After a brief night’s sleep, shower, and complimentary breakfast, the open road beckoned us once more. This time we were able to see the mountains and the vaguely treacherous path we took the night before. Yikes. I was more than relieved to be in one piece after that first day’s trek.
It was at that point that I stressed my need to take over for at least a portion of the drive. Pop had bogarted the first 12 or so hours and I wasn’t about to let him drive the whole freakin’ 1600 miles. So he gave me a great gift: Most of Wyoming. And gee, it wasn’t even my birthday yet!!
We reached Denver, filled up the gas tank once more and then did an anticlimactic Chinese Fire Drill. I was in the driver’s seat for the first time in almost 900 miles.
Wyoming is beautiful. Beautiful! It is rolling green hills, huge blue skies, winding two lane highways, and sporadic peaks and plateaus. The skies are so large we were able to track the thick slices of blue thunderstorms ahead of us. It was then that we learned we were actually driving on an enchanted highway.
1-25 North was created by a wizard. A wizard who hates rain. We saw at least 4 different thunderstorms during our 5 hours in Wyoming and we missed every single one of them. Every time we thought that the road lead straight towards what looked like a mini-monsoon, Magical 25 would curve gently west and allow us dry passage. It was a miracle. Especially considering my car is special and doesn’t have air conditioning. This means that in the 80 degree humidity we would have had to close out only source of air (windows) in order to stay dry. But NO! Magical 25 kept us on a breezy path!
I drove 4 hours (give or take) and in Casper, WY we once again did the ole “Driver’s do-si-do.” Pop seemed up for the challenge of the next 7 hours, and being a bit green when it comes to navigating long distances, I was more than happy to let him attempt the feat.
Everything in Montana is far away. The state is far away. The cities within the state are far away. The mountains we kept passing were far away (even when they were close). We drove through little big horn and gave a salute to Mr. Poor Planning himself, Gen. Custer. We drove through Billings and admired their two (count’em, TWO!) refineries. We drove through Bozeman and then promptly forgot that we had driven through Bozeman.
Then we drove through Three Forks and brushed up on our history. This was a big stop for the dynamic duo Merryweather and William (we are on a first name basis). It is where the Missouri headwaters are and where the mighty river essentially begins. Merry and Will named the three rivers that came together to make the mightier river (like Captain Planet!). They called them Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison. And to be honest, the state of Montana in general looks like something out of a history book. Most of the state probably would look exactly the same to Merry and Will today as it did 200 years ago.
All of the cities we had driven through had seemed so small that I was getting worried about Helena. Was it going to be unbearably small? Would I have to drive 2 hours just to get groceries? Was the only thing to do there drink and have children?
Luckily when we finally crested over the smaller mountains that surround Helena on all sides, I was shocked to find a nice mid-sized city nestled in a bowl-like valley. House and business lights filled most of my view and Lo! Was that an airplane that just flew overhead? It was! Hallelujah! So it was, that at 11:30 on Saturday the 10th of July 2010, I reached my new home away from home.
Pop and I promptly found the local Comfort Inn (can’t beat that breakfast!) and slept with the ferver of a first year medical intern.
The Next Adventure: First Week and First Impressions…With Pictures!!
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