May 25...we got a late start out of Gillette, Wyoming; we first had to get the oil changed and tires rotated. The fellow at the station told Derek about road closings on I-90 due to flooding. Of course, it was exactly in the direction we were heading. I-90 was open as far as Sheridan, WY where we stopped for lunch at Subway. There were two police officers having lunch there so Derek asked them what they knew about the road closing. Sure enough, they said, the interstate was definitely closed. We needed to take a 100-mile detour through a little town called Greybull, then back to I-90 towards the Montana border. It wove through the Blackhills National Forest and we couldn't have chosen a more beautiful road if we tried. As we wove our way through the mountains, at one point we came to a huge patch of white. "Is that snow?" I exclaimed as I grabbed my I-phone to take pictures. "It sure is", Derek said as I clicked away. Immediately after that we went around a bend and it was snow city...a true winter wonderland! We continued up, up, up some more, to the top of the mountain and stopped at the Burgess Junction Visitor's Center. There had to be two or three feet of snow on the ground and the ranger told us that it had snowed 15 inches on the weekend, closing the road. (pic 1) Fortunately the road was now clear and we were surrounded by beautiful, huge sloping fields of snow and tall pines.
As we came down off the other side of the mountain we emerged into a totally different red-rock canyon with a stream teeming with spring run-off roaring alongside the road. And, sunshine!! As we neared the Montana border we hit a 30-minute stretch of dirt road...make it mud road. It was the proverbial washboard road and by the time it ended our blue car was brown. Then, a bit further along, we had to crawl through a foot of water that flooded the road. We finally got to I-90 at Laurel, Montana and that is where we spent the night. Mother Nature had entertained us once again with snow, rain, flood, and even a bit of wonderful sunshine. We tucked in excited, tired, happy.
Marcella
May 26...We got on I-90 west, knowing full well that we might encounter more flooding. It was all over the local TV. In fact, I-90 east was closed right where we were heading. Sure enough, a hundred miles down the road, a foot of muddy water covered our lane and the east-bound side was closed for good reason; it was under much deeper water. (pic 2) We went through two such places before getting off the interstate and heading north on Rt 89 toward Great Falls. It was a beautiful ride, sunny but cold, getting down to 30 degrees. Then, off in the distance we could see what looked like snow falling out of a cloud. (pic 3) It was bizarre looking. Eventually we drove underneath that cloud and indeed it snowed on us. It was mixed with some rain and didn't stick, but it was kind of exciting if not a little worrisome. And, somehow the sun managed to continue shining all around us. Go figure!
I've gotten more interested in Lewis and Clark since we've been, more or less, following their trail, so I bought a copy of their journals which I've just started reading. So, we went to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center this afternoon here in Great Falls. It's a very well-done presentation and we learned a tremendous amount about them and their journey. Most people were surprised when they returned after 28 months...everybody thought they were dead...rightfully so. Those guys were pretty cool.
Great Falls, Montana has the distinction of frequently being the coldest place in the lower 48. It's in the low 40's outside our window right now. If it snows tonight, I'm going back to Florida tomorrow.
Derek
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