Day 50-- Driving East in MT

When I booked the hotel in Cooke City I didn't realize I would have to take this mountain road to leave heading east. Every time I met someone and said "I'm staying in Cooke City" they would respond "OH, are you taking Beartooth Highway?" I didn't know. Then I looked at a map. Now that I understand what real mountain driving is (especially in the Rockies). So, I decided to drive through Yellowstone on the way out of Cooke City. That meant that a trip that would be 200 miles, was now 300 miles. Plus, the ride through Yellowstone has a 45 mph speed limit. I was going about 35-40 most of the time. There is just so much to see.

So, because we looped around through the park to get to Interstate 90, we drove for 7 hours, but only did about 330. We ended up a little east of Billings, which was WAY west of where I wanted to be. It was a little frustrating, but honestly, the ride through Yellowstone for the last time was nice. AGAIN I saw a buffalo walk down the road. This time he passed inches from our car. I was holding my breath the whole time. Thankfully he kept going. I wondered if it was the same guy as the day before.

Anyway, the weather was kinda crappy- but could have been a lot worse. We got out of Yellowstone and Cooke City just in time. I heard they had hail after we left.

We got into Billings and I said to Michael, "let's look at some hotels here". Well, they were all booked or really expensive because of the Montana State Fair. It also didn't help that it was a Saturday night.

We continued to the next town with a hotel, which was 90 miles away. Can you believe that? Well, I was happy to find this hotel, because the other ones in town were "scary". That is our word for a cheap hotel that started from the TX stay. We unpacked and got right into our pj's. It was not an easy day. I wasn't feeling great and everyone I called was busy or not home. Driving hundreds of miles when you know you have 2 MORE days of solid driving is basically- not fun.

I'm SO SO SO happy that the beginning of the trip wasn't like this. I realize that driving 100-300 miles per day and stopping at least every third day for two nights REALLY saved us for most of the trip. This kind of driving is exhausting.

(pictures to come)