To Coeur d'Alene - #52-04

June 2, 2005 (Thu)
Camp Walmart, Gillette, WY
Hill City SD to Gillette, WY (188/2174 miles) Q014479

Deadwood South Dakota is where Wild Bill Hickok, a gambler, sharpshooter and one of the most infamous characters to ever come out of the Wild West, met his demise - shot in the back while playing poker in Saloon #10. The cards he held at the time, two black aces and two black eights, came to be known as a "Dead Man's Hand". It would have been the winning hand had he lived. The brochure says that Saloon #10 still stands on Deadwood's main street. It does (kind of). It and its neighboring establishments (3 or 4) were apparently built of ageless wood or lumber purchased from Home Depot just last week. Even so the tiny half street is the only thing in Deadwood that looks remotely "western". It has become a gaming town with tiny metered parking spaces and no interest in RVers. We drove on, disappointed.

The alien space ship in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" landed at the Devil's Tower in Northeast Wyoming. We saw no hint of space ship or aliens but it sure was a spectacular piece of rock. From a distance in sticks up out of the landscape all alone and seemingly over sized and out of place. Close up it towers overhead with majestic power. It is easy to understand why it was and is a spiritual place for Native Americans in the area. We hiked a little way up the trail circumventing the tower but since we weren't staying - the campground doesn't accommodate rigs as big as Ed and Kathy's - and it was lunch time, we marked it as something to do next time.

We're guests of Walmart tonight. It was so nice of them to offer us this quiet(?) spot.
__________

June 3, 2005, (Fri)
Camp Walmart Bozeman, MT
Gillette, WY to Bozeman, MT (360/2543 miles) Q014857

A penske rent-a-truck (18 wheeler) parked near us last night and idled his engine until nearly bed time then started it up again about 3 am. Why didn't he go to the Flying J truck stop down the street? Maybe too noisy!

I-90 was our entire venue today. Our only stop, other than rest breaks, was to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument near Hardin, Montana. This is the site of what has come to be called Custer's Last Stand. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer lead a 600 man attack against a large (1500 - 2000 warrior) Lakota-Cheyenne force camped in these hills. His battle tactics, and inferior manpower, lead to an astounding defeat - they were all killed! This site is not only a memorial to the men lost from the 7th U.S. Cavalry but also to the Indian's loss.

Our first sighting of the snow capped Rockies was of the Bighorn Mountains before coming to the National Monument, first ahead of us then beside and finally behind. We didn't go through them but north of them. Then it was the Beartooth, Crazy, and Absaroka mountain ranges all snow capped blending with the clouds and beautiful. Although the sky was overcast the mountains glowed as if in bright sun shine. We hit heavy rain coming down out of Bozeman Pass (elev. 5760) but it didn't last long.

We are guests of Walmart again tonight. It's a beautiful recently converted (enlarged) Supercenter just off I-90. There are several RVs (20?) parked around and more coming in. There's even a collapsible trailer!
_____________________

June 4, 2004, (Sat)
Wolf Lodge Campground #5 w/e/s $14.11p B+
Bozeman, MT to Coeur d'Alene, ID (361/2903 miles) Q015218

Last night the computer indicated that there was a WiFi hotspot nearby but the signal wasn't strong enough to use. On our evening walk we noticed that the Arby's (a fast food place) across the highway had free WiFi so this morning we drove over there. No better signal there. On a hunch we stopped near the Comfort Inn across the Walmart parking lot from where we spent the night. We got a good strong signal there but we needed to have a password.

Today it was all I-90 westbound across Montana. It was an absolutely gorgeous day - mostly sunny with big puffy clouds casting shadows on the nearby mountains. It's impossible to fully describe how beautiful this country is with its great expanses of rolling hills that fade into the far distance. The white jagged mountain horizon drew our eyes and soothed our spirits. It's amazing how vast open landscape can be so calming and restful. We crossed the Continental Divide at about 9:15 am (48.9°) following a railroad line much of the way. It's interesting how much like model railroad layouts the real thing looks out here. The tunnels, trestles, bridges and landscape cuts and fills may as well have been modeled by a giant hands. Everything has a different scale out here - and perspective. We found gasoline for $2.19 a gallon and considered it a steal.

We're in Idaho about 23 miles from the Washington border. The campground is small and very close to I-90 so it will be noisy tonight but it's clean and nicely kept. The owners are friendly and helpful.
__________________

June 5, 2005 (Sun)
Wolf Lodge Campground, Coeur d'Alene, ID (2)

No travel today. Instead, we took a scenic ride along the Coeur d'Alene Lake. This is a true mountain lake in that the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains tower over it on both sides. At times we were at lake level but usually the road was a few hundred feet up the side of the mountain. It was a beautiful drive even though the clouds were heavy and it began to rain well before we got back to camp. We also took a jaunt to Post Falls where there is an outlet mall. Many of the stores were empty and the rest were closed. Bummer. On the way back we went into Coeur d'Alene to see what is left of the painted moose sculptures (a city fund raising project). We only found one. This afternoon we sat around reading, napping, and listing to the rain on Q's roof.