As I exited the highway to drive into Great Falls, I was going across a bridge. I noticed a sign I had seen countless times at home. At first, I thought nothing of the sign since only my subconscious mind was taking it in. Then it realized the context and sounded an alarm to the conscious brain: "Hey, that sign said 'Missouri River' and this is not Missouri!". Then I realized, oh yeah, the Missouri River does start in Montana (more on that on the way to Bozeman tomorrow).

I was quite surprised at how large Great Falls seems. And I only went through one section of town. At 2:30 pm there were already traffic jams all along Tenth Street. The town does their streets like New York City -- Streets going one way and Avenues perpendicular to the Streets.

Although I did not go to see them, apparently there are four "falls" along the Missouri River near this town. Thus, the name of the town. Clever, huh. However, the town is surrounded by mostly flat country, so the falls are probably relatively short.

The hotel I stayed in was surprisingly large (seven stories) and very nice. Again, one more thing to say that Great Falls is more than a small town.