A Long Drive
When last I spent a minute or two with this block we were in South Dakota
I’ll provide a pictorial log starting with the badlands.
After the Badlands we ventured to Wall Drugs. This is the ultimate tourist trap were we stopped for lunch on buffalo burger and onion rings. My partner had cherry pie and started toward the black hills Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore monuments. The skies in the direction were gray so we stopped at a visitors center before leaving the main drag.
The computer feed showed limited visibility at Mount Rushmore, so we decided to skip the four hour detour it would have taken.
After Spending Night in Montana we continued intothe mountains
This trip is a journey of first’s for me. Once we left Illinois and entered Iowa, it was my first time in Iowa, South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. The variety is amazing. Iowa and South Dakota is notable as prairie. Flat but far from boring.
Montana and Idaho is a constant up and down. The mountains in Montana were snow capped and in several areas the snow was right next to the road. I was surprised by the lack of vistas at rest areas. We had decided to skip Spokane and drive all the way to Seattle, so we did not doddle.
Our thoughts wondered into the past. Thinking about how the early settlers traversed these mountains in wagon trains. A typical wagon train would go 10-20 miles a day. Today the speed limit through most of South Dakota and Montana is 80 mph. So we travelled in 15 minutes further than the settlers travelled in a day. My first thought when entering Washington was how much relief the settlers must have felt to arrive in an area of relative flatness. How much they must have struggled with horses, wagons, and the elements in the mountains.
And then in darkness we again hit the mountains west of Seattle.
We did have supper at The Relic Smokehouse. Special of the day was smoked prime rib. The food was satisfying until I left my debit card at the restaurant. I have landed at the Seattle airport on at least one occasion, but have not ventured out. So today will be my first sighting of Seattle, in what I’m told is the typical mist and fog. Views are not glamorous at this point.
I look forward to visiting with family, I have not seen for a long time.
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