70.0 Foxes?

When we stop at a petrol station in the UK it is usually just for petrol. When travelling we are open to the idea that there might be coffee, or, certainly in the case of Argentina, more available. Argentina was empanadas fundamentally but Australia was a Magnum ice cream. Here, in North America, there is often ridiculously coloured drinks and obesity inducing snacks available. But you can also buy water and maybe other necessities needed on those long car journeys - things are farther apart here. However, in Montana, most petrol stations also allow you to roll the dice, draw a card or choose a number at a sister establishment adjoining the petrol station such as 'Lucky Lil's' or 'The Back Room'. We limited ourselves to petrol...

Not only were there Nuttall's Mintoes when we were young but also Foxes Glacier Mints - 'as cool as ice' with the Polar Bear stood on top. We should have thought of this when we went to our latest National Park, Glacier. Glacier, ice, cool. The temperature has dropped. It's not quite Fahrenheit for Centigrade but we have dug out some warmer clothing from the bottom of our panniers and even donned our windproof rain jackets. We have 'chilled'. Unfortunately, Glacier isn't as Glacier as it once was 100 years ago, with only five or six glaciers existing in the Park now from the hundreds that existed then. Will the Park even change its name in 2030 when they are all estimated to have disappeared?

The road through the Park also has a name, the 'Going to the Sun' road. We had 'sun' and rode it twice, looking for glaciers and dodging the vintage styled red buses shuttling tourists across the park. Unlike the red buses, of which we saw many, we didn't see any glaciers.

One of the bizarre things about the park is that not only does it straddle an international boundary but there is an Immigration and Customs post within the park where the road crosses the boundary. There is also a lake that straddles the border - if you cross on a canoe do you have to show a passport? Do fishery laws apply here? - after all, that might be a Canadian fish being reeled in by an American angler? The border crossing was unbelievably relaxed. We were not even allowed to check out so, unless the Canadians have told the Americans we are now in Canada, the Americans still think we are in the USA? Or, is the system far more intelligent than we think, and all Immigration computers throughout the world talk to each other automatically, countries therefore knowing who is in there and who has left? Experiences elsewhere suggest to us that this might not be the case.

Having entered Canada, the Park changes its name from Glacier to Waterton Lakes. Maybe the Canadians glaciers melted first and they have already implemented an appropriate name change in function? With a dramatic choice of either very black clouds over the lakes and park or bright blue sky to the East, we rode east and saved the park entrance fee. Our magic card doesn't work in Canada.