through several small towns including Twin Bridges and Whitehall, reconnecting to I-15 at Dillon, MT.
We had originally contemplated staying overnight in Dillon, MT to avoid the Monida Pass at night, but since it was still only mid-afternoon we decided to carry on and try to get over the pass before dark. It appeared that our luck would hold out as the skies remained clear and the road was dry - until we reached the south side of the pass. As we crested a hill we saw a huge bank of fog in the valley ahead of us. It brought back memories of a trip 20+ years ago in the same area where we hit black ice and fish tailed our truck and fifth wheel down the highway. This time before getting into trouble, we reduced speed and white-knuckled the wheel until we reached Idaho Falls. The Snake River RV Park was our final stop of the day.
There was lots of snow piled everywhere as they are experiencing a heavy snowfall year. The RV park roads were snow packed as were the camp sites. There were other snowbirds camped nearby, all heading for warmer weather. There was almost an unfortunate incident in the site next to us. They had a wheel chair lift mounted into the side of their motorhome, and while the husband was attempting to help move his wife from their car to the wheelchair, they slipped and she ended up on the icy ground. Fortunately we were able to offer assistance to get her back into her chair and onto the lift. She appeared to have suffered no ill effects.
That night it dropped to about -10C, so it was a little chilly in the motorhome.