Day 2, September 10, 2011

 

Made it to Wyoming, but would still be in Montana if I had not swung south.

before Wyoming,  the cattle trucks in Billings ready to go

Red pavement once in Wyoming!


Sorry, will post more pics later. Internet free here at the Motel 6 in Gillette City, Wyoming, but not steady. . .

Day two, September 10, 2011

I must write at the end of every day, because I can barely remember the beginning of it when I cover so many miles. And here I am, in a Motel 6 with city trappings and an A/C, and it seems surreal that I traversed the big wide west from Bozeman, MT to Gillette, WY.  But I did. We did, Yoko and I.

I actually stayed in Belgrade, MT, which is near Bozeman.  Had a very comfortable bed with very smooth cotton sheets at the Quality Inn, but I woke up dozens of times. Too tired, I guess, to sleep. Yoko snored.

When I left, I headed for Livingstone, and pulled in to town off the Interstate. I had heard that this town is a place where writers go to write. And I suppose they do.  I like the views on the outskirts of town, and the town itself seems a little quiet. I like a town to be rip roaring busy, and the country to be quiet. So if I am going to write in a town, it must be very busy. Livingstone was not busy this morning. But, it was a nice town. I got back on the road.

I love the big spaces, I love to drive. I am having a hard time walking right now, so driving is something I can do well. As soon as I get to New England, have to see my prosthesis guy for some adjustments. But sitting on my butt and driving and cruise control on the speed limit (75 mph) and snapping pictures blindly out the windows to see what I’ll get. . . I can do that.

Billings is industrial and important, but not pretty. Forgive me, I did not stop to take pictures. I shot one picture and that is of a yard full of stock trucks. . . the trucks that haul cattle. Your future hamburgers. More on that later.  The Yellowstone River ran beside the highway for quite awhile, so beautiful.

Soon I headed south into Custer country, the reservation of the Crow. Zoomed by all the hills and valleys where Indian battles were once fought fiercely with war horses. Now horses are trailered up the highways at 75 mph. I loved the scenery, had to pull over several times just to look. The Little Bighorn River was now the waterway. Hardly any people at all for miles and miles, and it seems like you can see for a hundred miles from the tops of the ranges I’m passing over.  Not much traffic at all on the highway.

And then, into Wyoming.  The road suddenly turned red, no kidding. Red pavement. And I had a little relationship going with a cattle hauling truck.  Those holes in the side of the truck? I learned what comes out of them.  Cattle get the runs on the way to the stockyards. I don’t blame them. But I didn’t much like it on my windshield. I let the truck get way ahead of me, but then would pass it again on the long hills up the mountains. And so, again, I think I’ll stop eating beef. I know too much.

And now, here I am in Razor City. No, they do not make razor blades, but since the name of the little city, which has everything from Swim gyms to water slides to sports parks . . . you name it. . . since the name of the city is Gillette, they call it Razor City. A joke the girl at the front desk tells me. Or maybe she’s pulling my leg, alien that I am.

Yoko was stinky, so I gave her a bath in the bathtub with shampoo. Thank you Motel 6. She smells so much better now.