Devils Tower and Some Montana

Hello Everyone. We've made it to Missoula, Montana tonight. We've had a long couple of days, but fun too. We left Omaha yesterday morning and drove through Iowa and S. Dakota. We had rain as we left home and again the last 50 or so miles of the day. Heavy, heavy rain in the Black Hills as we drove through Rapid City. We stayed over night in Spearfish, SD at a Quality Inn we've stayed at many times. However in the three or so years since we last stayed there, it has gone downhill considerably. We saw several people check in about the same time as we did and they went back and asked for a refund and left. We probably should have done the same, but we didn't. Suffice it to say we won't stay again.

This morning we were up and gone before 8:00 because we wanted to get to the Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming before it got too hot outside. It was perfect while we were there. It's about a 50 mile drive from Spearfish. The photo below is about 10 miles away from the tower. Everything is so green everywhere we go. There is definitely no drought in Western S.D. or Montana from what we've seen. The rivers and creeks are all running high, even the Yellowstone River. And you'll see from the following photos how green it it.

We hiked partway around the base, but we had a long drive ahead of us so we didn't go all of the way around. If you could only smell the scents we did here. It was indescribably beautiful. The flowers, the pine trees, the grasses. It was a perfect morning.

Another view of the tower. We also got a new stamp in our National Park Passport book.

They had information all along the trail and I thought this might interest you.

The next photos were supposed to be first, but blogger had a mind of it's own tonight.

This is just a tiny example of the S. Dakota Badlands that I photographed as we zoomed down the interestate at 80 mph! There is much more impressive landscape off of the interstate a bit further.

One of the first glimpses of the Black Hills of S. Dakota. One of my very favorite places on this earth.

This is actually the very first glimpse of the hills from about 50 miles away. Every time we drive across S. Dakota, I wait for this stretch of road. It's one of my favorites as the road curves though the hills and you can see what seems like forever.

So pretty and green isn't it? The storm clouds were moving in and it soon rained on us which was nice to wash the bugs off of the windshield.

We drove over 12 hours today and finally arrived here in Missoula after 9:00 pm. Our plan was to go to a little town called Philipsburg, MT. this afternoon. We've never been there but have always wanted to stop sometime. We've always been in too big of a hurry. We arrived about 6:00 thinking we would get a hotel and then eat dinner. Philipsburg is known for it's big, old-fashioned candy store and also sapphire mining. When we got there literally everything in town was closed. There was a concert and even the hotel owner was gone and the door locked! We finally found a place out on the highway to get a hamburger. It reminded me of the bar scene in Pure Country with George Straight. Country music playing, LOUDLY. Lot of motorcylists and cowboys in there.  The casino machines were humming, and lots of people having a good old time! The food was good, and that's what we needed. After eating, we decided to come on to Missoula for the night. We got the last room here at the Comfort Inn and it's 300% better in every way from last nights room. We usually plan for everything way ahead of time, but this trip we're "flying by the seat of our pants." We're just going with the flow and so far we're enjoying it very much. We should be in Spokane by early afternoon if all goes well. There are a couple of stops we want to make at favorite places along the way. We have made the drive between Helena and Spokane dozens of times so it's very familiar to us. We can't wait to see Lake Coeur d'Alene again. A year is too long to be away from our home. :-)

And now I'm off to bed. It's been a long day of sitting in the car. How can that be so exhausting? Dennis is doing great. His hand starts throbbing from laying on the armrest in the car sometimes, so he hold's it up to his chest for awhile. But he says he's fine. I agree with a lot of you. I can't believe those pins don't hurt!!

Take care everyone and I'll try to check back again soon. It will be a busy time in Spokane so I don't know if I'll get to post again for awhile. Have a wonderful 4th of July if you live in the USA. 

Blessings and love,
Betsy