Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Now driving east, I headed past Fourth of July Pass, and onto Lookout Pass. The skies were gray and not looking too good.
Just around the bend, the snow began. I was happy I had bought snow chains in Nevada. Where apparantly it's a law that you must either have snow tires or chains if you're to drive in the winter there. Just as I went around the bend, was the Chain Up Area, and I stopped and spent about 10 minutes to decided whether it was worth it.
Afterall, if I put chains on, I'm stuck going 30mph at most until I can take them off. If there's not enough snow or ice, I'll damage my tires with them, plus make for one long bumpy ride. The snow settled that, as it was coming down heavy and I put them on. By the time I had them on, the plastic case the snowchains came in, which I left lying on the side of the road next to me while I put them on, had filled up with snow.
With them on, driving up the mountain was a breeze.
And now I'm in Montana. I took the exit to stop and see what type of picture of the sign I could. Because of all the snow there recently, I didn't realize I had parked my car in the middle of an intersection at the top of the mountain. There were 6-foot high walls of snow on both sides of the road, making a long slow bend onto the overpass.
Welcome to Montana and the Mountain Time Zone.
On top of the bridge with the I-90 signs.
My poor car again.
Welcome to Montana
And the descent:
I pulled into the rest stop that was the designated Chain Removal Area and took some pictures. Given the conditions, and how icy the road still was, and how much mountainous terrain I had left, I opted to keep the chains on a little while longer.
Showing off the Big Red and Ohio State pride, even in arctic Montana
As well as my snow chain handiwork.
Back to the shots of the Rest Area
And now back on I-90 East
My poor car once again being abused
I stopped for gas in the previous photo. When you go quite a while between gas stations, you find yourself filling up as often as possible. You never know when you may need a full tank for something. Such as idling all night, which I did several times on this trip.
I stopped for some food at a truck stop/restaurant/mini-casino and started driving again to the next true 'Rest Area' to sleep for the night.
I love the last one, just because of the artistry of it. Gotta love the snow-chain bump effect.
The End