We had an easy morning, and left Bozeman at about 9:00 am.  The countryside is beautiful:

2017-09-20 01 Montana 01 River

As we drove we got to thinking; we Googled some information on our recent drives:

City                                    Elevation

Hill City, SD                      5,159′

Buffalo, WY                     4.646′

Billings, MT                     3,123′

Bozeman, MT                 4,820′

Butte, MT                        5,538′

Missoula, MT                 3,209′

We’ve been going up and down, climbing up mountains and cruising down into valleys. Out side of Butte we climbed to about 6,400′, until we saw snow on the ground next to the highway:

2017-09-20 01 Montana 02 Snow

2017-09-20 01 Montana 03 Snow

2017-09-20 01 Montana 04 Snow

The temperature read-out on the dashboard dropped down to 37 degrees… And then the windshield started getting wet, but we could not hear rain.  Yep:  Snow!

2017-09-20 01 Montana 05 Snow

2017-09-20 01 Montana 06 Snow

2017-09-20 01 Montana 07 Snow

Certainly a first for us on this trip.  (I think the last time I drove while it was snowing was on the way to Mammoth Mountain in 1982…)  Obviously, at 37 degrees, the snow was not sticking to the road, but we slowed down a bit.  It was quite a trip!

We eventually arrived in Missoula and checked into the KOA.  It is probably the nicest KOA we have stayed at.  Huge sites, lots of grass, moderate number of trees (good for satellite TV), and just around the corner from lots of suburban shopping centers, in case we need anything.  (We don’t…)

We took the advice of the folks at bisl in Bozemon; we went to The Pearl Cafe for dinner. As avante garde as bisl was last night, The Pearl is not.  Traditional French Bistro. Wonderful.

2017-09-20 01 Montana 10 The Pearl Cafe

We shared the Charcuterie plate, then we shared Bison Tenderloin. And a bottle of Gigondas…

2017-09-20 01 Montana 09 The Pearl Cafe

We asked for some lunch recommendations for tomorrow.  An enjoyable time was had by all…