Day 8 - Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND to Cut Bank, MT

I'm really glad I crawled into my truck last night to sleep when I did. About 15 minutes after I did, I heard the tell-tale drip drip drip on the camper shell of the beginnings of rain. I'd seen the dark clouds in the west as the sun set and the flashes of lightning brightening the clouds once it was dark. I knew it was coming. It rained all night. When I woke up this morning--again at an ungodly hour--the rain had stopped but everything was still very wet. I packed up and left. It rained most of the day off and on. Here was today's route:


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The good thing about driving in the plains is that you usually can see what you're about to drive into.


And the dark sky set against the ochre fields is uniquely stunning.


Montana is really far across! Like Texas, you can drive the better part of the day and never leave the state. That's not to say that there aren't things to see.

Here's my first glimpse of the Rockies. This was near Malta, MT. Alas, these mountains were simply a tease, for U.S. Highway 2 (also known as The Great Northern Road or the Hi Line) completely bypasses the mountains, staying in the prairie of eastern Montana for another 200 miles before entering the mountains.


In Chester, MT, I came across this line of old cars. A special prize to the first person who can name the year, make, and model of all of them. My dad cannot win this prize.


And close-ups of a couple of the more interesting hood ornaments on these amazingly intact derelicts.



Finally, the downtown of Shelby, MT looks like it hasn't been updated since about 1950, which I find extremely cool. It has a great collection of vintage neon for about three or four blocks. It's a town like this that makes staying on the back roads such a thrill. If I'd been on the interstate (which, interestingly, also passes through Shelby, but about a mile away), I would never had seen this. Instead it would basically be Pilot, Flying J, Cracker Barrel, McDonalds, Cracker Barrel, Cracker Barrel.



Tomorrow, I finally hit the Rockies as I enter Glacier National Park. This I have been looking forward to since I left.