The Road UP to Yellowstone

Monday morning November 5, 2007

I was up early, sort of pumped to actually get somewhere and get out of the little red car for a while. I get on the road early, up to Red Lodge, Montana and then over Beartooth Pass into Yellowstone! Exciting stuff after being blown all over North Dakota!

Half way to Red Lodge I notice ice on the limbs. Better test for ice on the road. Oops pretty damn slippery! Thank Mohammad for that fine Japanese technology! Hundred yards farther and there's a truck in the barbed wire! That can't be right... but at least that's not me!! 45 minutes later I'm in Red Lodge and stopping at the only gas station that seems to be open. I have plenty of time here since I want to let the ice melt a little in the sun. I'm at about 4,000 feet and Beartooth Pass is 10,500. Being a prudent sailor and an even more prudent driver I will check with the locals for information about the Pass.

It seems that Beartooth Pass is closed, the whole damn road is closed. Neither the state of Montana nor the state of Wyoming(home to Dick Cheney!) don't see the benefit to keeping in open after the first of September.

So back down the mountain to the west side of the park(By the way, I have not idea why this is in italics but I can't seem to turn it off) About 1 PM I'm standing just inside the Roosevelt Arch taking the picture above.

Change in Plans

On Sunday November 4, after a night in Minot, I decided that I should head for Yellowstone first and then to Glacier. This decision puts me on Montana State Highway 16 heading southwest to I94 toward Billings. The immediate benefit of this change is the availability of a Honda dealer in Billings in case the car does need service.

The wind is down and the car seems to be fine. Montana 16 makes US2 look busy! It's literally me and nobody else after Sidney. The Yellowstone River is now my constant companion and will be until after I leave Yellowstone. The car is fine and must be in the process of fixing itself because by Monday, when I COULD get it serviced, the "check engine" light is out.

This day is an easy drive. Even I94 out here is only busy around towns. I decide to stop for the night in Billings and plan the route into the park tomorrow.

Heading West

Up early Saturday November 3 I was anxious to start heading west. The day started out perfectly. I left in the early morning predawn just as the gray eastern sky was starting to lighten. US2 was, of course, empty! I had braced myself with motel room coffee so I hoped to be good until Grand Rapids, Minnesota where I hoped to find breakfast. The very first living thing I saw that day was a bald eagle. It was one of 6 I would see in Minnesota. It promised to be a very good day.

There are thousands of lakes in northeastern Minnesota. You see several around every curve. Ducks, cranes and maybe a loon seem to be on every lake. The deer had gone into hiding. I saw a few hunters but only a few, their presence was mainly known by pickup trucks along the road.

The quaint little diner had I had hoped to find eluded me in Grand Rapids and I had to settle for Burger King in Bemidji. But now had coffee so how bad could things be!!

Bemidji ends was the lakes district in Minnesota. I'm now on the great corn prairie of the country. I'm not sure the few people I see are even Lutherans! It's big sky and looks what I imagined the Dakotas to be!

By noon the wind is up, and I mean really up. I am into the teeth of 25 to 40 mile per hour winds. I notice about 2 pm that my fuel economy is down to 45 miles per gallon, 10 miles less than every before.

The countryside has a nice open feel but it's mind numbingly boring. It's changed only by the occasional grain elevator. But I'm still on my own private highway and can go as fast as I want.

About 2:30 I see what looks to be a huge storm front on the horizon but we push on. The weather is not that of summer storms and tornadoes. The temperature is in the low 50's and the wind makes it feel cold.

At 3 pm it's dark! Dark as night but why? I realize that I am in a dust storm and I only see the car lights coming at me when they are right up to me. The dust lasts about 15 minutes and then clears completely. The sun is out but the wind persists.

I'm through Minot, ND and starting to climb some hills into the wind. The little red car is laboring but the wind is fierce and now I'm climbing. I look down to notice the "check engine" light is on!

I'm pretty sure you can get get your GMC Triton V12 serviced about anywhere in ND but I'm not sure about a Honda Insight! I pulled off to a rest stop to check things out and the engine didn't stop like it's supposed to. It seemed to be running a little rough. In truth the check engine light came on within 300 miles of driving this car out of the showroom. That was a software problem and I'm hoping that this is too but in those cases the car ran as normal and it may be my imagination but something seems to be wrong.

Fifteen minutes later the decision is made to go back to Minot where I know there's a dealer. Back on the road I decide to again check the mileage....75 to the gallon! Looks like software to me but the prudent thing seems to be get it checked out so I spend the night in Minot with an option to check out on Monday after the dealer opens.

Getting Underway

On Thursday afternoon Sparkey was off to the farm and I was ready to finish packing. By this time list after list had been made to try and anticipate every possible requirement. On Friday morning I had finished everything that I needed to do prior to leaving Madison and began gathering everything going into the Insight. Tent, Sleeping bag, backpack, two knives(I don't know why!) a new camera with Vista compatible software(damn Microsoft!), bear spray, water bottle, underwear, really cool, being in the woods, shirts, my Maui Jims etc etc etc. I have plenty of room and maximum visability..no small feat!!





About 2pm, Friday November 2, 2007, I was finally on my way around the city and up 94 to US53 just east of Eau Claire. It was good to finally be away. I relished the daylight drive on this day. It was easy over a road I had been on many times before. I've been looking forward to this trip for a long time. The first of, hopefully, many to take place during my retirment.



About 9 PM I was on my road west. US2 and heading west out of Duluth. Nothing like Northern Minnesota in the dark! Especially in November! By 9:30 having missed my second 4 hooved critter I decided it was time to stop! Apparently they're all trying to commit suicide before all the gun racks with optional pickup truck attached shed thier rifles the following morning. Yup it's dear season in Minnesota and I'm not on the Interstate! The StarDust Motel beckoned! Run by a German ex-pat who insisted a room was "worth $60 because it was clean." No pets! I don't take pets, thrice! It was clean, criminally clean and frankly worth 60 bucks because I was tired! I wanted to go back to the office and ask if she knew Pope Benedict in the Hitler Youth but fatigue won out..thankfully! End of the first day and a good start.