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2.25.03 Day Two
Out of the gate a little slow, 8:30. Part of out plan was to use a 7 a.m. wake up call and be out by 8.
A weird thing happened though. Dee woke up with severe leg cramps and he couldn’t walk properly. Still we took off, him a limp-along stuck behind the wheel. He was cranky and insistent. I WILL DRIVE. Men are like that.
Pop! There it is. A broken star etched on the windshield.
All of the beer and pop in the coolers froze last night. Some of the stuff in the box froze too. The morning was so harsh. The wind felt like ice knives stabbing your skin. I’ve felt this before, back home. So no biggie. We are on the move.
Back north to catch I-90 again, and only a few miles from Rapid City is the town of Sturgis. I’m sure you have heard of it. It’s the town where all of the bikers come during the summer, July I think, for a be-in or rally or something like that. The town is merely a bunch of buildings/businesses and a little campground on a swing-out from the highway. Not much happening this time of year. Not a bike to be seen.
I am driving now, zooming through the Badlands. The hills are growing closer together, multiplying like a petri-dish experiment gone wild, and we are climbing ever upward. I thought I spied my first mountain range but it just turned out to be some of the Badland hills, light blue with white tops and a dark smoky blue bottom. In Spearfish, SD, right near the border, the last seven days of Christ’s life is told on a huge outdoor stage, performed by the Black Hills Players. We missed that. We also missed Reptile Gardens and Rushmore Cave and an 1880 Ghost Town and Deadwood, the gold rush town. Maybe next time.
Welcome to Wyoming.
I am glad to report that the oilrigs are still pumping oil. It is the way Wyoming is etched in my mind, scruffy and oil-filled. It is also quite barren between Gilette and Sheridan. There is nothing but desolation. No power lines. No sign of life. Not even a bird. So much so that you can drive like a maniac and no one would know. The Interstate in WI is 65 MPH, MN is 70 MPH, and both the desert of SD and WY is 75…whoopee…you can fly!
I saw a sign that said Yellowstone and I so wanted to turn. It also said LuLu Pass! Ha! But Yellowstone is closed this time of year and LuLu, well she can be dangerous! GALLATIN NATIONAL FOREST AVALANCHE ADVISORY MONDAY, JANUARY 19TH, 1998 Yesterday, three snowmobilers were buried and killed in an avalanche near Lulu Pass, which is near Cooke City. It sounds as though two riders were helping another rider get his sled unstuck when the avalanche released. They had been "high marking" on fairly steep terrain. One of the riders was wearing an avalanche rescue beacon and was located about 30-40 minutes after being buried. The other folks were found by probing. Karl will be investigating this avalanche and will have more details on tomorrows advisory. I have received more reports of recent avalanche activity in the Big Sky area. Yesterday, the Ski Patrol released another large avalanche that was 4-5 feet deep and ran a long distance down the slope. They also reported collapsing and cracking of the snowpack, with some cracks propagating 200 feet across some smaller slopes. Skiers, near Buck Creek Ridge, triggered some avalanches, when the lower angled slopes they were on collapsed which caused the steeper slopes below them to fracture. Finally, some snowmobiliers in the same area, triggered an avalanche which was about 100 feet wide and 300 feet long. This avalanche was about 8 feet deep and partially buried a snowmobile. I just got word of another snowmobiler that was killed in an avalanche near Sage Peak, which is in the southern Madison Range. I don't have any details concerning this incident.
We stopped at the Battle of the Little Bighorn site in Garryowen. From here you can see all of the famous locations where Custer was last seen alive, Major Reno’s hilltop defense site, Weir Point, Last Stand Hill, Medicine Tail Coulee, the Crow’s Nest, and the Wolf Mountains. For the most part though this is flat land. Dee told me a story about one of Custer’s men warning the Colonel about his long blonde hair. “It will make you any easy target.” Custer refused to cut it or die it. When they found his corpse he had been scalped. His hair never turned up.
This is also part of the trail of Lewis & Clark. You will go over the Clark River many, many, at least 15 times. It is a shallow rocky river. Most likely they had to forge it. I so love Ken Burn’s Corps of Discovery film. I know it’s a romantized version. Still I liked it so much I bought the video. I will watch it when I get home. Now everything will be put into perspective.
I drove through the Bitterroot Mountains, an easy go. This is mostly National Forest land, very wooded and lush.
When we stopped for gas I went into the attached Arby’s and ordered up a French dip (cut in half) and potato cakes. This is my little surprise for us. Dee was sitting in the truck a bit pissed. “Where did I go?” The staff was new and slooooooooow. I move the truck away from the pumps and somehow I ended up in the Arby drive-thru. I am stuck behind a man who is ordering food. It took so long I ate my portion of the food right there, balancing a Styrofoam cup of au jus on my knee. It was terrible, even somewhat hilarous. Oh well.
By the time we reach Butte I am very tired of driving. Chain up! We have no chains. We are from the land of heavy SALT. Going through the mountains was a bit treacherous. I see a sign that says RUNAWAY TRUCK RAMP. Why am I driving?
The road is extremely curvy and where the rock formations on either side of the road are vertical there are dangerous ice patches. The sun couldn't reach in there during the high noon and melt it. So when I go to pass it is like a prayer...please don't make me spin out into the vehicle I am passing. Most of the time that vehicle is a semi. I used up a LOT of prayers.
If we can reach Missoula, Montana tonight we can reach Seattle tomorrow! So Dee takes over. I think he is feeling better. Or perhaps he is fueled by anger.
It is a big starry night, inky black with glitter dust. I can see the outline of the hills. All throughout Montana everyone has a big neon vapor farm light by his or her house. Montana loves lights and it looks good too! They write the initial of the towns up on one of the large hills. I think they use white-painted boulders. Looks charming.
It is late by the time we reach Missoula. We took a room in an old-school motel. It is a 1950s honeymoon cottage. The walls are knotty pine, the desk is made of twigs, and a sweet traveler poem is framed on the wall. Although there is a terrific looking pizzeria next door, we opt for grab-n-go at Mickey D’s.
We were asleep ten minutes later.
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Did I tell you that Dee wasn’t that interested in going on this trip? It’s true. He thought the war would start and gas would skyrocket to $7.00 a gallon and we would never get home to the Midwest. I am happy to report no war yet, at least that is according to our nightly in-motel viewing of CNN, and gas is actually cheaper here than around Chicagoland…$160.9 at our last stop in Butte, so we are good.
Word for the Day: Desolation
End Destination: Missoula, MT
Total Miles: 700
