Day 2: Missoula, MT to Dickinson, ND
Day 2: Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Missoula, MT to Dickinson, ND
We had a great night's sleep last night and it wasn't even too cold, considering we were in the mountains. I woke up at 7:30 and was surprised to see that the people who had been in the site next to us were gone. I guess they had just come for the evening and a campfire. The mosquitos were horrible again this morning so we packed up as fast as we could. I washed our breakfast dishes in the bathroom in the sink and forgot a dishcloth and managed to soak myself in the process. :) It was another beautiful day and we were on the road by 8:30, with Daryl starting off the driving. We stopped at the next small town called Drummond to get gas. It was such a cute little town, all about supporting their local high school team called the Trojans. I did a professional job of cleaning all the squished bugs off the windscreen - so much so that it is now my official job whenever Daryl fills up with gas! I also was able to clean off the disgusting toe and footpring from the inside! Yay!! We traded drivers just after Butte so I would get to drive until the next rest stop. Well, who knew that it was going to be almost 200 miles! I was so grumpy but there was no where to pull over as they were doing a ton of construction. We finally found a rest stop outside at Greycliff and Daryl gladly took over. (I think he was sick of me trying to pass people while staying somewhat around the speed limit and not wanting anyone I'd passed to repass me- I'm a very competitive driver). We had lunch in Billings and I was stoked to try to get internet in the McDonald's parking lot. Unfortunately, it was NOT free and there was no way I was going to enter my credit card. We filled up with gas again and are thrilled to find that gas is getting cheaper as we go east. It is only costing us about $40 to fill up the tank and we can go about 550km on a tank. We drove a lot today and stopped at a rest stop in Thurlow where we saw a rattlesnake sign. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any rattlesnakes. We did see a guy trying to fix his car with his crack showing. He made NO attempt to pull up his pants, despite numerous opportunties. It was hilarious! Americans are awesome! Daryl drove the rest of the day as I had had enough. We stopped again at Wibaux right on the border of Montana and North Dakota. The info center lady was very nice and gave us a bunch of coupons for stuff and hotels in Dickinson. She also asked Daryl to help her take down the flag as she was too short and it saved her from having to drag out the ladder. He was happy to help. People are very friendly here, always asking us where we're heading. Guess they don't see too many BC plates. We pressed on and finally got to Dickinson, ND at about 6:30ish where we tried to find a motel. The first place we tried was full and the next was charging 100 bucks a night - on a Tuesday?? There was no way we were going to pay that. It finally came down to Select Inn and Super 8 Motel. They were around the same price so I asked the girl at the Super 8 which one was honestly better and she told us the Select! She worked at both places so she would know! Off we went to the Select Inn and got a nice enough room for under $70. After carting our stuff in, I checked to see if we got Wi-Fi and we did! Yay! And it was free! Daryl was hungry so we went looking for a restaurant. Dickinson is a fair sized town so we had lots of choices. Applebee's caught our eye (only cause I thought I'd seen it in my WW books) so we decided to check it out. We were glad we did as Daryl got mozza sticks, a bacon cheeseburger and fries and a hot fudge sundae of $9.99! I had a delicious teriyaki beef bowl. They even have WW stuff on their menus. It was super tasty and we'd like to go back again and try other things. We came back to our motel where I uploaded pictures and wrote up the days adventures on the computer. Then we went for free ice cream cones at McDonald's - yay for those coupons from the rest stop! The internet was really sporatic so I tried to upload onto my livejournal but I didn't have much luck.
Daryl pointing at the guy with his pants half off...nice, eh?
I forgot my sunglasses and it was sunny!
Daryl trying to make a scared looking face cause of the sign....
...but I could do it much better!
Daryl at a scenic look out in North Dakota, just past the state line from Montana.
We really didn't take many pictures today. More next time!