Day 2, Spearfish, SD to Lewistown, MT

May 10  We left Spearfish around 7:30 a.m. and continued on I-90 West.  Leaving the Black Hills behind we entered drier, sage brush covered hills.  When passing Gillette, WY, we were reminded of last night's news coverage that the open pit coal mines in this area were on the verge of shipping their 10 billionth ton of coal.  If my math is correct that is 10,000,000,000 tons!  Geologist have predicted that there is enough coal remaining to easily achieve 100 billion tons!  Peggy and I passed this area on our honeymoon in 1973, and they already had a significant hole in the ground.  Can't imagine what the size of the open pit must be now.  But if we stop and revisit things we have been to previously we'll never make it to Alaska in a timely fashion.

Continuing in a westerly direction we saw the Bighorn Mts. west of Buffalo and Sheridan, WY. This is the earliest in the year that we have seen the Rockies, and they are snow laden- very pretty.  However, since we had been there, done that with camping, and seeing the Medicine Wheel, etc., on other trips to Wyoming, Peggy snapped some photos of them through the pickup's window.  If they turned out, we will post them on our Picassa web site to which the hot link is found in an early post.

OK...had to try the photo feature.  So, here is a pix Peggy took going 62 MPH down I-90!  She even missed the bug splatters on the windshield!

Bighorn Mts near Buffalo, WY

At Buffalo I-90 turns to the northwest.  About 20 miles north of Buffalo, a predicted cold front moved through and with it came northerly winds blowing at about 20-25 MPH.  Oh well, we drove all morning with no interference from the wind.

Past Sheridan, WY, we entered Montana.  We drove past the Custer National Battlefield.  You could easily see the little white markers in the cemetery.  However, we had been to the battlefield on the banks of the Little Bighorn River during an earlier excursion.  And, since our goal again today was to cover territory we drove on.  I do recommend to anyone that you visit this great historic site.  It would be well worth your time.

We connected with I-94 west and followed it to Billings, MT.  There we left the ease of Interstate driving and took Hwy 87 north and west.  We have stopped for the night in a campground in Lewistown, MT.  Tomorrow we head to Great Falls, MT, pick up I-15 north, and should make it into Canada!

Todays mileage was about 400 miles traveled.  Approximately 2600 miles to Wasilla!  And yes...we are still having fun!!  It will be interesting to see if I continue with this mileage thing and whether or not I can keep up the dialogue.  If not, I'm sure my navigator would also take over the role of commentator!

Today's Photos Uploaded to Picassa