Saturday August 2

We rolled in into Montana finally!

We stopped at a rest stop and definitely observed this sign…however, no one bothers to trim the overgrown bushes next to the sidewalk.



However, this sign we defaced. Spreading the love all around the country!







We arrived at Red Lodge, MT, around 1pm. Red Lodge is an awesome little town, has a really cute little downtown, much like downtown Holland but even cooler and surrounded by mountains.




And the place of our dream home.




We enjoyed some fish tacos for lunch, bought some dehydrated meals at an outdoors store, and got some treats at the world’s finest candy store, Montana’s Candy Emporium. When I walked in, I (Amy) even said, “this is the candy store of my dreams.”



Following our candy binge which necessitated a short break on a park bench, we proceeded on to the Red Lodge Animal Refuge. We met several animals who had either been injured and abandoned by their mothers, or were taken illegally from the wild and raised as pets until they were rescued by the Refuge.

B: It was a sad sort of place until you realized the animals would have died without the refuge.


This is Tony. For many years Tony picked pockets on the New York subways. After a run in with some tainted goods and a pretty bad trip, they picked Tony up two thirds of the way through a riveting performance of Rogers and Hammerstein’s State Fair in Grand Central Station.



Julius was picked up hitchhiking I-90 in late fall a few years back. Everyone wondered why he would not have moved south to escape the punishing Montana winter. He is a relatively quiet resident at the refuge as long as he has one cup of Earl Gray, 83 degrees, one lump sugar and a Carbon County Newspaper every day at three.



Sandra has a past no one knows much about. Some say she was an active and important tier 2 member of a certain south American drug cartel that shall go unnamed. Others say she killed a family member. One less likely story includes a box of M-80’s, 53 mail boxes and 7 different sub-divisions. The bottom line is no one knows and she ain’t saying.



Can you spot the two asses?

Right now there is a large forest fire in the Beartooth Mountains, just six miles from Red Lodge. Many people have already had to evacuate their homes, and there is a strong scent of fire in the air and even ash blowing around in town. It was neat to see all the businesses with signs supporting the firefighters, some businesses even closed to help fight the fire.







We stopped for the night at a campground right on Rock Creek. It was a lovely spot by the LOUD river. We slept about 15 feet from the river and you would have thought we were sleeping next to Niagra Falls, it was so loud.




We grabbed a Pony Express pizza from Red Lodge Pizza Co. and some local Red Lodge brewed beer and enjoyed a great dinner on the river.



Earlier in the day, we heard about a recent bear attack at a campground. A grizzly went after a biker in a tent – he was able to fight the bear off by pushing the tent between them but still got a chunk taken out of his hand. As a result, we slept in our tent with the bear spray and a screwdriver next to Bryan, and Amy slept with a flashlight around her neck. We told you we would be safe, Moms. ☺

And finally, a forest fire sunset.

Friday August 1

We left the campsite early today, and couldn’t resist a stop at the Mitchell Corn Palace. There’s not much to say about it other than, well, the place is entirely made of corn.



Stopped at a coffee shop, which was a great, relaxing start to the day, drove for a few hours, and couldn’t help but stop at a scenic overview about 20 miles short of Wall...

As soon as we got out of the car, we were shocked to realize that it was another stop we recall taking at break at on our 2002 road trip. Some of you may recall when I (Amy) somehow managed to have a little round cactus literally jump up onto my leg. For the rest of that trip, we kept referring to the little s*** that tried to get me.

Anyway, we were recalling that we were at the same stop as we started to walk around to stretch our legs, I looked over at Bryan to see him swatting around at something, it looked like he had a bee in his shorts. As I got closer, I saw that he also had a cactus stuck in his shorts and leg and fingers! This little cactus is nearly impossible to remove – it is shaped like a golf-ball with the very long prickers stuck all around it. I got my tweezers and tried to remove it, as Bryan began to feel like he was going to pass out. He proceeded to pass out. This picture was taken shortly before passing out.



Note: These cacti are known as South Dakota jumping cactus. Using the flip-flop as a jumping platform, the cacti will launch themselves 2 to 3 feet up the leg of any unsuspecting victim. Special Note: The South Dakota Jumping Cacti have a ferocious bite and should be avoided at all costs. Though unconfirmed, they may even be poisonous.


Luckily, he recovered after some time. And luckily I was able to take the reins and drive us on to medical care.






We did stop for Buffalo Burgers at Wall Drug while we waiting for the health clinic to open from lunch.

We also discovered in the morning that a stud that attaches the front tire to the car had broken off when we removed a broken hub cap that was flapping in the wind. In this case we were not 50 miles from the infamous catylitic converter dropping of 2003. Needless to say, Bryan had flashbacks of being stuck on the side of the road in the middle of the BADlands again. We stopped at two different repair shops that were unable to help us, and luckily then were able to get it fixed in Rapid City.

We rolled on into Sheridan, Wyoming for the night and plan to make it to Red Lodge, Montana in the morning…..



This was part of our beautiful drive through Wyoming.

Some cheap but well spent purchases so far:

50cents – two quarter 6-minute long hot showers at the campground
5cents – coffee at Wall Drug
FREE – water at Wall Drug
$4 – Buffalo Jerky

Things on our list of things to see:

Jackalope – check
Buffalo – check
Wild Horses – check
Wall Drug – check
Prong-horned Antelope – check
Corn Palace - check

Still to see:
Tumbleweed
Wild Wild West Show
Bears
Moose
Coyotes



Isn't this lovely?

Thursday July 31

Our trip began today at about 2pm. We’ve only been in our new place for a few days. We left mountains of boxes for a few more appealing mountains. Needless to say, we left a massive mess behind us. It’s hard enough to live in a mess of boxes, let alone pack for a road trip from it!


We began our journey by reading a letter that we found in our apartment in Evanston as we were moving out. It was dated September 27, 1974, and had fallen behind a drawer. Our excitement wasn’t entirely met, as the writer mostly complained about her mother-in-law being in hysterics as the writer and her husband waited for the results of his bar exam, and otherwise described a medical condition in great detail. TMI!




We traveled via 94 through Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, and made it into South Dakota shortly before we stopped for the night. We randomly got off the highway to stop and look at a map, at a stop with only one gas station. We were shocked to realize that it was the same station we stopped at on our trip out west in 2002. The place was well remembered by it’s being a total hole-in-the-wall and the 1880 Animatronics. The gorilla playing honky tonk saloon piano was the clincher.

Like the aforementioned journey west, we also learned that we again were traveling through South Dakota and Wyoming at the same time as the Bikers Rally in Sturgis. The guy working at the Animatronics explained to us that it would be practically impossible to find hotel rooms in the state this weekend and next, and that prices were hiked up due to the Bikers Rally all the way back in GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan!!