Are We There Yet?

Day 3:  Rapid City, SD to Helena, MT (556 Miles)

We are weary travelers.   Three days of driving and over 2,000 miles has us ready to cry Uncle.  The good news is that our day was issue free, although our pesky "Check Engine" light visited us again late this afternoon (more bad gas or gas that wasn't really 91 octane??) KC's F150 is performing flawlessly.  We're going to seek out some 93 octane gas before we leave Helena tomorrow and may visit a Ford dealer again in Kalispell to see if there are any fault codes found.

The day started before 7:00AM and KC suggested that we drive to Bob's Restaurant in Sturgis, SD (home of the infamous Harley Davidson Rally each August). Sturgis was about 30 miles west on I-90 so it was on the way for us. A town that is designed to host upwards of 740,000 riders during the annual rally, Sturgis was a complete ghost town.  I was struck with how many huge, expensive facilities (mostly bars and restaurants) have been built in Sturgis and yet only operator at their full capacity for a couple of weeks a year.  How does the business model work, I wondered?

Wanda's Kitchen

Bob's was closed so we backtracked to Wanda's Kitchen, an open air spot that serves beers, Bloody Mary's AND breakfast during the Rally.  Breakfast was mediocre at best...but I bet if you were drunk you'd think it was superb.

Following breakfast we took Hwy 212 west bound, headed for Custer's Battlefield.  The road was a good one, albeit mostly two lanes, that runs through some very remote country, some of which is Cheyenne reservation land.  Surprisingly the truck traffic was heavy and there were enough travel trailers/RV's to make things frustrating.

It was on Hwy 212 that an incident occurred that I simply refer to as "The Pass".  My dear friend KC is a man of many talents and numerous personality characteristics that, in our modern society, are universally considered strengths.  However, patience is simply not one of them.  And nothing on this planets tests his limited patience more that a vehicle in front of him on a highway and especially so if that vehicle is travelingbelow the posted speed limit.  So imagine the turmoil he must have felt when we rolled up on FOUR vehicles poking along on the two lane road at something around ten under the speed limit.

And so with his right foot all the way to the floor, his supercharged F-150 pinned us both into the backs of our seats and truck, trailer, motorcycles and men began accelerating passed this line of sub-speed limit travelers.  As we passed the first two vehicles the sound reminded me of watching a Nascar race and hearing the sound the cars make when they pass the camera.  The deep, throaty roar of a big block engine.  As they say on TV, "Boogity, boogity."

Ahead a Winnebago, no doubt enjoying the blue sky and lovely scenery, approached us in the oncoming lane.  I thought, "There is not a chance in heaven we can pass the remaining vehicles, including a semi".  KC, however, saw it differently and kept full pressure on the throttle, bringing us safely around the string of offending vehicles at roughly 105MPH.  Seconds after we passed the semi the oncoming Winnebago passed us, close enough that I feel sure the paint molecules on both vehicles must have considered swapping electrons.  That, dear reader, was The Pass.

By 10AM we'd traversed a tiny corner of Wyoming and then finally crossed into Montana. At Colony, MT we pulled into a gas station but found nothing but low octane fuel.  However we did pass a refreshingly honest sign advertising the Stoneville Saloon's "Cheap Drinks and Lousy Food".  I think I've been there before. We saw the first signs of fall foliage as many of the cottonwoods we saw were sporting early yellow leaves.

Custers Battlefield...not my shot.

By late morning we arrived at the Battlefield and were surprised to find it overflowing with visitors, campers and RV's.  We spent five minutes in the museum and decided to pass on the driving tour...I'd done it before and KC was ready to move on.

Back on I-90 West we hauled ass to Billings, stopped for a Fuddruckers lunch and then pressed on over Bozeman Pass to Bozeman.  En route to Bozeman we tracked along side the mighty Yellowstone River and passed by a section that Jon and I fly fished a few years ago...so much fun for father and son.

The Yellowstone River

Trout live here.

West of Bozeman we passed Three Forks, MT which is where the Madison River, the Gallatin River and the Jefferson River converge to form the great Missouri River, the second longest river in North America. It's a river that I've fly fished and is also a river on which Sherry rowed my drift boat while I fished.  On our anniversary.  Am I not the Man?

We observed that the further west we traveled, the more the haze from the western fires obstructed the mountain views.  We knew it was going to be an issue and it is.  Nothing we can do about it...we'll just make the best of things.

At Hwy 287 we peeled off the interstate and headed north around 60 miles to Helena.  The route follows the Missouri River for much of the way and runs through some very remote ranches with huge wheat fields, most of which were golden stubble, and some of the darkest green and lushest alfalfa fields I've ever seen.  So green that, as KC says, you can't look at them.

We have a short day tomorrow so we've agreed to a late start.  I know KC can use the rest...he's driven every inch of the way and I'm very grateful to him for this.