Day 2: Billings to Edmonton: Left Billings at 6am, knew I had a long day ahead, so I pointed the car north early. My drive was due North – there was a faster route proposed by my GPS, but I wanted to go through Havre Montana on my way to Canada. Last year I drove back from Colorado to Boston, via Glacier National Park in Western Montana. Havre was my stop for the night after Glacier National Park, and I really liked the little railroad town. Also, the border crossing I had selected was just outside of Havre and I had put that border crossing in my Arrive Canada App 72 hours ahead of time, as required. I didn’t want to start changing my border crossing location, fearing that it would cause a problem when I crossed.

The border crossing was smooth, the officer didn’t even look at my Arrive Canada App, just took my passport and asked me a few questions and I was free to continue. I suppose the questions on the App and my downloaded vaccination card was all tied to my passport. Right before I crossed the border, I lost cell service. I figured the loss of cell service was related to the remoteness of the location. I headed to the next big town – Medicine Hat – where I figured it would kick in again.  When I got to Medicine Hat, still no coverage, but I used WIFI at a McDonalds to plug in directions to my next stop Fort Macleod.

 

My tourist stop of the day was Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump outside of Fort Macleod. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage site and it did not disappoint. The center told the story of the plains Indians in the area and showed how they used the territory to heard the buffalo into a stampede, off a cliff. The tribe then could harvest all the Buffalo they needed for the coming winter.  The center was well done, with incredible views of the plains, a good short movie and exhibits.

 

With my GPS issues, my selection of border crossings and my desire to make it to Edmonton, it was a long day, I didn’t pull into the hotel until 9 pm. Turns out I fixed my GPS issue by turning the phone off and on. Even with the long day, the drive did not disappoint, beautiful vista’s, good roads and no traffic, except for construction in Edmonton, so a good day on the road.

Book of the Day: Still Lee Child's Reacher

Beer of the Day: Summit Seeker - Banded Peak Brewing

Song of the Day: I've used this before, but Badlands by Bruce Springsteen. It came on as I was driving through the Montana Badlands.