Alaska Bound Days 11 and 12

Day 11 Miles 160 The drive to Bozeman went well and the temperature went up to the 50’s. The dark mountains (basalt?) topped with snow made me think of dark chocolate cake with white mountain frosting. A rest stop along I 90 said this area was the Crazy Mountains but originally named Crazy Woman Mountains for a womean who went insane while traversing the area. Therefore I adopted them as mine! I took a photo of the sign but the view from the rest stop didn’t have a good look at the mountains. That is often the case. Incredible scenery but no place to safely stop. Emily called to wish me a happy Mothers Day while I was enroute but it took several tries to complete the conversation.
I was headed to the Museum of the Rockies which had been highly recommended. It is adjacent to the campus of Montana State and many of the dinosaur fossils and copies were discovered and researched by staff and students at the school. The exhibit was very impressive as were the stories of how the finds came about. In one case a woman was walking around while her husband was fishing and she spotted some bones. She took them to the university which resulted in a quite complete fossilized called E Rex I think. Then another case a staff member had gone off on his own for his picnic lunch during a research trip. While eating he looked up at saw what looked like a T Rex foot. He couldn’t reach it so went back to the research area and took a folding chair to stand on and determined it was indeed a “foot”. The size of the bones and feet are awesome. I also learned a new term “non-avian” dinosaurs” are extinct while the avian dinosaurs are our present day birds. They have been able to obtain DNA from some of their finds and the research is continuing to refute some old theories. Wish I could have retained more. I was tempted to stay another day and go again but certainly encourage anyone finding themselves in Bozeman to take advantage of it. The facility also has a planetarium attached where I saw a presentation on the Hubble “finds”. It made me appreciate the necessity of sending the repair launch tomorrow.
Heading out to the edge of town where the KOA was located I stopped for some skin cream—my skin is really dry, and a Sunday newspaper. First newspaper in a long time! I had visited with some campground neighbors in Billings who recommended I try KOA’s. I’ve stayed at a couple others but they seem high in cost and more family oriented. This one is ok and my site is fine. I have a great view of the sunset. Their internet works well and I again studied the weather forecasts and concluded I was best to go ahead to Missoula and stay a couple of days until a storm system passes through. The forecast seems to be less severe but still indicated to be hazardous with thunderstorms, high winds, and snow/rain. Not the best for driving if I can avoid.
Day 12 Miles 219 Another cold night but this was partly my fault. I forgot to turn on the propane. The electric heat sources couldn’t keep up with the cold and the propane heater cut off of course. The sun was high in the sky by 7 a.m. and I turned on the propane to heat the interior though I think it was warmer outside. I gassed up ($2.15) and was headed west by 9 a.m. The roads were dry but as I’ve seen a number of times recently, gates similar to those used at railroad crossings are along the road so that traffic can be stopped for road problems. Signs were still up cautioning “watch for icy spots” and areas designated for putting on and taking off chains all pointed to what the roads can be like. I have had two incidences of unexpected wind gust hitting the van. I was able to correct ok but it is a reminder that I have “windage”. The colors between Bozeman and Butte were browns and grays although there were interesting rock formations. The B cities, Billings, Bozeman and Butte, all strike me as sprawled out and the areas near the interstate are lined with old vehicles and equipment which is not a very appealing introduction to a town. It’s as though they’ve always had plenty of space so they don’t need to be conscience of land usage. At 10 a.m. I crossed the Continental Divide at about 6300 feet. It brought back memories of my first of crossing it when I couldn’t stay awake because of the Dramamine to ward off car sickness. My hosts that had invited me on the trip were a bit chagrined. I was 15.
Approaching Missoula there was more color with trees farther along than the other areas although this is further north. This KOA is quite large and backs up to a street full of stores including Costco and Lowes. My site is at the farthest end near a school bus lot. I feel like a bit of an outcast. (though I have more company than usual.) However they are doing some digging in the middle area which I suspect is some type of utility problem so it’s probably best to be away from that. I’m staying 2 nights and hope to use the time to catch up with some maintenance chores, perhaps get some propane, as well as some touring of the area.
The internet connection works well and I was delighted to receive some emails which told me I have some readers! I appreciate the feedback. As I said last year on the trip to Newfoundland, it’s like having company along.
I’m hoping to put up my photos to date (146). Try it with this link and you should be able to see as slide show:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sandy41mail/AlaskaTrip?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfxvenrorWQtwE&feat=directlink
Working on the photos has reminded me of many things I wanted to share that then fleet away when I’m writing. These include the fact that the rock formations in the badlands lose about an inch a year through erosion by wind and water. If that happened to me I would be gone 67 years, 67 inches! The buffalo at Custer State Park are rounded up once a year, vaccinated, tagged and some are selected to be auctioned off thus controlling the size of the herd. Be sure to look for the photos of the baby bison. There are quite small and must be fairly newborn.