We’ll get to Glacier in a moment; and you can see our previous visit in May on our way to Alaska.
One of the nice things about being on the road is you meet cool people.
The other day we were driving up the Going-To-The-Sun Road (hard not to in this park) and we saw a scraggly looking guy running down the road towards us. I veered left, giving him plenty of room to run, as I would have appreciated if I were running. He waved in appreciation, I waved back, and nothing more was thought about the momentary encounter.
Later that evening I was out cooking on my truck’s tailgate with a cold beer, and this scraggly looking guy happens to walk by with his friend. I said casually, “Hey, how far did you run today?” He says, “I ran 43 miles today.”
Wow, wasn’t expecting that. Well, one thing leads to another and we start talking about running and camping – and, he says, “Oh, by the way, I am running across the US like Forrest Gump! “ What?
Turns out, this guy, Rob Pope, is from Liverpool (England), and decided to run across the US like Forrest Gump! His friend Nadine, by the way, is standing there nodding like this is all normal. She is his support team. Well this scraggly young guy started his run in Mobile, AL with a Marine Corps haircut and clean face. For his run across the country, he will not shave or cut his hair until he finishes. This day, though, he looks like a homeless person.
Rob, a championship runner (won the Liverpool Rock ‘n Roll Marathon two years in a row, amongst other races), is recreating the run as characterized by Forrest Gump. He started in Mobile, AL, ran to Santa Monica peer, back across the US to Maine, and when we caught him he was at Glacier, heading west towards San Francisco. Yikes!
Rob is running to raise funds and awareness for two organizations: the World Wildlife Fund and Peace Direct. You can catch up to Rob’s story at www.goingthedistancerun.com.
How cool is that?? We showed Rob and Nadine our Airstream (he was familiar enough to know that back in the UK the best he could probably fit would be an Airstream Bambi. Anyway, we laugh and talk, and then, as quickly as he arrived, he departed.
Here’s a news clip of him from Maine:
https://www.facebook.com/wmtwtv/videos/vb.97586859210/10154620543989211/?type=2&theater
And a news clip from Nashville:
https://www.facebook.com/newschannel5/videos/vb.91345192547/10154412303327548/?type=2&theater
Or better yet, check out his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/runroblarun/
Rob is somewhere between Glacier and San Francisco right now, but wherever Rob and Nadine are, they are having fun and accumulating incredible life stories, and all for worthy causes. Run, Rob, run! I highly encourage you to follow his journey!
Back to Glacier. As you may know, this is not south Texas where those folks are being pummeled with rain and winds from Hurricane Harvey. This is Montana, which is experiencing (as is British Columbia) some incredible forest fires. From our travels, I would say the greater part of Montana is covered with smoke from these fires.
Even within Glacier National Park fire fighters are battling fires. From the base of Lake McDonald you can see where the fires are raging.
We did see a mountain goat on this trip, but the most wildlife I saw on this visit was in the lodge, hanging on the wall.
We did do a hike up to Avalanche Lake, which was really pretty.
Anyway, this is a gorgeous national park and look forward to coming back another time!