We left Vancouver on Wednesday and drove over the border into Washington. It was over 40°C, and there was no way we could have slept in the van in that heat. So we booked a motel in Connell. The motel was right across from a trailer park and looked exactly like the typical motels we only knew from movies. We were surprised at how nice our room was. We spent the entire afternoon in our room, grateful for the AC.
The following two days were also too hot to do anything. We drove through the Palouse region in Washington, which was beautiful, and then we went through Idaho back to Montana.
The receptionist at the motel in Libby gave us two free tickets to see the Kootenai River Stampede in Libby that evening. It’s the biggest event of the year. The rodeo was fun, definitely more fun than the drag race! A man next to us was talking swiss german to his son, so we asked him where in Switzerland he was from. It turned out he wasn’t Swiss but Amish. Where he grew up, everyone spoke swiss german. We had no idea. Another small highlight of the evening was when a clown threw free merch to the audience, and Vinz caught a hat. A perfect souvenir!
Today we are leaving Libby and driving to Glacier National Park. Tomorrow morning we will have to get up at 5 am and stand in line for a first-come, first-serve site at a campground.