Thursday, April 12
Road Trip Day 4 - Chadron NE to Butte MT via US 385, US 85, and I-90. Distance traveled approximately 715 miles.
It was clear and very cold when we hit the road at 7:30. Right at the South Dakota line we ran into a fog bank that looked as if it could easily become freezing fog, not a pleasant thing to drive through. Fortunately, by the time we stopped for breakfast in Custer (note - the unfortunate general has a lot of things named for him hereabouts) the fog had cleared and the going was easy.
The Black Hills were still pretty snowy, but there wasn't anything on the road except a little ice on the shoulders here and there. The scenery got better - old abandoned shacks and things on the roadside, Crazy Horse's head emerging from the rocks - as we approached Deadwood.
BIL had never been there, but we just did a drive-through, as the town appeared deserted, with the only things visible in the numerous casinos being large gents in suits standing in the windows waiting for gamblers. Good luck with that. The entrance to the Mount Moriah cemetery (where you can visit the side-by-side graves of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane) was shut and snowy, so we gave that a pass too.
On up to the junction with I-90 and into Wyoming, then through Gillette where we saw the huge open-cast source of all the Nebraska coal trains. Stopped for a coffee in Sheridan, where Buffalo Bill's house/hotel was having its foundation replaced, then roared into Montana. We stopped briefly at one of the Crow "trading posts" next to the entrance to the Little Big Horn battlefield, but declined to fork over the $10 for a car entry fee as it was still a little snow-covered, it was getting on into the afternoon, and we'd both seen it - him once and me at least 3 times, and we doubted if it's changed too much. However, it remains one of the most evocative sites in the country in my opinion, so if you're in the area…
The goal for the evening was the Land of Magic steakhouse in Logan, around 30 miles west of Bozeman. The plan was to find someplace to stay near Logan so we could waddle into the motel room reeking of beef and whisky, should it come to that (heaven forefend.) As it turned out, there's no place to stay near Logan, unless sleeping under a freeway bridge or in an empty boxcar is your idea of a good night.
Thus the whisky part of the waddle plan was nixed. The steak part - well, that was just fine.
The Land of Magic is a half mile or so from the bottom of a freeway exit road that says "No Services." It's a ranch-style building with a big parking lot full of pickup trucks. Enter under the antler racks, turn left into the bar with permanent Christmas lights, four guys drinking Bud Light at the bar while Tim McGraw sings and ESPN replays. We are seated by the waitress/bartender who calls everybody "hon."
The meal is served: Mini-loaf of fresh bread, "relish" plate with somewhat limp veggies and ranch dressing dip, chicken rice soup with way more chicken than Campbell's packs, green salad or shrimp cocktail, then a 25-ounce Porterhouse steak accompanied by a "twice-baked" potato. The steak is not overly tough but not butter-tender either; just the right degree of resistance in fact. Plenty of steak sauces available but none needed. Totally delicious and not finish-able. Oh, then ice cream with chocolate or caramel sauce. Price $25. Waddle time.
We leave at last light, and then drive through an amazing sunset and twilight into Butte, where the Hilton Corporation awaits.
Friday, April 13
Road Trip Day 5 - Butte MT to Seattle WA via I-90. Distance traveled approximately 595 miles.
Another icy early start, but now we're in the home stretch and we make good time into Missoula, where we fortify ourselves with a latte (no food needed after last night) not far from the University. Missoula is a very attractive college town, well worthy of a longer visit, but it's close enough to Seattle that one can come for a three-day weekend if one chooses, so we get back into Dobbin and make for the Pacific time zone.
Which we hit crossing Lookout Pass into Idaho, then down through Wallace and the economically depressed mining area around it and past Lake Coeur d'Alene into its namesake city. Another nice place albeit in danger of being overly cute-ified at the hands of the boomers. Through outlet mall hell at the state line, and into the loving, waiting embrace of a Washington State Trooper who informs me I was going well over the speed limit (sign discreetly posted behind a broken down semi?) Then he sees my Washington driver's license and looks again at the NY plates on the car.
"Rental?"
"Yep."
Sigh. "Well I still have to write you up, but I'll make it for 5 over. That'll save you major bucks."
(Code: "Appeal this.")
Grumble, grumble… Welcome home, pilgrim…
I poke through Spokane obeying the ridiculous speed limits, then back up onto the flats west of town and through wheat country to Ritzville, where we stop for lunch. The Circle T downtown (a fave spot - road food heaven) is shut with some paper on the door - oh I hope not - but Zip's drive-in is open and still serving great burgers, so all is not lost. I can't believe we're eating beef again.
Onward past George (WA) and down the Gorge walls to the Columbia River - last big water we'll traverse. Through Ellensburg and up into the Cascades, still snowy and quite wintry at the summit, the ski areas looking a bit forlorn. We descend into the Snoqualmie Valley and the Seattle suburbs, where spring is at least 3 weeks ahead of anywhere else we've seen crossing the continent. Through Bellevue and over Lake Washington, through the tunnel that says "Seattle - Portal to the Pacific" - and we're home.
Five days instead of five hours. It's nice to see the country from the ground once in awhile. Highly recommended.
Oh, I should mention there are some excellent turnoffs too, if you have more time. Chicago, for instance. Memphis. Yellowstone. Quite a few, actually.