Journal Entry #26 - Gillette, WY to Missoula, MT

Tuesday 9/24/02                                                

Day Twenty-six / Day 4 of 2nd leg

Starting mileage 93645 / Ending mileage 94227

Vince has a hair-trigger bark these days, and it was a bit of a challenge to keep him quiet. It’s not like he barks on and on, it’s that at the tiniest of sounds he lets out a loud “emergency woof!”  Tessa has been sleeping soundly lately, probably because she stays awake all day in the back of the truck. Vince has learned to snooze during the trip – maybe she’ll catch on. Couldn’t get the dogs to settle back down by 6am, so I took them outside to potty, then breakfast in the back of the truck. Tig was looking well rested, and the temperature was decent.

What a difference five minutes makes! When we were doing the potty walk, it was dark & the stars were out in the clear, navy blue sky. Five minutes later, after they ate & we got out of the truck, the skies were light and the stars had packed it in for the night (or would that be “for the day”?) It wasn’t a spectacular sunrise but it wasn’t too shabby either. I left the dogs in the truck & went back up to the room.

Didn’t want to disturb David who was trying to catch a few more ZZZs, so I showered & played in the bathroom for quite a while. I had forgotten how fun it is to have a bathroom where you can let the water run and where no other campers will come in while you’re poking at your eyebrows, and where someone else will take care of the wet towels.

It’s about 7:20 am, and I’ll stop writing for now. OOPs – Forgot to mention a big thing: David smelled fuel last night when we pulled into the motel, so he checked the engine, and there was another cracked fuel inj. tube. So this morning he put in one of the ones he bought in Nebraska, and that’s why we’re leaving a little later than normal.

9:30am, and we’ve been on the road since 8:45. A couple things to add about last night: David reminded me that at 1:30am Vince barked once & woke us up. Before getting back to sleep David remembered that our Lock Box was still in the truck, so he got dressed & went out for it.

Heard on the news this morning Sioux Falls, SD was at 34 degrees @ 7am. I pity the poor tenters!

Northern Wyoming is much more picturesque than southern WY. Interesting land formation, and different elevations. At the moment, the sun is burning off some distant haze, and we’re able to see the Big Horn mountains. Just a wee bit of snow on the highest peak. So many antelope around here. I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but we’ve seen quite a few on this trip, especially west of the Mississippi.

Stopped for fuel @ 10:00 at Buffalo, WY. Met a snack vendor in the quick-shop that had just been to Pt Orchard/Seattle for vacation and “put my feet in the ocean!”. We’re drinking the Capri-Sun juice packets Leslie gave us – pretty tasty, even if I do feel like a 5-year old. Come to think of it, Karen G. & I drank quite a few of these on our 8-day hike through the Appalachians.

Crossed into Montana @ 11:00 am. Tig & I were napping, so David had to do the *clapping. Stopped for lunch at 12:00 in Hardin, MT. “Taco John’s” drive-through, a quick dog walk, then back on the road to eat & drive. The skies have clouded completely over; a rare if not first occurrence on this whole trip. Looks to be lighter ahead, though, and no moisture yet.

David felt like continuing to drive, so off we went until 1:45 when we made a rest area stop. I tried to take Tig out for a walk while David had the dogs, but he didn’t feel like getting hitched up. Then, I entertained David by driving for the next 3 hours – and No sleepy periods! Not a single cotton cloud through my head! I proclaimed 100% confidence that I’ll be fine to drive all day on the way back to Ohio, with regular voice contact on the long straight stretches.

At 4:45pm we took an exit into Butte for fuel, and I bought subs and a bag of ice at the quick-shop. We’ll need to eat on the road so we can get to Missoula tonight. Stopping in Butte would make for too long of a drive tomorrow, as we intend to finish the trip home in time to catch the 8pm premiere of “West Wing”.Tonight’s goal is to be in a motel by the time the season prem. Of “Frasier” is on. One incentive is as good as another, I guess.

We ate the subs @ 5:30, then hit a rest stop @ 6:00 for all of us to potty. Saw a beautiful fawn-color Great Dane – probably a show dog with his handler. David wants me to note that we’ve seen a lot of construction sites between Butte & Missoula; could cause slowdowns depending on the time of day.

Hit town just after 7:00. Went to the Motel 6 first, but decided to shop around when we heard the price: $58 (incl tax). But, 15 min later we returned as the other 5 places were the same or higher. Got settled in, watched ‘Frasier’, walked the dogs, and so on until lights out.

  

Fuel:   Buffalo, WY / 361.6 miles / 24 gal / $34.00

Butte, MT / 385 miles / 21.8 gal / $32.72

*clapping: Ever since I was a child along for the ride on family trips, I always clap three or four times when crossing over a state border. Not superstitious, just childish enthusiasm and habit I guess.

End of Entry