Bridge Deck Near Disaster

Skip’s entry for our travel blog.

“Uneventful”. That is what we like to experience on our travel days. Throughout this whole trip so far, we’ve been pretty much “uneventful”.

That is, until we reached the western gateway into Glacier National Park. A single road leads into the park and our RV campground reservation was a hoop and a holler beyond the railroad bridge we had to pass under.

The bold yellow caution sign said 13’6.”

Our rig height is 13’6-1/2.” YIKES!

I immediately turned the wheel to the right in order to abort the left hand turn under the bridge and pulled into a service station to assess a potential disaster. Now what?

No cell service was available…not a single bar; we were besides ourselves. Anne was nearly in tears, thinking all of her trip planning might be evaporating before our eyes.

Across the street I spotted a Visitor Center. We quickly crossed the street and raced inside, hoping to get our primary question answered before it closed in 5 minutes. How much wiggle room do we really have to get under that bridge deck? We were told six inches, maybe even a foot. That was enough for me! I told the woman that she was our angel for the day and we were going to go for it!

So, we did. Anne closed her eyes and prayed. Thankfully, we made it without our AC units getting ripped off the roof! After surviving that trauma, we settled into a lovely campsite.

Interesting side bar on this railroad bridge crossing….

This is the same rail line and bridge I crossed over in 1969 on the way to the Boy Scout National Jamboree being held at Farragut State Park near Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho. Hearing its horn blowing in the evenings has been a nostalgic experience in multiple ways.

More travel memories on the books! Our next post will come very soon with an array of pictures from Glacier. We can’t wait to share it with you!