On the Road Across America -- Day Five

 

January 2nd in Gillette, Wyoming dawned very cold and clear.  In spite of the fact it was almost 8:00 by the time we left the hotel, it was pretty dark. Our first stop of the day was STARBUCKS (no surprise there!) and our second stop was at O'Reilly's Auto Supply because the kid's car did not have chains.  We had been looking for chains for several days and were surprised that they were not that easy to find along the highway.  We discovered the Walmart does not sell chains in spite of having a large tire department!  The reason we did not have them was because they are illegal in Virginia and are not sold there.  That seems like an odd law.  I mean, you could make it illegal to use them, but it's an odd idea that no one leaves Virginia ever! No accounting for logic sometimes!  Our trip to O'Reilly's was quick and successful and we had the relief of knowing we were finally prepared for the mountain passes.  Our goal today was to get well into Montana.  One of the drawbacks of GPS is that you don't actually have to look at a map very often.  I could drive for hours without knowing what was coming because I had no idea of the topography.  I new the Rockies were between myself and home, but exactly where in Wyoming or Montana I could not remember from past trips.  But I did know that Montana is a BIG state and so we wanted and early start. 

Leaving Gillette in the morning!

The snow and the golden grass accented the amazing beauty of the wide open spaces of Wyoming! 

The roads had icy spots early but overall were clear and dry.

The day before's snowy drive from Albert Lea, MN through South Dakota and into Wyoming, brought home the need for sun glasses. I almost never use them, but I started to realize that the constant snow brightness was slowly toasting my eyeballs on the inside.   I got a great, comfortable and effective pair at the gas stop in Rapid City!  They are the best sunglasses I've ever had and they were only $16!  One of the benefits of living where it rains all the time is that sun glasses are optional!

With stop sign --

Without.  Which is more interesting? I couldn't decide.

Parkman, WY; almost to Montana

Now in the Billings, MT area.

 Greycliff

Big Timber - South of the Yellowstone (or so my phone says).  It is obviously snowing  in some places ahead.



 Livingston - a little panorama above and below.

More Livingston above and below

Seriously heading into the Rockies.  Bozeman

Bozeman area.

Coming into Butte.  We had crossed the Continental Divide which determines which ocean every little rain  drop will head towards.  Now we were seriously on our way downhill toward home!  At this point my husband was talking to the Missoula AAA rep who said that it had been snowing a little while before, but was not snowing now.  We were beginning to get info on a Weather Storm Warning.  Our hope had been to reach Missoula and it was still pretty early in the day, so we decided to go on.  Of course, we did stop and get gas and grab another Starbucks! 

So we headed off for Missoula.  A few miles down the road, we got a call back from my husband. The Missoula AAA office had called him back and let him know it was snowing hard.  It was about 114 miles to Missoula (as I recall) and since we didn't know what the terrain was like, we decided not to continue on.  There were a couple of places we could have stayed with minimal amenities. With Heeding the saying that "Discretion being the better part of valor,"  we exited the freeway on a service road and turned right back the way we had come.  What is an extra 50 miles or so (we had come about 25 toward Missoula) when we knew we had a Comfort Inn, Starbucks and a variety of restaurants in Butte.  We also had the long view -- what if the second storm front kept us here more than a day???  Yes, it is always good to have a Starbucks nearby and of course, a Comfort Inn.

At the hotel we read about a sculpture that we had passed (not close by) as we came over the pass before coming into Butte.  We read about Our Lady of the Rockies and when we looked out the window, there she was shining in the darkness.  Follow the link to get more information.  Apparently there are bus tours and a tram in the summer time.  It is also apparently the second highest statue in the US, after the Statue of Liberty. 

A little closer up, but of course it can't be seen well from so far away.

We walked across the road and ate dinner at a Perkin's Restaurant.  Both of our meals were really good, but my daughter's steak was FABULOUS!  I wished I had ordered the same thing.

Shortly after we came back to the hotel, it was snowing with enthusiasm. We went to bed (again at a wonderful Comfort Inn) we did not know whether or not we would be leaving the next day. But we knew we had made a good choice to stop and wait out the storm and to not try and make it to Missoula that night.  We traveled 461 miles on the 2nd, a little short of our goal of a 500 mile day.  However, if we added our over  20 miles each way leaving Butte and then returning to it, we did more than a 500 miles day.  After dinner and crawling into bed, we thanked God for safety and His watching care over us and went to bed with plans to sleep in.  No point in getting up early when the plows would have to be at work long before we would start our day!

On the Road Across America - Day Two

On Dec 30th, after twelve hours of fabulous sleep - maybe a personal record - we had breakfast and got ready to hit the road again. While checking out we asked about the history of Cumberland as the buildings all looked very old and close together.  The hotel concierge didn't know it's history, but noted that the large church had once been a fortress.  He didn't know what war it had played a part in, but we later learned that it had been under the control of George Washington years before the Revolutionary War. We decided to take another drive through the town just to see the buildings again in daylight.  The fortress is gone but an  Episcopal church was built on the same site long ago in 1803. There are large tunnels underneath it that had been used for food and ammunition storage while the British fortress was there, and later during the Civil War these same tunnels, now under the church, were part of the Underground Railroad for fleeing slaves. In the photo above, the church is the gray one with the tall thin steeple, I believe. The church has great historical information but they are very stingy on photographs.   If you have time to visit the link you'll find all kinds of interesting historical info! 

 Our only stop in Pennsylvania was at a rest area that not only had vending, bathrooms and a gift shop, but also had a memorial for miners! this was a large mural with a display of equipment below.

As we were leaving that rest stop, I noticed two seriously "oversize load" vehicles parked at the rest area.  This was just one of two.  Glad we were getting a head start on them.

Now came another decision!  Since we hadn't heard from Dave and Ruth Ann, we decided to see what route TomTom might suggest as we changed our course to visit relatives in Wisconsin.  When we put in the new destination, our route shifted due West across southern Ohio rather than northwest toward Cleveland.  As we drove along, we discussed past trips to visit my brother and sister-in-law  in Huber Heights, just outside Dayton.  At that time my brother had been in the Air Force and stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB.  Dayton has good memories for all of us because that is where he met his wife and the rest is history!

My daughter is seriously a two-fisted cell phone handler!  Not only does her car have USB ports, but she has all kinds of apps on her phone and mine -- so she had both phones constantly providing traffic, mileage, weather, music, games,  and information on nearby amenities all day long! 

Not for us the pioneer life of fending for ourselves and facing the unknown!  We could choose our stop for the night knowing where the local Starbucks drive-thru might be and having decided already which restaurant we wanted to visit for dinner.

It was getting later in the day when we crossed into Indiana.

This was an amazing sunset. The photo doesn't do it justice, but the center light was like a long red flame which shows up slightly better below. 

As the daylight faded away, we pulled into Lafayette, Indiana and checked into our second Comfort Inn of the trip and headed to the Cracker Barrel Restaurant across the way. The walls, as usual, were covered with all kinds of vintage photos, signs and memorabilia.  We had an old Carhartt tin advertisement on the wall above us,  and a man sitting across from us with Carhartt across his T-shirt!  We also got a call from Dave and Ruth Ann who told us that they had been out of town for several days and had gotten home to our message.  Like us, they had been in Columbus early in the day - so we had been nearly in the same place at the same time!

The Cracker Barrel fireplace was warm and inviting. And the gift shop had all sort of fun things.  Daughter got a new flannel shirt which proved to be a very wise investment for the days ahead!  And thus ended day two of our adventure.  According to Mapquest, a day of 519 miles blessed with blue skies.