Day 5: Bozeman, MT to Gillette, WY

Staying in when we are at home is difficult.  Staying in when we are in a new town is nearly impossible.  The scenery that we drive through is phenomenal, but the people are the reason we have chosen this journey.  Staying in our hotel room guarantees that we don't meet people.  Staying in our hotel room at night is like driving through the Rockie Mountains with a sash over our eyes during the day. We were fucking tired though.  We enjoyed Missoula - maybe a tad much.  So while Bozeman was admittedly a cool town, we ate and then high-tailed it to our room.  We went to sleep early and slept in late. We didn't get on the road until about 11am today. 

Hungry for a hearty breakfast after a long night of sobriety, we drove straight to Livingston, MT, about 40 miles away.  Driving into Livingston about 2.5 miles off the interstate we somehow only looked down the left side of the road.  We found a little place called Northern Pacific Beanery and had a wonderful albeit relatively unfriendly breakfast. We finished our breakfast and, like usual, wanted to walk around just a bit.  We walked across the street to a little jewelry store.  Uncharacteristically, I walked out to have a post-chicken-fried-steak-cigarette while Willow regaled her fingers with jewels.  While I was outside I walked to the end of the block.... What the HELL?!?!  There is more to this town than met our lazy eyes.  Willow came out and we walked around this incredibly cute town surrounded by giant mountain ranges.

We pulled out of Livingston and started hauling ass towards Wyoming. 

Honestly - it wasn't that pretty for much of the day today.  For the better part of the day the only beauty that made its way to my eyes was when I looked over my right shoulder and saw my amazing wife sitting there all cute and shit.  It wasn't until we left our southern route and started to head west over the amazing Big Horn Mountain Range when things got really freaking beautiful.  As we approached this range, that we saw in the distant east the entire time we were in Wyoming, the hills became painted as though with a skilled brush from a famous painter.

Even though it was getting late, we were hungry and stopped in Ten Sleep, Wyoming for a bite to eat.  The very cool saloon that we stopped at only had pizza on this night.  Pizza and PBR in the middle of nowhere at a bar that has been there for over a hundred years?! Amazing!!

We drove on...

We entered Big Horn Canyon. OH MY FRIGGIN HELL!!!

  

We climbed up the canyon and once again (maybe the 8th time on this trip) we climbed up and up and up.  We came to giant frozen lakes and feet of snow.

By the time we reached the summit at about 9,500 feet above sea level, it was getting pretty dark.  We had been driving for 9 hours and still had 2 hours in front of us to reach Gillette, WY.

We made it to Gillette after 432 miles and 11 hours on the road.  We wanted to stay in downtown Gillette so that we could hang out in "city center" bars and walk back to our hotel.  It turns out that "downtown" Gillette is a shit hole.  Not much to do there... so we headed back to the trucker hotels along the highway and got a room at a Best Western because it had a lounge.  We had a few drinks in the lounge with every cowboy in Wyoming, thought about how much Amy Jermain would LOVE this place, and went back to our room.

Tomorrow is Badlands.  There is something about Badlands that I am really excited about.  I think it is because my dad loves Badlands.  I feel like somehow I am honoring my family by going to a place that obviously holds special memories for my father.  I wonder what it is that draws him to it.  I wonder what stories it holds.  There is beauty everywhere.  We know this for sure.  There must be something else that draws him there... something that has to do with who he is or who he has loved. I hope to find my own story.  I hope someday Robbie and Alexis want to meet somewhere because they think I would like it.

Until tomorrow....

Don't forget!  There are more pictures on my Smugmug gallery!!

(SmugMug Lesson: Once that page loads you can use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll through the pictures.  The first picture from day 2 will load, so you can use your right arrow key to scroll through that days pictures.  You can also use your mouse to click on the picture to open up the gallery and look at picture at will)

Our route today: Map