Day 9: Montana and Wyoming

August 4, 2011 - We woke up today ready to travel.  We had to reach Pittsburgh by a certain date to pick up Bruce's family from the airport.  We were on a schedule, a schedule with no lead way at all.  Our first step was to get the camper ready to go; which involved some arguing and posturing on both our parts.  However, the camper was squared away and ready to go in a good amount of time; with only a few denizens of the campground watching our antics.

These camp robbers were everywhere...

Travelling Montana

With Missoula behind us, Bruce and I travelled the length and breadth of the land.  The scenery was never dull.  Mountains were eventually replaced by plains, which gave way to mountains again.  The scenery always changed; and in reality, I was thankful for it.

Hills are a major feature in Montana besides cows.

If you look hard in the right hand corner, you can see Julie Andrews.

Interstate 90; we've been together for many miles.

The hills in the beginning of the days trip reminded me of the hills I grew up around in California.  Thankfully the roads didn't roll like the hills did; I'm not sure if our stomachs could stand the lurching up and down as if we were on a ship at sea.  Luckily for Bruce and myself, the roads were in excellent repair and quite level.

Eventually we reached the plains of Montana, an area between Bozeman and Billings.  This part of Montana looks to be a part of The Great Plains, and it was nice to see what was in store for us in the very near future.  We arrived just in time to witness a large storm was rolling in across the undulating fields.  The plains were simply amazing, and the coming storm added a certain energy to the whole landscape.

Bruce and I stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank and our stomachs.  Home cooked meals don't enter our minds much anymore; we survive off of diners and the sandwiches in the refrigerator at the gas station.  Beef jerky is my friend while Bruce enjoys his chocolate milk and both of us have killed off multitudes of six-packs of energy drinks.  I sometimes remember what home-cooked meals tasted like; in my dreams.

Humberto stretches his legs at a pit-stop in Montana.

Storm coming in...

...Bruce says it's already here.

Wyoming

Past Billings we made our way South, determined to cut across Wyoming that night in order to make it to the airport in Pennsylvania.  This meant that Bruce and I had to drive all day and all night, alternating often between the two of us; much like what we did through most of Canada.  We had to make it to the airport on time, and I understood Bruce's predicament.  I was more than happy to help him reach his goals, but at the same time was growing slightly frustrated with taking pictures out of the window as we zoomed by things.

When it comes to friendships and helping your buddies; I will always roll up my sleeves.  I value the friendship between Bruce and myself more than a lot of things; including getting crisp photographs.

With the storm behind us in Montana, I was able to photograph an amazing sunset in "The Cowboy State", also known as Wyoming.

National Geographic here I come!

And just like that!  It was gone.

I  was the one who drove all night through Wyoming, and I only stopped to get gasoline in Moorcroft. The trip was very dark, nothing could be seen at all.  You could not see the sky and you couldn't see past the headlights.  There were several times that I thought there was a low clearance tunnel ahead or a very low bridge simply because it was so dark.  It scared me a couple of times, but I managed to push through and we made our way safely out of Wyoming and into "The Mount Rushmore State", South Dakota.