[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by jad03060

I did European delivery of my first BMW (2011), then had it redelivered at the PDC. I wonder if BMW will restart the Euro delivery program ever again for US customers...the dealers liked it as they could sell any vehicle made there, but it did not come out of their allocations, but counted towards their volume. BMW offered a fixed factory discount, and you could get discounted Lufthansa airfare. It included shipping with drop-off in most countries, registration, and 2-weeks of insurance.

Supposedly, the European Delivery program is gone for good. I guess you never know what might happen in the future. I do wish I had been able to take advantage of ED while it was going. But I did take delivery of 3 Bimmers while stationed in Germany, which was sweet. Just didn't get the full experience of the factory and such.

Originally Posted by BoeingA350

Hi Wild Blue.

From what I understand, this is just what the non M Sport steering wheels are like. I have a 2021 F40 116d (in the UK) - the leather looks exactly like the one in your X5 and feels how you described it. On my 2021 730d M Sport, the M Sport leather is the exact same as in your X7.

Even in the pre-facelift G11 7 Series (which I had around 2016) had the same 'rougher' leather on the non M Sport steering wheel. Honestly, I quite liked it in the sense that it's less prone to becoming shiny and sticky, but I understand what you mean.

I've also driven 5/7 Series loan cars with horrifically shiny and greasy M Sport wheels with only about 60,000 miles on them. Supple leather and sweaty hands don't match .

I hear ya. If nothing else, I agree that this X5 steering wheel seems more rugged, to hold up over time.

I loved the slightly squishy alcantara steering wheel in my 2004 330i ZHP. But alcantara did show wear over time, being such an often-touched object.

[snowbimmer]

Hey, Wild Blue.......awesome reporting as usual. I just went thru Arches on the 3rd (last day for timed entries). I got the last 11-noon slot. Funny how your pictures look just like mine.

Two things if you have time: Drive up the Colorado River east of Moab. Wow. You only have to go about 15 miles. A fabulous little freebie. Also, the view at the end of Dead Horse State Park is spectacular. You can look over to Canyonlands. Top pic is at Dead Horse.

[Wild Blue]

Day 40:
Moab, Utah, Capitol Reef National Park, to Salt Lake City, Utah
Total Miles: 7,223

Last year's X7 PCD Road trip took me to Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. Was just amazing. If you want to read, it's all IN THIS THREAD HERE.

Yesterday, I did Arches and Canyonlands National Park. So today, I'm going to finish out the "Mighty 5" Utah National Parks, with Capitol Reef. It's the least popular and attended of the 5 parks. But (spoiler), boy did I enjoy it. Beautiful, and quite fun drives.





After leaving Moab heading north, my route took me west on I-70 for several miles.

This is familiar territory to me, as I-70 is what I took on this road trip, from Louisville, Kentucky, to Colorado. And since I grew up in Colorado, I-70 was a much used highway, including traveling west to Las Vegas or California. Familiar sight of the rolling dirt mounds there.





Then after getting off I-70, the first part of the Utah state highway 24 looks a lot like this.

Come on, Utah, you're just daring me with roads like that. You really expect me to keep it at 65 mph?





But then the terrain changes. A lot. This is just a starting tease.

















Hwy 24 takes you to, and through, the northern part of the park.

















Dramatic soils, rocks, vistas, and bluffs all throughout the park. These shots are just on Hwy 24 in the north. And on this rock face, are old Native American petroglyphs. Can you see them there at the very bottom of the rock?

Let me zoom in.





Look to the left and right of the rock chunk that has fallen (or been chiseled) out of the rock face.

See the petroglyphs?





Then nearing the visitor's center, where you can turn to plunge into the park, is the Fruita Orchard region. Different look. You can even go pick fruit if you like.





Old Fruita farming collective schoolhouse.

You know, back in MY day, I walked to this thing barefoot, through 10 miles of deep snow, uphill both ways.





Starting down the Scenic Drive (accurately named) from the visitor's center, the whole look changes again, and it's beautiful. Rich, dramatic Southwest.








Now there's a sign you don't see every day.

From there, on, it was out into the Southwest desert, leaving civilization behind. I'll just throw out my usual plethora of pictures.
































In addition to the paved Scenic Drive road, there were three offshooting back country dirt roads, that were worth every bit of extra time to drive down.

Unlike the dirt trails I took at the Grand Canyon North Rim, and Arches National Park, these dirt roads were maintained and grated, which was great. (no pun intended). It made for a quite fun and enjoyable ride, focusing on the massive rocks surrounding me.





Cool old broken down homestead, way down one of the roads. You can go explore even further into Capitol Reef, with lots of offroad trails, but it requires some 4-wheeling dedication.

Sorry this pic didn't turn out too well. Been having lots of sun on this trip, which is great. But if it happens to be in front of you, and not on your back, when you're taking a picture, shadows don't turn out that great.





Oh, she's a dirty girl. She needs more baths on this trip than I do!














Pretty cool, when you look up through your sunroof, and this is what you see.





Came across this group that just got done rock face climbing. Pretty darn cool.











And that was it for Capitol Reef. Time to head north towards my next destinations, in Wyoming. Will be stopping for the night in Salt Lake City.

You know, with Capitol Reef being the least popular of the "Mighty 5", I wasn't expecting much. But it's just as spectacular as the other 4, with a different feel to it.

And I had a ton of fun in there, with nice drives, and dramatic views all around while playing in the X5. I only wish I had more time to do the Capitol Reef back roads.





Still more beauty, even outside the park.





Went through lots of small towns, working my way across the Utah countryside. Each one of the towns had a new Mormon temple, which was the biggest building in town.





Pretty Utah sunset, outside of Provo.





Now this is kind of different. The Hyatt Place in Salt Lake City/Farmington is in a shopping and entertainment complex.








The view out my room window is nice.

I guess if I need to buy a Build-A-Bear first thing in the morning, after breakfast, I'm primely placed.

Tomorrow, we're going to transition from the beautiful Southwest USA, to more of the American Wild West. Weather forecast says we're in for more treats!

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by snowbimmer

Hey, Wild Blue.......awesome reporting as usual. I just went thru Arches on the 3rd (last day for timed entries). I got the last 11-noon slot. Funny how your pictures look just like mine.

Two things if you have time: Drive up the Colorado River east of Moab. Wow. You only have to go about 15 miles. A fabulous little freebie. Also, the view at the end of Dead Horse State Park is spectacular. You can look over to Canyonlands. Top pic is at Dead Horse.

Ah, poo. I just left Moab this morning, and bypassed both of those to get to Capitol Reef. Too bad--that would have been a nice addition. Thanks though!

[P1]

Pretty damn impressed by what you put the stock X5 through to get to Point Sublime.

[jad03060]

Most people never take their X5 off of a graded road, but if you're willing to get it dirty, and maybe scratch things up a bit, it is far more capable than most people think, especially if you consider putting tires better suited for the conditions. Driving skill and experience helps, but that does on the road as well.

Yes, there are better vehicles for serious technical off-roading, but the X5 is pretty good for what it is.

[Wild Blue]

Day 41:
Salt Lake City, Utah, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Total Miles: 7,603

I'm actually posting this on day 42. As you'll see, when I said that today we'd be transitioning into the Wild West, I meant it. Limited cell phone service in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, and even the awesome hotel I stayed at in Yellowstone did not not have any internet.

While I apologize for going dark for a couple days, it was nice to have an excuse to unplug for a bit. Lots of beauty to show!

I'll catch back up to live posting soon. Probably tomorrow.





View in the morning out my window.





Good looking brother in the parking lot





She's freshly washed, and ready to dive into the Wild, Wild, West





More pretty terrain on the way out of town. I-15 brought me into Salt Lake City last night, and will be taking me out as well, for most of the northward travel, before turning east into Wyoming and the parks.





And even more pretty mountains on the way.








.... and then, interestingly enough, about 30 minutes after crossing over the border into Idaho, the X5 pulled a map update, for the new region we had entered of the northwest USA.

That was fast!

And note that it retained the previous area as well. I'll watch and see how long the X5 retains that, before dumping. I've only seen one area detail file at a time before





Wyoming's state border sign was looking a little jenky.





Coming over the pass, lots of fun mountain driving





Not the Tetons yet, but starting to look really pretty.











Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is a kitchy Western town. Popular with the rich and celebrities.

Again, I love old movie theaters. That last pizza joint there has to be in a old theater, judging from that marquee.





As a former Air Force pilot, the Jackson Hole airport is a quite significant place. In 1996, a C-130 transport that was on a support mission for President Clinton's vacation trip to Jackson Hole, crashed into some of the steep terrain surrounding the airport. Everyone died, and the aircraft was completely destroyed.

That crash made a major, major change in the way that Air Force crews plan departures from airfields. Aircraft climb performance is a very hugely significant issue after takeoff, to make sure that the aircraft is guaranteed to clear all terrain as it climbs, even if a major emergency happens with an engine failure.





Speaking of, while driving along the mountains to the Tetons, this guy was on approach south to the Jackson Hole airport. Lots of business-type aircraft like Gulfstreams from the rich and famous.





You can get the basic feel for the Grand Tetons while driving on the public highway past the range. But going inside the park gives much better views.

As I enter the park, the sun is getting low in the sky, dipping behind the mountains early.








Pretty early evening view of Jenny Lake, inside the park.








I decided it wasn't okay just seeing the Grand Tetons like this, beautiful, but only backlit in the evening. So I'm going to take an extra day tomorrow and come back to the Tetons in the morning, in addition to Yellowstone.








Drove up to the summit of Signal Mountain, to watch the actual sunset. Cast a beautiful red across the plains to the east.





Beauty to the west.








Dusk beauty on the way over to Yellowstone.





And some dusk wildlife. Deer I think?





Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks are only 20 miles apart, and it's awesome to do both. But the driving can be deceiving, with winding little roads, and needing to drive deep into Yellowstone Park after entry.

So it was quite dark when I got there.

Took a video of the anti-dazzle matrix headlights operating while driving in the dark dark of Yellowstone. Again, even though the NHTSA has FINALLY approved anti-dazzle technology for USA vehicles, at present it still has to be coded, to be enabled on BMW's.

Sorry for the audio there... was listening to a SiriusXM comedy channel, didn't think it'd come through.

Note how when a vehicle comes up, the headlights will dim in that direction, then go back to auto full bright after they pass.

Now, this X5 has LED headlights, not laser. With laser lights on my X7, anti-dazzle will actually create a dimmed cone around the vehicle in front of me, whether coming towards me, or facing away. Everything else around that vehicle stays full bright.

So the LED headlights don't implement anti-dazzle quite the same, or quite as well, as laser headlights, but still better than not having anti-dazzle. Better than non-enabled, automatic headlights that only go from bright to dim.

Here, in this video, you can see the headlights shifting, and toeing in and out.





I stayed the night inside the park, at the Old Faithful Inn. This place is awesome. Built in 1903, it's the largest log structure in the world.

I'm catching the very end of the season here. This is the last night the Inn is open for the year, and will be shutting down tomorrow, for the winter. I had planned out my road trip to be here today, so starting tomorrow, I'll have more flexibility!

Look on the far, far left edge of that picture, and you'll actually see the Old Faithful geyser steaming there.

I'll show more exterior pictures tomorrow when the sun's up.





The front doors of the Inn.





I'm immediately taken by the view as I enter the hotel lobby. And on the 2nd floor, is a violinist, playing the main theme music from the movie "Last of the Mohicans". Love the movie. Owned the soundtrack since the movie came out in 1992. I wonder if anybody else recognized what the music was from.

And IMHO, Daniel Day-Lewis is the greatest actor of all time.

Change my mind.














Absolutely amazing. Never seen anything like it. This log structure lobby is 6+ stories, all by itself, with these Hogwarts-like stairs wrapping around, up to the "Crow's Nest".





Time for a late dinner I reserved in the dining room.





Nice buffet. Prime Rib was a little dry. Salmon a little mushy, but tasty. Got a 2016 Sangiovese from Washington State. The wine was definitely the best part of the meal.

All the staff were rather giddy, celebrating their "Last Supper" of the season, shutting things down.





Even the railings throughout the hotel were decorative, with burled wood. Some real craftmanship throughout, and well-sourced wood.








Oh heck yes. Got a room in the "Old House" section of the hotel. Love the look, decor, and ambience. Old school.

No bathroom in the room, just an old school sink.





Even the room door latch is heavy duty wrought iron.





As often found in Europe, there are shared communal bathrooms and showers in each hallway.

Sorry for so many dark and backlit pictures today, taken in the late afternoon. Will be going back to Grand Tetons in the morning, for better views, and better light.

Enjoying the Wild West. More to come!

[jad03060]

The map version, when it downloads, does not immediately overwrite the original data. It will ask you if it's okay while you're moving, otherwise, it will do it after you stop. It's likely the original version will be gone when you start up again, but it might ask you if it's okay when you first start it up to swap.

[loudsnorelax]

Blue your video of your headlights looks exactly the same as my "High Beam Assist" option that's in my LED lights on my vehicle. Did you not have that before?

If so - do you really notice that much of a difference that what you already had?

[Flying Ace]

Yep, I had to adjust to the communal bathroom at Old Faithful Inn. It was pleasantly clean and nice.

I didn't do the buffet, but the cafeteria food at the Inn is pretty good. I enjoyed the buffalo chili as I recall

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by loudsnorelax

Blue your video of your headlights looks exactly the same as my "High Beam Assist" option that's in my LED lights on my vehicle. Did you not have that before?

If so - do you really notice that much of a difference that what you already had?

Yeah, I thought that might generate some good discussion. Let me come back to that tomorrow.

[Wild Blue]

Day 42:
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, to Bozeman, Montana
Total Miles: 7,983

I couldn't leave Grand Teton unfinished in that way from yesterday, with all evening lighting, so I had to go back today, in addition to drinking in the firehose beauty and wonder of Yellowstone.








Waking up early, I got some daytime interior shots of the Old Faithful Inn, as I checked out. No less impressive in the day.

The staff was starting to shut down the hotel, with rumblings of "so... when are you going to kick out the rest of the tourists?" Lol.





The exterior of the Inn is also astounding, even in the early morning light. How such a large structure could be made with logs, and still be structurally sound today. I'm sure they've done significant renovations over the years.





Notice the Old Faithful geyser steaming just to the left of the Inn. I decided to sit and wait a few minutes until the next geyser eruption.





And there she blows!





The Continental Divide is a significant geographical line, that weaves down the Rocky Mountains in North America. West of the Divide, all rivers eventually flow into the Pacific Ocean. East of the Divide, they all flow into the Atlantic, to include the Gulf of Mexico.

On this trip, I've already been back and forth across the Continental Divide maybe 6-7 times, as my route has woven across the Rocky Mountain region. I'll be crossing it several more times over the next week.





Ah... much better lighting on the mountains, visiting Grand Teton in the morning. And I keep having absolutely great weather on this trip. I hope it keeps up!








The commonly photographed Mouton barns with the Grand Tetons, with the addition of the X5 thrown in. Not as pristine as professional photos taken of those scenes, particularly with the shadows at the moment I was there. Oh well.








Totally killer mountains. That second shot was taken from "Glacier View". I'll be visiting Glacier National Park in the next couple days, that will likely put that little glacier to shame.








Not as cool as that mega offroad RV I saw in Canyonlands NP, but this one was pretty bad-ass too.








Back to Yellowstone. Much of the drive through the park (and there's a LOT of driving) looks like this, going through the thick mountain forests.

Yellowstone was the first US National Park. And it's a great one. Full of forests, and rivers, and lakes, and canyons, and wildlife, and mountains, and hot springs, and geysers. Tons of nature to experience in many different ways.

Yellowstone is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, of being established as a National Park!





One of the first scenic river valley views, coming in from the south park entrance. (no, not THAT South Park)





Some MAJOR construction projects going on in Yellowstone. This summer, the park experienced extreme floods, that washed away entire bridges and roads. The entire park shut down briefly. And several park entrances, including the north and northeast entrances, are still closed, for major construction.

So there were a few points in the park, where you had to wait for many minutes, during temporary one-lane construction roads, and/or waiting for guide cars.








So, if you have to sit and wait, with no cell service, and if you're not in an area with a scenic view, whatcha gonna do? Might as well sit back and put a good movie on the video screen, lol.

I do have to say, the 20th Century Fox intro, and opening John Williams Star Wars fanfare, is FANTASTIC on BMW sound systems, even the base system I have here.

Will there ever be a better opening to a movie?























There are lots of geothermal spots around Yellowstone, including multiple geysers, hot springs, and bubbling acidic ponds like this. Quite a strong egg smell of burning sulfur around these.





Care to take a drink? (hint: the answer is NO)














Lots of different views, up and down the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone", on both sides of the river.
































Just some of the amazing wildlife around the park. That last bison on the road, that other car and I sat for some time, giving him lots of space wondering if he'd wander off. But he wasn't going anywhere. So each of us eventually verrrrrrrry carefully snuck past, on the opposite side of the road, careful not to poke the beast.

You leave wildlife alone, in general. But there's some species you need to have EXTRA respect for. You don't mess with moose. You don't mess with bear. And you don't mess around with bison. Those guys can MESS you up, if you aren't extra careful.








I just love these views, climbing up the mountains on the east side of the park. There's something about these spacious, wide open landscape views of the forests and mountains, that really soothes me.

I can sit and just drink it in for many minutes. Quiet. Peaceful. Nature.

This is the America I love.

















I kept driving the park until the sun set, seeing the northern section during the "Golden Hour".

Unfortunately, both COVID and the floods this summer have really impacted the park. Lots of facility and area closures, including the entire town of Mammoth Hot Springs in the Northwest corner of the park.

Because the Old Faithful Inn closed for the season today, all these other lodges are closed, and even the north entrance was closed, I had to exit the park from the west entrance. It was dark, and getting late, but I decided to drive North to the next major city, of Bozeman, Montana.

Kind of a bummer that I had to do extra driving and double back, since the north entrance was closed. Added an extra hour to my driving day. Oh well. Still another amazing day.





For some reason, there are no Hyatt hotels in the entire state of Montana. So I stayed at the Hampton Inn, in Bozeman. Not a fan of the red carpet, but I just needed to crash for the night.

Tomorrow, we keep heading north, seeing more of Montana, the Rocky Mountains, and National Parks!

[Aziego]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

Yeah, I thought that might generate some good discussion. Let me come back to that tomorrow.

I posted in another thread that my adaptive LED behave the same after coding for antidazzle. I see the low beam split and create a very minor tunnel, all with the low beams but the high beams never turn on for the tunnel. It looks like the high beam is not motorized so it is not used in the anit dazzle feature. I do think it helps the driver of the oncoming traffic but as far as helping us as the driver I think it is a failure. I am thinking of removing it.

[zzang2gee]

Wow.. ty for all these pictures and posts, i felt like i was actually in a trip. Awesome!!

[loudsnorelax]

Originally Posted by Aziego

I posted in another thread that my adaptive LED behave the same after coding for antidazzle. I see the low beam split and create a very minor tunnel, all with the low beams but the high beams never turn on for the tunnel. It looks like the high beam is not motorized so it is not used in the anit dazzle feature. I do think it helps the driver of the oncoming traffic but as far as helping us as the driver I think it is a failure. I am thinking of removing it.

That's what I'm afraid of. I was hopeful that the "regular" led lights behaved similarly to the lazer lights, but just without the impressive reach those lights have.

Also - laser lights do not seem to be available on the majority of any new BMWs right now.

[chayden2005]

It is amazing what is out there. I've traveled a lot of these same roads but haven't had the time to enjoy what is along the route. Getting from "Point A" to "Point B" was usually the order of the day.
Thanks for all the work posting your adventures and letting us travel vicariously through you.

[Wild Blue]

Day 43:
Bozeman, Montana, Glacier National Park, to Browning, Montana
Total Miles: 8,304

The last thing I really had any sort of soft deadline for, was my reservation at the Old Faithful Inn, in Yellowstone National Park, the final night of their season before they shut down for the winter. So my travel plan is a little looser now, for me to adapt the remainder of the trip.

My next plan was to go through Glacier National Park, cross the Canadian border, and then go up to Calgary, Alberta. Since I ended up in Bozeman, Montana, last night, that was going to be a 500+ mile day, not even counting sightseeing in Glacier National Park, and any delays with crossing the border.

I've enjoyed my time in Glacier many years ago, so instead of pushing it, risking late afternoon lighting throughout the park, and wanting to give extra time for the border, I decided to make it a positioning day.

Bozeman and Helena, Montana, are the last significant USA cities I'll be going through, before crossing the Canadian border. So I took some time today to stock up on supplies and such. I'll be able to get some in Calgary too, before going way off-grid on the Alcan Highway to Alaska. But I wanted to use the USA time today, too.





Hey, whaddya know. From Bozeman, my route took me West a little bit on I-90. The significance here is, the pre-PCD road trip I took, on pages 1-2 of this journal, to get to the BMW factory, included I-90 right through this same stretch of Montana. Just headed in the opposite direction. We're doubling back now!





This is a common sight in many small towns through central Montana, with grain silos and processing structures.





Okay, this was interesting, popping up a couple hours into the drive. This is now the 2nd Northwest USA map detail file update I've received in the last three days.





Also interesting, I was on the northwest region 2022-2. This update said 2022-3 was available to be installed with a navigation restart, but then gave me 2022-4. So be it.








And hey, now we're back on our friend I-15 for a bit, the same highway that took us north through Salt Lake City.

There was a good time period, when Montana didn't have any posted speed limits on major interstates, leaving it up to drivers to decide a "reasonable and prudent" speed. However, it seems we always get good stuff like that taken away from us, so today, the top speed is 80 mph.





You guys may laugh. But there's certain things that are tough to get in Alaska, often having to do with shipping. Some companies will only use UPS ground or something for shipping, which can work great in the lower 48. But for Alaskans, the shipping would be more than the cost of the item itself, and it's just not worth it.

For BBQ afficianados, what pellets you use in a pellet smoker grill is a big discussion topic, with some brands using wood fillers, oils, and more. It's tough to discern which brands are best, and even harder to find good brands that can be bought in Alaska.

Lumberjack pellets are known to be the pure woods of each wood type sold, and I've had good results with samples I've tried. But you can't get them in Alaska without paying a boatload of shipping. So I loaded up on lots of bags at a Montana dealer in Helena. I can actually feel the additional multiple hundreds of pounds of weight in the car, while driving now, lol.








Some pretty canyon driving, and then a lot of north-central Montana looks like this, with farms and cattle ranches.





Hmmm... is this farmer advertising? Or saying to "stop meth"? Interesting way to make your statement.





So this is an interesting new feature that has been added to iDrive 7. My 2021 X7 doesn't even have this, although I'm interested whether it will be added in a software update, which seems entirely possible.

Previously, I had never touched the "SET" button on the cruise control area of the steering wheel. That button will set the cruise control speed to exactly the current road speed limit that the car is sensing.

So this new feature adds the ability to adjust the speed limit setting to a user-defined "delta". I set the primary delta to +10, which means that if I hit the SET button, it will automatically adjust my cruise control speed to 10 mph over the sensed road speed limit.

But Seth, my PCD delivery specialist, also pointed out it addresses a primary concern of mine. Going 75 mph in a 65 zone is one thing. But that same delta would be much larger, say going 30 mph in a 20 zone. So on the same screen, it lets you set a separate delta, for speed limits below 40 mph.

I played with this, throughout the Montana countryside, and it actually worked great! The cruise control jumped right to what I specified, just by pushing the "SET" button, and it particularly worked well, when the state highway went through a small town, where the speed limit dropped to 35 mph or whatever. The two delta settings worked like a charm.

Two notes: first, when you've used the "SET" button, the cruise control doesn't automatically change when the posted speed limit changes after that. You have to visually notice, and either manually adjust, or hit the "SET" button again, each time the posted speed limit changes.

Second, the car sometimes doesn't read the correct speed limit from signs, whether it reads a sign from another road, or misses one that is blocked by another vehicle as you drive by. This is one of the big reasons I don't use the "SET" button. Plus, those who have read my journals know I'm big about controlling the car, and not over-relying on automation.





Love it! And it's for sale! If I lived way out here in nowhere, Montana, I'd totally buy this.





Approaching the Rocky Mountains again, and Glacier National Park, the sun started dipping behind the mountains.

I could have just gotten a hotel room and left the whole park for the next day. But I figured I might as well take advantage, and try to watch the sun set inside the park.

Plus, on the east side of the park (I won't have time to drive all the way around to the west side), there are three separate entrances, with no connection inside the park between them. By knocking out the southern-most of the east entrances, I can focus on the other two tomorrow.








Tons of absolutely gorgeous aspen trees, that are common to the Rocky Mountains, and that we've seen all up and down the Rocky Mountain range through the country.








Wasn't sure how much I'd be able to see, with it getting dark and lots of shadows on the pretty mountains.











And then... WOW. This area of the park ended at a lake, with these beautiful mountain sunset views. Totally made for a great end of the day.

From there, it got real dark, and it was time to find a place to crash for the night.








Well... it didn't work out so good. The past 42 days on this trip, I've had planned out, with hotels reserved ahead of time.

Because I wasn't quite sure where I'd be today at sunset, I thought I'd have a spontaneous day, and figure it out on the fly. Unfortunately, lodging spot after spot was boarded up and closed, near this southern park entrance. I don't know if this is just yet another COVID thing, or because it's late in the season.

So I doubled back to the nearest town that was a little larger, Browning, Montana. Thought I'd be good at a casino hotel, but they were sold out. The only other motel in the town was the "Going to the Sun Inn".

Not good signs, when I had to call a phone number posted on the office, for someone to come down. Bizarre when the clerk said "we don't give out room keys anymore, because people have been stealing them, and then staying in the rooms when they're not supposed to".

But I didn't have much choice. I didn't want to drive 45 minutes or more, in the wrong direction away from the park, and then have to drive that extra bit back tomorrow.

Not a great room. Spent the night a little nervous whether the X5 was safe. But did get some sleep, ready for Glacier National Park and Canada tomorrow!

Not going to do that trashy motel again. Not recommended.

[jad03060]

Since you're going (through?) Calgary, are you planning on visiting Banf national park? The Icefields highway has some really pretty lakes. The rock powder from the glaciers makes them a neat turquois blue.

[altern8]

how does one play videos on their X5 display?

[jad03060]

In the USA, while in park, if you have a video on a USB drive, it can be watched. It's illegal in most (all?) US states watch video while the vehicle is in motion, but it is enabled in some countries, so some people have coded their vehicle to enable it. IOW, the hardware supports it.

I don't know if Apple car play might also enable that.

[bmwakmg]

Originally Posted by altern8

how does one play videos on their X5 display?

Screen mirroring feature - when vehicle is parked with an Android phone.

[lknbimmers]

Originally Posted by altern8

how does one play videos on their X5 display?

Have Video in Motion coded