Magnificent Massive Mountains of Montana

Contrary to what you may think, the last 3 or 4 hours of my 15 hour drive were exhilarating rather than tiring. I am back in the mountains, and it lifts my spirits and my interest. The mountains between Billings and Butte are big and round and rocky, but sparsely treed. It was fun to drive the hills and dales and curves.

In stark contrast, the road between Mitchell and Billings was long and tedious at best. I had SO MUCH trouble staying alert. I had to keep stopping and walking around the car, or filling up with gas, or getting something from MacDonalds or just stopping at a picnic place and closing my eyes for 10 minutes. I ate and drank coffee and listened to the radio, but I just had to stop so frequently. That, of course, made the trip even longer. When I got to Billings, I parked beside a Super 8, hooked up to their WiFi and made reservations for a motel in Butte. I actually had come to a bit by then, so I was pretty sure that the worst of the drive was over. I was right. If it had not been going to be dark soon, I wouldn't have minded tackling the next set of mountains. I'll save that for tomorrow. I have no intention of leaving while it's still dark, however, because I want to be able to see the scenery. I think I can make it home tomorrow, but if not, I'll just stop and finish the trip the next day -- whatever day that is (I'm a bit lost with respect to days and dates!)



I took a slightly different route from Rapid City to Billings. I went up through Belle Fourche. It's actually a bit shorter, but about the same time because it's only a two lane road. It wasn't busy, but at least it was a slight change of scenery. That highway runs through several Indian Reservations and consists of some foothill kind of territory. It was cold through that area. The daytime temperature today between Mitchell, SD and here in Butte ranged from 3 degrees C (That's about 37F) to 16 C (I think maybe 60F). I thought if it got much colder, the rain and fog that occurred would be snow. It stayed rainy for most of the trip.

One thing I noticed in that foothill country is that the sparse smattering of trees which were found along strips where there must be water were mostly pine trees, but nestled in among the dark green were those beautiful aspens which by now are already a gorgeous light, bright yellow. They stood out agains the other trees as well as the sage-mustard colour of the prairie. Nice.

So, I don't actually know what time it is right now either. I moved my watch back one hour, but I'm sure Butte must be in mountain time, so I'm probably still an hour ahead. I'll use up that hour in the morning I guess. I'm going to sleep in a bit as well.

One more entry tomorrow in this, the last chapter of my Summer Suzuki Saga. (Bigtime trouble getting this blog edited and published -- really bad WiFi here!)