It’s a Big Dam Country – Day 24

Not so much a trip report as a weather report.

There’s weather approaching from the northwest (hello canada, hello snow) and I’m heading, um, northwest. Somewhere the snow and I are going to meet. I was just hoping to pick the spot.

I chose Billings, MT.

So off I went.

I did stop in Malta, briefly. There was a classic rail depot that’s still in use.

And of course the grain elevator.

It started raining about then. Nasty, cold, Seattle in November rain. Long straight roads with few other vehicles. Kind of a zen thing – I go up the rise, I go down the rise, I go straight across the valley, I go up the rise, I go down the rise…

At one point I looked up in the sky and saw a helicopter. A big helicopter. It was green and gold and it was flying low. WTF. Not state police and not life flight. No TV logos. Just big, and looking like it wanted a place to land. Really lousy weather to be flying in.

This is what the sky looked like. When it wasn’t raining.

At Billings I stopped and called home for recon help. It looked likely that I could make Livingstone before it started to snow/get dark. Jim sweetly made me a hotel reservation. I grabbed a starbucks and headed west again.

About 10 miles outside of Livingston the rain turned to snow.

Even the locals are a bit nonplussed.

OTOH My life isn’t as bad as the guy I just met in hotel hallway. Remember what I said about a big green and gold helicopter? They just bought it and are trying to fly it to the coast. Maybe they should rent a truck?

Random Stuff:

If wishes were wings I could fly to the moon.

The music to day was unremarkable. Except, maybe, a couple of Patsy Cline tunes.

Today’s Route:

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