Saturday, August 9

Today’s major accomplishment was eating homemade guacamole on the road, made by Amy EN ROUTE home. It’s true, folks.



We have many people to thank for making our journey west possible:

Vitamin Water – for sustenance and good tastes.



George W. Bush – for enacting the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 – your goal was met in our sinking part of it back into oil companies straight across the country.




KOA Kampgrounds – for the swimming pool and hot showers

Ted Turner – for some scrumptious buffalo meat after a long hard hiking journey



Lewis & Clark – for inspiring in us, the spirit of discovery.




Sacajawea – for being cool about the whole thing



The state of Iowa – for staying out of the way.

The Hyundai – for keeping on keeping on



Great Northern Tire – for allowing the Hyundai to keep on keeping on

Jeff and Renee – for blog inspiration




The neighbor girl we haven’t yet met – for picking up our mail

Brutus the Grizzly – for staying in your cage

Precambrien Geological Forces – for giving us the Beartooth mountains

And finally, one last sunset out the back window of our messy car…



p.s. we captured you, you little sucker...

Friday, August 8

We were sad to leave Bozeman this morning. However, the day of driving held more adventure than we planned on…

We allowed ourselves to fall into a tourist trap right outside of Bozeman that advertised Grizzly sightings…we’re always game for wildlife refuges. We were within feet of five grizzlies that were saved from the circus and other places. They are amazing creatures and we were so glad to see them behind in the cage and not on the hiking trail!




If you haven’t noticed yet, we’re suckers for tourist traps. If there had been a ‘Mystery Spot,’ en route to Montana, we would have stopped.

This is the Stockyard Calfe, where we hoped to dine but it was open only on Sundays. It’s on old café next to the Stockyards that has some kind of special old charm. Believe it or not, this place was featured in Martha Stewart Living a few years back…





We also stopped at Pompey’s Pillar National Monument. Believe it or not, there lies a huge boulder that still holds the signature of William Clark (you know, of Lewis and Clark), dated July 25, 1806. It is the only remaining physical evidence of the journey of Lewis and Clark. Around it are the signatures of early pioneers.









In this picture are William Clark, his slave York, Sacajawea, and myself. Can you tell who's who? I had a little too much fun in the museum. Don't ask me why, but I really enjoyed wearing this:






Best of all, we were finally able to give name to the little s*** that injured Bryan on the way here and Amy in 2002. Straight from the mouth of Meriweather Lewis himself:



We were sad to leave Big Sky country. Somehow, around here, the sky looks ten times bigger than it does anywhere else. It’s beautiful. We're gonna miss this place.

To begin with, a sunrise....



Today we went horseback riding in Big Sky Country! It was a great afternoon with some of the best views we've had here.




Here's Bryan looking relieved that his horse was able to ford the Gallatin River.



Here was Bryan's view for the afternoon:



We came back to the KOA (every day is a great day at the KOA) and enjoyed the swimming pool. There were some huge storm clouds rolling in, so we headed into Bozeman and enjoyed pizza and spent a couple hours relaxing in a coffee shop.