Adventures - Day 4 on the Road

Considering the events of yesterday and the late arrival to the hotel, we decided to take our time this morning. Not that any of us actually slept much past 6:30 or so, but it at least felt good to be able to take our time and not have to rush. Now that we’ve gotten 1544 miles under our belt, we know we’re on the downward slope! Hard to believe all that we’ve seen so far…
We stopped at the gas station/Burger King across the street from our hotel to fuel up. Who knew we were about to start the day off with such a bang….the best way to describe our 15 minutes here was….extreme chaos. Squealing tires, gas pump nozzles and hoses disengaging completely from the pump, inconsiderate drivers blocking the way of the Penske so we couldn’t get out easily, broken receipt printers, the sandwich lady who licked her fingers as she stood waiting for her next customer, and the 10 minute wait for a hamburger….wow. THAT was our introduction to Gillette, WY.

We are now on our way to Butte, Montana today, via Sheridan, WY still on I-90. We stopped again to fuel up and grab a quick sandwich at a Wendy’s, which was completely FULL from a charter bus that unloaded. We actually found somewhere to sit and chatted with an elderly gentleman who was on the bus tour. They were from southern CA and were on their way to Mt. Rushmore, then on to Salt Lake City. One of the other ladies on their tour was making quite a name for herself with a full fur animal hat of some kind. The man we talked to said it was a bison head! Crazy! It was 99 degrees outside too……

One of our former students, Kyle Millen, called while we were on the road. It’s really awesome that we still keep in touch even after being gone from North Olmsted for 9 years. Kyle works for the Cleveland Browns and he is now the youngest Video Producer in the NFL! Cool! Kyle has traveled this same route several times while he was playing drums and touring with recording artist Paul Wright. He said we were in for a treat today with what we would be seeing, he was right. The landscape just seemed to be getting better & better with each successive mile, with the mountain ranges coming closer into view. So many scriptures were coming to mind as we took in the beauty and creativity of the Lord’s creation. Until you’ve actually seen it, it’s just hard to imagine, let alone try to explain. Jumping ahead for just a moment, as we drove through some of the tighter curves in the highway through the mountains, a very strong infusion of pine trees filled the cab of the truck--it was unbelieveable and it smelled incredible!

Ok, so along the way, we did decide to stop at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument which resides in the Crow Indian Reservation. This is where General Custer fought Sitting Bull. There were monuments indicating where each was killed and where all the troops and tribes were situated during the battle, as well as an extensive exhibit with some actual artifacts. The amount of land that Sitting Bull had previously secured is truly hard to grasp when you look out to see nothing but land in every direction, know that the area outside of your sightline is only a fraction of what was involved in the takeover by the US regiments. Pretty amazing.

There was still a good 2 1/2 hours until we reached our destination of Butte, Montana and little did we know what a treat we were in for as we embarked on the drive through the mountains. As alluded to above, it was AWESOME. There really aren't any other words I can think of that will do justice to what we saw. Scott Biddle and I (Karen) were riding in the Penske and as we began making our way down the 6% grade, it became apparent that the brakes were in some sort of distress. Scott & John were ahead of us and couldn't let us know just how much the trailer & truck were hopping. Inside the cab of the truck, we were sweating, not knowing if the brakes would grab enough to slow this 4 ton mass of our lives down enough so we wouldn't crash into the guardrails. Meanwhile, Scott was so enthralled with the view that he felt the need to multi-task...drive, watch, roll down the window, keep his eyes on the road, AND take a few pictures out his window with his phone! I was sweating even more....

By the time we reached the bottom and our destination hotel (again, Super 8!!), we thought there was something seriously wrong with the truck...not another repair...In all of his wisdom and knowledge, Scott seemed to think that the brakes were just so heated up from the constant friction that they couldn't come in contact with the rotors, and all they needed was to cool down.

After catching a little dinner (we couldn't choke down another sandwich from the cooler), enjoying a few laughs, and a few memorable comments for the day, we called it a night.

Lights out, kids.