American West Bus Tour Day 17/20 - Montana Wake-up, North Dakota for Breakfast, Wyoming for Lunch, South Dakota for Dinner
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Today was the day of four states. We awoke in Glendive, Montana. Our bargain hotel advertised free breakfast for all guests. We went down for breakfast and were presented with two choices of dry cereal - not exactly egg, waffles, or pancakes like most other hotels. We opted to skip that and headed east for breakfast.
We made a short drive to Beach, North Dakota for breakfast at Buzzy Cafe.
This placed Arlona in her 47th state. After a very nice breakfast, we took off for places south, trusting Google Maps to navigate us. It mentioned that part of the route was unpaved - OK, dirt roads are not uncommon.
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| This looks more like a two-track than an unpaved road |
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| Yeah, this is where we're supposed to be |
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| Glad we're in a rental SUV and not a car - this was not a good route |
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| We finally arrived on an actual unpaved dirt road and crossed back into Montana |
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| It was so dry, the dust was impressive |
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| We drove past miles of sunflowers ready for harvest - this must have been beautiful a couple of months ago |
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| Miles of nothing |
Finally, back on 20th-century paved roads, we continued heading south
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| Driving through Baker, Montana |
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| It's hard to see, but there were multiple metal cutouts along the top of this mound - cow, horse and rider, wagon, etc |
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| Medicine Rocks State Park - there were more farther away from the road |
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| We crossed back into Wyoming |
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| We caught sight of our destination, Devils Tower |
Devils Tower tops out at 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River. The tower itself is 867 feet from the base to the summit. It is a national monument and is managed by the National Park Service.
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| If it looks familiar, and you're a movie fan, you'll recognize it from Close Encounters of the Third Kind - this is where the aliens landed |
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| We pulled off for photos of Devils Tower near this cattle operation - it's hard to see but the pen on the back left was full of cows and wow- were they loud |
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| Driving down toward the park entry |
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| We enjoyed the view but didn't enter the park |
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| We pulled off at another overlook |
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| The opposite side of the street offered views into a stunning canyon |
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| There appeared to be an impromptu car show at the overlook |
By this time, it was pushing 90 degrees and we were getting pretty uncomfortable in our rental GMC Terrain with broken air conditioning. We soldiered on.
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| Interesting chasms in the ground yielding bright red rocks |
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| Random mini-mountains popped up here and there |
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| We arrived in Sundance, Wyoming |
We needed a comfort stop and a little food. We stopped at a gas station with a Subway. Unfortunately, Subway was closed on weekends. We grabbed some light snacks and called it lunch.
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| We crossed into South Dakota, Arlona's 48th state, tied now with me |
Our plan was to head to Crazy Horse and then Mt. Rushmore, but after two days of cruising at 80MPH (the speed limit in Montana and Wyoming) at 90 degrees with the windows down to keep cool wore us out. We changed plans and headed to the airport now to change cars.
This brought us right through Spearfish, South Dakota. We have friends from The Villages who have a place here and spend summers here. We called, but alas, they were away for the weekend. She recommended that we take a detour and drive through Spearfish Canyon, so that's what we did.
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| Her recommendation was solid as it was a beautiful drive with rock cliffs and colorful trees |
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| We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls |
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| We turned around and headed back the way we came |
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| It was a lovely drive with nice colors and stunning views |
After some nice, slow cruising, and therefore quiet, we ramped the speed, and noise back up and headed to the airport.
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| I hit the Enterprise counter where they swapped our GMC Terrain for a Chevy Equinox - essentially the same vehicle, but with working air conditioning |
We checked in to our hotel, the Best Western Plus Rapid City Rushmore, and took stock. It was a little after 4:00. We could head to one or both of the monuments, or, we could call it a day and grab a nice dinner. After two hot and long days, we chose the latter.
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| We hit up Sickies Garage and had a great dinner |
After dinner, we popped into Walmart for some more Coke Zero and Diet Mountain Dew to get us through the next three days and called it a day. Showers felt great and we'll be ready for a big day tomorrow. We plan to go to Crazy Horse, drive the Needles Highway, see Mt. Rushmore, stop at Wall Drug, and wind up in Mitchell, South Dakota. If we have time, we'll visit the Corn Palace. If not, we'll do that on Monday.
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