Janet's death didn't deter me from continuing with plans for that next trip...

In a way, I was to do it in memory of her, and to heed her wishes to go through every state we hadn't visited on this first trip. I had to abandon the plans to include Europe in the trip and so the next thing to do was find a suitable vehicle for the journey.

Scouring Craigslist in the Spokane area - so I could have Jon's help in checking out vehicles - presented me with a variety of opportunities. And then I found the B350 conversion van.

The full story of the 16,100 mile trip I took in 2014 follows...

 

While I had found the van...



...Jon had located a club cab 1973 D100 Adventurer:



This had been owned by a friend of his who had died. I decided to buy both of them, using the van for my trip and then leaving it there for yet another later trip while I would take the Adventurer to LA to ship home with another load of Mopar parts inside.

It made practical sense, too, as left hand drive vehicles have to be 30 years old to be registered in Australia - at least in most states - and the van was only 27.

 

After a very hectic couple of final days preparing, I faced Monday, May 11, 2014 as the day I had to be sure everything was ready to go.

I didn't get to bed this Monday night, at 2:30am or so I left home and drove to my nephew, Ben's, on the way the driver's window of the Subaru Forester decided it didn't like going up or down any more and stopped in the mid range. The last 80 or 90kms I had a gale force cold wind blowing in on me!

Ben got me to the railway station for the direct train from the Gold Coast to Brisbane Airport, I was in plenty of time to book in for the flight, I had breakfast as I waited.


Qantas 747 This was the aircraft for the trip to Los Angeles. It would be a 12hr 30min flight, I barely got any sleep for some reason.

In Los Angeles I rented this Chrysler 200 for the day. I had just asked for a small car, I got a convertible!


My rental car for the day. I needed to see someone about making oil pumps for me, they were about 90 miles out of LA and so I didn't book my flight to Spokane until the evening and this gave me about seven (very tired!) hours to get a rental car and go see the man.

When we were in LA the first day of our last trip Janet had wanted to see the big 'Hollywood' sign on the hill, we got caught in traffic and didn't really know where to look, but this time I had time and I took a photo of it for the sake of being able to say I made it this time.

We had been very close, but we didn't have time to ask people (I spent over an hour asking directions and getting blank stares before someone sent me in the right direction).


The Hollywood sign (up Beachwood Drive). So I risked standing in the middle of the road to get the shot...

Along the way I'd seen these things pumping and decided it would be appropriate to photograph them too:


The pumps. You've all seen these in the movies... here they are in sunny California.


Quarters and halves! This is something we no longer see in Australia, of course... signs with fractions on them!


The Canadair 900. The flight to Spokane was to take over two hours. The aircraft was really quite small, it got down to just three seats wide in parts. It's a Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) 900. Delta looked after me and let me carry on a lot of weight so I didn't have to pay $120 in excess baggage fees.


Aerial sunset. The last time I headed in this direction in this part of the world Janet and I were blessed with the sight of the most incredible sunset. That was driving up through Idaho, but this one is from the plane

Jon picked me up at 10:30pm and took me to the little nest he'd made for me in his basement. Gina was fast asleep as she'd been working long hours in their pizza restaurants. I never got to visit these last time, though Janet did, but Jon took me on a little tour of one which they've just spent a lot of effort and expense remodelling.

But most of our time was spent getting down and dirty...


Big discs. They're over 13" in diameter and we needed to replace one which was unevenly worn. Not knowing about these things, we got a replacement which was from a different model and the wheel bearings were the wrong size. We got two more.


Bearing insurance. After suffering a wheel bearing failure the last time I was keen to do the right thing and get new ones before heading out on this trip. Big discs, big pads and bigger wheel bearings than in the pickup promised big things.

One of the main jobs was to fit a manual gearbox in place of the 727. Jon had found an A833 overdrive unit out of a slant 6 van and it came with everything we needed, pedals, linkages etc. Except for the bellhousing to suit the 360 engine, I had to drag that across from Australia with me, while Jon got a 318 flywheel adapted to suit the external balance of the 360 and picked up a clutch for me.

The wrecking yard has helped out with the parts, the van has resisted some of the work we've had to do but as of Thursday evening we were confident we'll have it up and running Friday midday or so.

Soon we'd be on our 'test drive' to Seattle and Vancouver Island.

 

As we were working on the van for those days, Jon and I would have our lunch at a local diner...



Sportsman Cafe and Lounge. We had a few nice lunches here while we were working on the van, and later the pickup. [Google Earth Street View]

This was quite an old-fashioned place with some nice furnishings, though I’ve had to rely on the internet to provide me with photos because I never took any myself:



Friendly atmosphere. There was no crowding when we were there and we got to talk to a few other patrons.[Andrew McElvaney]

We enjoyed the friendly atmosphere of the bar and had some good meals there. A closer look at the cantilever stools:



Cantilever stools. Probably a feature of every diner in the USA, these stools were fixed at the base of the bar for patrons wanting to sit up close. [Sheldon Mayfield]

And, of course, there were amenities that were sadly lacking back at Jon's shed...



Jon's shed. We worked on the van down behind the gate on the left, there were many things kept inside that shed which I would later take with me to ship to Australia[GE]

As we were heading up to the diner on the second day, I said to Jon, "I think I'll choke a darkie when we get there."

This was typical of the humour Jon and I were indulging in as we worked. He sat back in the driver's seat of the pickup, wondering what I meant, then when we got there and as I reached to open the door he said, "Drop the kids at the pool, right?"

Other things were going on those two days. There was a yard sale for a deceased estate, I picked up a whole lot of spanners and sockets, quilts, sheets, pillows and so on for use in the van. We made numerous trips to various O'Reillys, NAPA and Harbor Freight stores putting together stuff I needed.

And the guys at NAPA gave me a hat...

We got finished with the modifications and preparation of the van on Saturday, May 17, which included final checks on the manual transmission and the clutch linkage, got some extra keys cut for the van and the pickup and went back to Jon's place to pack for a couple of days of jaunt to Seattle and Vancouver Island. I had offered to take John on this little trip because of all the help he's given me with things.

Jon's son, Rees, was ready to go and play in the marching band:


Rees ready for the parade. Jon's 15-year old son Rees was all prepared to be a part of the marching band, he plays the sax.

But his dad was ready to help me drive away...


What a crew! Jon and I ready to depart Spokane

There was a lot of consternation about insurance for the van, but we finally sorted that out too - interrupting me getting some duplicate keys for the van and the pickup. During that phone call the girl asked me my marital status, it was the first time I'd been asked that question since Janet's death. That hit me hard.

We got on the road. It can't be said that we were without problems, but getting out on the road for this trek was intended to show up anything that might go wrong.

The first stage of the journey:




The carburettor was not right. When we got the van it had been fitted with a 2-barrel with an adaptor, the previous owner was trying to get better fuel consumption we assumed. Jon fiddled with it a bit as we went along, but some misfiring and a lot of surging shows that we need to get to the bottom of its problems. And then the clutch adjustment kept going away.

Still we were motoring and we had a solid initial run out of Spokane late on Saturday afternoon until we came to this rest area 80 miles out:


I90 - Schrag Rest Area, Ritzville. I remember stopping here with Janet, behind that screened off fence we had our morning cuppa, but for Jon and I it was just a very quick stop.

On we drive, keeping up a fair pace despite the carburettor problem. We reckoned that it would be okay to stop somewhere about 80 miles before Seattle and we found a Rest Area in just the right spot. There was a lot of trucks and motorhomes already there, but there was still plenty of room for us at Indian John Hill.

In the morning the sun rose to reveal a fresh day:


First sight of morning. Looking across the rest area towards the Interstate around 5:15am... time to get going.

This drive along the I90, after miles and miles of fairly featureless country, goes into mountains that are a great sight at any time of the year. At this time of the year there is still snow around...


The snow country. It's summer, but there's still some snow about... and note that the van's brake lights are on.


Beautiful Washington. This photo and the next...


Lakes and mountains. ...show a part of the endless prettiness we saw as we got nearer to Seattle.


And another... And the highway just wraps around the scenery.

We got to Seattle before seven and had breakfast at Denny's. Then we found Peter Bakalor, who used to write the Autosport reports on racing in Australia. I hadn't seen him since the late sixties but I knew him as soon as he opened the door.

Jon had a bit of a rest in the van while Peter and I discussed both old times and caught up on more of today's stuff. As it turned out, some time that day one of the subjects of our discussions, Jack Brabham, passed away aged 88.


An old friend. I hadn’t seen Peter since about 1967 and his wife I’d never met.(Web)

Peter's wife, Carolyn, joined in the conversation when she finally realised that Peter had disappeared on her (we were sitting at an outdoor setting in his backyard) and it was nice to hear an unadulterated Aussie accent. She's originally from Sydney too, though Peter is from Southern Africa.

On leaving there, and after another quick clutch adjustment, we headed for the border. Refuelling as we went, using Jon's Costco card (at Burlington) to get a discount, we pulled up at the border crossing and went through the usual interrogation. Something must have made them suspicious or they felt it was time to do a random check, so we were sent inside to await a quick inspection of the van and its contents.


Checked by Customs. We were selected for a quick vehicle inspection that most crossing the border miss out on. A few minutes and we were underway again. Once again, the brake lights are on...

After a brief drive into Canada we lined up to drive the van aboard the ferry to Vancouver Island... our most pleasant trip across the water and the next evening follow...

 

From leaving the Customs impound things were a lot better...

Before I get into the story of Saturday night and Sunday, I was rapidly learning that the van is a terrific vehicle for my journey. And it would have been infinitely better than the pickup Janet and I used in 2012.

Quite apart from the comfortable seats it has a more powerful engine that's in better shape. I've fitted the manual gearbox to suit my taste, but it cruises just so well in the overdrive gear and steering is nice, sitting at the controls is nice, sitting in the passenger seat is also comfortable. It handles like a neat little car despite the fact that it's 18'6 long and weighs well over two tons.

The course to Ladysmith, BC:




So we drove off to Tsawassen to board the ferry for the 2-hour trip to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. It's all very efficient, as you would expect from a setup that runs as many ferries in a day as they do. The cost of the crossing was $88.80 (Canadian) with the 'oversize vehicle' costing $53.25 and two adults $16.50 each, while there was a fuel surcharge of $2.75.

Two decks are set aside for car and truck transport, they fill quickly, we were efficiently lined up ready to board:


Awaiting boarding time. After paying for the ferry ride we were directed to line up in one of the queues ready to drive onto the ferry.


Departing the mainland. The cars visible here are the last of those driven onto the top car deck. We are just starting to get away from the dock.


Shipboard viewing. We were working our way up the channel to Nanaimo for almost two hours, the other islands forming a backdrop to the waters which delivered the sight of dolphins at play and a whale at one point.


Island homes. This is the foreshore of one of the smaller islands near Nanaimo. I'm guessing these homes would be very exclusive.

People who know what I'm like will understand that I soon got Jon and myself into a heavy discussion with a couple sitting at a table. Cliff and his wife had been to the mainland seeing off visiting Australian friends and told Jon many tales about their own travels in Australia. We learned a bit about Vancouver Island from them and their presence helped the two hours pass quickly.

It was they who pointed out the dolphins and the whale to us, too. But on docking we were keen to get to Mike's place as it was getting on in the day.


The hosts with the most. Mike and his wife Sandy were the most gracious of hosts for a full day. We arrived very late in the afternoon and they took us out to dinner. It was great.

I didn't take a photo of his 404 coupe, either, it was buried in the garage awaiting some restoration, while the many special bits and tools Mike has gathered over the years were the subject of some discussion.

One thing we did do was unpack the bits I had in my bags for a friend of Mike's. He likewise had a 404 coupe and had for years been using it with a station wagon differential because he'd been unable to get the right one.

As the wagon ratio is 4.75 instead of the sedan and coupe ratio of 4.2:1, driving his car is like staying in third gear all day. So I'd arranged to deliver a spare one I had from home, but as we unpacked it I discovered I'd left vital parts of it back at Jon's place. Mike paid me for it anyway, which gave me a little Canadian currency and covered the cost of 'extra baggage' on the flight from Brisbane.

And there was even enough for me to post the other part to him later. Which ultimately had to be planned in to avoid paying too much postage.

Otherwise, we were barely there and they piled us into their little Mercedes and drove us down some narrow lanes in the beautiful countryside to an old-English style pub and shouted us dinner. After that there was a bit of wine back at their place and some solid sleeping to be done.

Mike suggested we all sleep in the next day, as Sunday would be bringing more of Vancouver Island's beauty to us...

 

So this covered the first stage of my 'Road Trip' and gave me a fair idea of what it was like to drive my new van. At this stage I was fully expecting to cover 10,000 or maybe 11,000 miles on my journey. Remembering that I had a commitment to visit every continental (or 'contiguous') state during my travels.

Yes, I would achieve that, but by the time I'd finished I was to drive my van 14,400 miles and another pickup a further 1,700 miles - 16,100 miles in total - and visit 39 states and eight provinces of Canada. Here's a map contrived by the blog site, Travelark, which very roughly shows where I went:



It only shows straight lines from night stop to night stop, and sometimes I recorded a couple of days together, so it doesn't, for instance, show where I went up from North Dakota into Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Nor the big loop I did around Georgia.

But it gives a good idea of where I went...

 

Mike's late rising didn't come about... he was up about 8am and we breakfasted before boarding the Mercedes again and heading for a look around the lower part of the island that would encompass over 300kms of driving.




The first stop was Duncan. Jon's name is Duncan and he wanted a picture of himself alongside the town's identifying sign. He was readily accommodated:


Duncan... and Jon. Jon was surprised to find a town named Duncan and the attraction of getting his picture here overcame his normal reluctance to be photographed.

Vancouver Island's vast forests stand out. Whenever we were on main roads it was like driving down canyons of green...


Conifer canyons. Much of the distance to be covered by road is in the shadow of the conifers that grow abundantly on the island. This is on the main road between Victoria and points north, while on the narrower roads between smaller towns the trees simply tower over the roads and prevent you seeing much other than the roadway.

We went next to Cowichan and had a further bite to eat at Tim Horton's, then drove on the road that leads to Port Renfrew. Along the way we saw great sights, the lake being a feature:
.

Lake Cowichan. This is one of a number of lakes on the island, it's one of the most accessible and leaves little to be desired in beauty.

Logging we saw in abundance. The climate and terrain suits this industry, obviously, so you get sights like this occasionally...


Logging the island. Trees are logged regularly on the island. Incredibly, much of this timber is exported to China, but only from the privately owned forest areas.

Mike kept looking for a sign relating to an old tree, a thousand years old, but failed to find it. We did, find, however, this little fellow:


The incredible tree. Growing out of a dead log or stump in a small lake, this tree is almost bonsai-like in its size and appearance. Mike and Sandy have been watching it grow for years.

Isn't that something?

Finally, after weaving our way through the forest, those conifer canyons, we got to Port Renfrew.


Port Renfrew. We drove out onto the dock at Port Renfrew, and it was a typically beautiful Vancouver Island sight. This is a place you could come back to many times!


Upstream from the Port. Views like this could be absorbed all day!

Like all of what we saw, well worth the visit.

The drive was getting long, Mike had forgotten how far it was. But good company and pleasant in-car conversation helped along with the beautiful scenery. We stopped here:


Surf beach? This little beach is all stones, it was opposite a small cluster of homes and there were campers further along. The holiday atmosphere must go away at some time, however, and there would be people who commute to the larger towns for work.


Local folk. This is opposite the beach. When we first arrived we saw children climbing onto the fence and jumping from there onto a trampoline.

...but it was getting important to get into Victoria. And what a town this was!

It was full-scale party time as they celebrated Queen Victoria's birthday or whatever it was, people everywhere. This hotel, one of many built by the Canadian-Pacific Railway along its route across the country, stands out proud at the port that once must have been a busy little place with all the people and merchandise arriving from the mainland:


Victoria's charm... Capital of British Columbia, though it is on the island and therefore a little remote from most of the province, Victoria boasts this Canadian-Pacific Railway hotel called the Empress. The railway built classy hotels at many points along the track between the Atlantic and the Pacific, but no trains ever crossed from the mainland to the island... they were just local trains.


Another view. From the House of Legislature, the Empress is seen looking over the port area where thousands of people were out for the day. It was a huge party and people had come from all over the place to join in.

There was lots to see and we took a walk along the docks:


Water taxis. Yeah, cute, aren't they?


Anyone for a joy flight? The float planes come and go, they seem capable of seating perhaps 16 or 18 people and are just a part of the regular scenery in Victoria.

We even saw a couple of the float planes take off:


Taking off! Float planes operate into and out of Victoria's little harbour, they made a spectacular sight as they took off and landed.

But the day was wearing thin and we had to make it north to Nanaimo to reach the ferry in time.We did stop at Cobble Hill to look at this, peeking through a gap in the trees a couple of hundred yards from the main road:


Volvos beware! Almost 700 Volvos are being wrecked here! This is at a small town along that main highway north from Victoria.

And this lookout's views impressed:


Waterways make the scene. Looking out from a roadside lookout on the way back to Mike's place, the beauty of the waterways and islands simply cannot be captured in a little picture.


Brentwood. This is from the same place, the town in the picture is Brentwood.

We had dinner at a little waterfront fish restaurant and then returned to Mike and Sandy's place. We didn't stop long, a quick clutch adjustment to the van, load in our gear, appropriately thank them for their great hospitality and we were driving again.

On the ferry we spent time with a young student girl from Vietnam, which was interesting, and then more time with a couple who have bought a family property (20 acres) on the island but can't give up living in Vancouver.

He's a set-builder for movies, which sounds interesting, but getting his gear together on their little plot on the island is taking some doing.

Off the ferry we headed for the US, where the border people again wanted to look very closely at us. You can understand that, of course.

Jon drove for a while towards Seattle, then I took over again until we were about 40 miles out of Seattle. I was too tired and slept while Jon drove the next four hours or so and we got to Spokane in time for breakfast.Towards the end of that time we stopped at the Sprague Lake Rest Area for a quick break and had a chance to look at this section of a wind turbine tower. Quite a large thing when you see it up close!



Wind turbine tower section. A huge piece of equipment to see on the Interstate, and obviously very heavy. We had seen a few of these on the move.

What a great lot of memories that weekend had given both of us. And as a shakedown run for the van it had shown that the carburettor had to be changed…

 

After getting back to Spokane, Jon and I spent a little more time fine-tuning the van. We changed the carburettor and now it runs really well. The carburettor we fitted is a Rochester Quadrajet as was originally fitted to this model, it came from a pickup Jon had in his yard.

We did some hunting around after the things I want loaded into the pickup for shipping back to Australia and generally sorted things out so I could leave Spokane and (finally) hit the road. My predetermined goal of driving through every state we hadn't been to in 2012 was still to be reached and thus far I had seen no new ones.

Wrecking yards, of course, saw a bit of us, we even ventured out to one near Diamond Lake, a picturesque spot about 35 miles North of Spokane. They had some oddball things there, including this Chevrolet Greenbriar...


Greenbriar. When small imports hit the market hard in the USA in the late fifties, the local manufacturers responded with a range of 'compact cars'. Chevrolet virtually copied the VW (rear engine, air cooled, swing axle rear end) but with a flat six instead of a flat four. And this was their extension of that theme, effectively a bigger Kombi.

...which was an American attempt at making their (bigger) equivalent of the Volkswagen Kombi. Another surprise there was this Borgward Isabella:


Borgward Isabella. I didn't expect to see a Borgward Isabella, a German car I was familiar with in my youth in Australia. And the Taunus, the rusty car in the background, is a German Ford I've never seen before.

At this wrecking yard I also snapped this picture:


Cheeky chipmunk. This little fellow, almost oblivious of our presence, ran out and nibbled on something on the ground in a wrecking yard. They move very quickly!

I did meet up with Brent in Spokane as well, he and his wife Joan are in the middle of building, a job interrupted by him taking a high-risk job in Afghanistan for three years. This delayed my departure from Spokane for a couple of hours. He fancies the big finned Chrysler products from the fifties and has several projects on...


De Soto project. Brent's main project car is this De Soto, which is a long way from finished!

And his collection of glass powerline insulators must be one of the best around. This is just a sample:


Powerline insulators. I've never seen a collection of these before, and this collection was huge!

I also packed that differential part to post to Mike, checking the postage from Spokane into Canada it was going to cost about $80, so that confirmed that it would be posted from somewhere within Canada later in the trip.


Booty. The pile of Chrysler rear ends, brakes etc left in Spokane for me to pick up and ship at the end of my long drive.

While running around Spokane we mostly travelled in John's pickup. He really is a character, when things were obviously in need of fixing but hadn't been done, he referred to 'deferred maintenance'. There was some kind of electrical problem in the ignition circuit he'd deferred, it would cut the ignition momentarily and when it came back on there would be a backfire. Eventually...


Deferred maintenance. This was the result of 'deferring' fixing an electrical fault in the ignition.

...it just blew the muffler apart and the maintenance could no longer be deferred! But the fun came to an end and I had to head off on my journey...



I got through the 70 miles of Idaho and to the first rest area in Montana Wednesday night and slept a few hours in the van. I didn't mind travelling at night through this stretch as we'd been here last time, but in the morning I was reminded of just how beautiful the place really is...


Rolling along the Interstate. With virtually every vista displaying a snow-capped mountain, this is the kind of sight you dream to see. And everyone along the Interstate must surely enjoy the sights.


Montana revisited. This is Clark Fork, the river that the Interstate follows for a hundred or more miles. In the morning sun the turbulent waters and reflected sunlight looked great.


Rural living. There are parts where the farms are being cut up and rural residential areas spring up.


Closing in on Butte. These mountains captivate me. They are so solid, pure beauty, stretching for endless miles and giving rise to the streams and rivers that bring life to the valleys.

I stopped in Butte and got some extra things, including some more clothes from a Goodwill Store. But I was seriously intent on keeping moving...


And it gets better! East of Butte there is the 'Continental Divide' where the van readily climbed to 6300' altitude. So there was more snow to be seen, more mountain scenery to absorb. Did I say that I love this stuff?


Mining in Montana. I think this huge open-cut is a copper mine, like the similar scar in the hill overlooking Butte. In the background is the Continental Divide, we're covering miles here.


Over another hill. And the Interstate flows out across the valley floor as we see yet another range in the distance with its white caps and covering clouds.


And yet another! It just keeps on coming, to say I was delighted with the scenery would be a serious understatement.

My thoughts the whole day were on the pure beauty that's inscribed in the Montana landscapes, and once I passed Butte I was in country I hadn't seen on the first trip. The beauty of it is etched in so it will never go away, I hesitate to use the word 'awesome', but it does apply.

Another thing which was etched in my brain was the sensation of riding in a 572 cubic inch Hemi-powered Plymouth GTX. Pete, one of the 'Montana Dodge Boys' had it among his collection and he took me for a ride - and used the electric exhaust cutouts! - down the road to buy some beer at the gas station.

The Montana Dodge Boys, based in Bozeman, have made a sensational assault on the salt flats at Bonneville with a 1929 Dodge 'Fast Four'-based car they've coaxed up to more than 140mph. Here's the car packed in its trailer:


Sheer dynamite! Built up as a result of a $100 bet, this car has steadily improved its speed on the salt flats from just over 100 to almost 150mph in just a few years. In the background is the Plymouth GTX.

And here's Pete, or 'Pedro' at work on another Dodge Fast Four:


Pedro at work. Pete holds up an aero screen he plans to fit to another 'Fast Four' project car.

By the end of the Thursday I was in Columbus, I met some nice people there including one who invited me to visit him in Dickinson, North Dakota as I went that way in a couple of days. I used the wi-fi at McDonalds and slept comfortably in the bed in the van parked in the truck stop nearby.

 

Friday, May 23, 2014 I went into the first of what should be 20 states of the US that I haven't entered before. But that was a good 200+ miles after I set out from Columbus... and we have pics of the journey to discuss...




...though the beginning of my travelling day was delayed by having to check out some salt flat race cars:


Buick power prevails. When Jim Morris got sick of his wife's Jaguar leaking on the driveway he bought her another car and fitted it out with a turbocharged Buick straight-eight which took its top speed to 200mph!


Even faster! With development the Buick engine now propels this salt flat racer at close to 300mph!


Classy classic. A much milder version of the turbocharged straight-eight is in this 1953 Buick road car which incorporates Jaguar suspension and brakes.


Beginning another day on the road. With yet more of those snow-caps in the background I cross the hills leading away from Columbus, Montana still impressing me greatly.


Park City or Rockrim? The terrain began to change, not so much of the mountain territory, now into a kind of landscape where soil erosion forges the shapes. This setting (with the Yellowstone River along the base of that cliff) is a place called Park City. Someone else wanted it named 'Rockrim' in recognition of the terrain and was disappointed. He then arranged for the next town to benefit from the presence of railway yards instead of Park City and thus stunted its growth forever. The founders had wanted to make it more park-like and planted many trees for that purpose.

Montana continued to captivate me with its prettiness, its grandeur, but it was beginning to change in shape:


Over another hill... The van climbed the slopes well and the sight of each new landscape was of great interest. But the whole setting was changing...


...and another. ...as I got closer to Wyoming. Still there was beauty there, productive farmlands and the everpresent stretch of the Interstate. Light brown patches in the distance are plowed ground and stubble from some crop that's been harvested.

Signs at this time, once I'd got out of Billings (where I had something to eat), indicated a lot of interest in Custer's Last Stand. The name 'Big Horn' became very visible, tourist signs mentioned the battlefield and displays at many places.
And there was a sign, 'You are entering Crow country'.


Indian country. This all led into Crow Indian country, the obvious change being an apparent lower standard of living and lots of housing. This yard has an abandoned pickup in it, laden with stuff, a fifth-wheeler that appears to be taking over from the house and other typical things like the horse float.

Driving on without stopping anywhere here, I was getting closer to Wyoming all the time... and I had to stop and snap this:


Lodge Grass. This town just jumped out of the background as the Interstate climbed an adjacent hill. Called 'Lodge Grass', it's not a big town but makes a nice setting with those mountains still in the background.

And then - at last - I was entering Wyoming:


And then I was in Wyoming. The wild west features in this welcome sign, the youngsters in the pic having just had their photo taken by their grandmother. They were from Oregon.

Those distant mountains had been in view often and for long periods, at one point they stretched right across my horizon. At the north-western end there was rain, at the south-eastern end there was also rain, but I struck no rain.

I was uncomfortable with the heat at one point and stopped for an hour or so of sleep in the back of the van at a rest area. It was refreshing, despite the temperature making it hard to lie down and doze off.

At Sheridan, the first big town In Wyoming, I drove straight on through, then I stopped to get a bit of this vista recorded:


Glacial valley? I'm fairly sure that's how it would be described. Just past the town of Sheridan, this apparently fertile valley is home to many.

The day was getting away. It was about 8pm when I went past Lake De Smet, but I tried to get a reasonable shot of it anyway...


Lake De Smet. I realised I hadn't seen much of lakes so far when I saw this one. It's not big, obviously used for fishing and boating, it's between Sheridan and Gillette.

Next came a complete change of scenery. It was, to my way of thinking, quite ugly. And I didn't get photos in the main part of it. It all came about 75 miles into Wyoming and stretched over about 20 miles, the soft soil that makes up the area has eroded before wind and water, but seems to retain shape due to the roots of grass and small bushes that grow in it.

It seemed appropriate that there was a creek about the middle of that stretch called 'Crazy Woman Creek'.

I did photograph one small bit of it, but these ridges were running everywhere and filling the whole picture for miles as I drove:


Rough - and ugly - terrain. I didn't get a photo that really showed how unattractive things suddenly became. This is a small indication.

I thought I might find out some more by stopping at a rest area, but there was no tourist information there (the whole day I didn't find a manned rest area, which is very unusual here as they are like tourist information offices), just an odd sign:


Strange sign! Certainly not what I expected to see! Who knows what's behind it? The rest area was small, but like all of them (and there are far too few!) was well-equipped with 'restrooms' with running water etc.

It was nearly dark as I arrived in Gillette, I found a McDonalds to use their wi-fi then drove around looking for somewhere to camp. As I looked around the town I had a look at the boom gates that are there to stop the traffic flow on the Interstate when the snow is bad.I didn't get a photo, but Google Earth did...


Snow barriers. At times there's enough snow on the Interstate for these barriers to come down. Fortunately not in late May!

It reminded me that it's not always plain sailing in these parts.

The plan is to move on early in the morning to head towards the Devil's Tower, something that's caught my imagination, then on into yet another new state...

 

.Saturday, May 24, 2014.




Leaving Gillette I headed for the Devil's Tower. This freak of nature is made up of magma that's somehow been thrust up out of the ground, or within the ground and then everything else has eroded away. The Interstate was still active, but traffic fairly light...


Grey morning, Heading down the I80 in eastern Wyoming, it was threatening rain. The topography changed again and this part of Wyoming looked more appealing.

...and it didn't take all that long to cover the miles. From the Interstate it was a brisk drive of about 30 miles to the park where this 'National Monument' is located, I had some fun on the twisty parts of that 2-lane road as I enjoyed driving the van.

Ultimately I caught sight of the tower and eventually I was close enough to get this distant shot:


From a distance... I first saw the Devil's Tower from about ten miles away, this pic is about three miles away. It certainly stands out of the surroundings.

I'd pulled up at this point also because I noticed a picturesque canyon on the other side of the road, it looked a lot like what you see in Westerns:


Box Canyon. As I drove down towards the Tower I caught a glimpse of this little canyon beside the road. Looking very much what you see in Westerns, it was also a 'box' canyon like rustlers used to contain their stolen herds.


The box. This is the blind end of the canyon, you can see that getting out of here would be difficult.

And I was taken by further reference to the 'Crazy Woman' - though why an estate agent would use the name escapes me:


More of that Crazy Woman. This sign was alongside the box canyon, quite a long way from where I'd seen the last mention of 'crazy woman'.

I bought my National Parks entry card ($80 for the year, you get in everywhere with it) and snapped a further shot from the campground near the entry:


From the campground. The Devil's tower is certainly imposing, though I don't think it's really 1200' high. This is from the campground at the entry to the park.

It was about a 3-mile drive climbing around the tower to get to the tourist centre within the park, from near there I got this closer shot:


Silhouetted. It was still fairly early and the main access point is on the western side, so the sun is behind the tower in this shot. The long vertical lines of the tower are the subject of geological conjecture.

I did take a lot more photos, way too many to include here, but I was interrupted by the sight of yet another chipmunk that didn't run and hide straight away:


Caught another one! This little chap didn't run away as quickly as most do... they are cute things!

Driving back down the entry road I stopped five or six times to get more shots... here are two of the best:


Best view? From the road around the tower, this pic seems to me to be the best view I captured. It shows the height and gives some context with the surroundings.


Or is this better? Just a little further around...

Can you imagine that they allow climbers to go up there? Maybe they can't stop them?

In the centre they run a video and it tells, among other things, of someone who parachuted down onto the tower as a stunt many years ago. The 'plane then dropped his gear so he could climb back down to the bottom, but the rope went over the side and he was stuck there.

The local hero, who had been the first to climb the tower, volunteered to go up and help him. For a huge fee, of course.
Prairie dogs are in abundance at one point along the drive, they are cute little furry things:


The prairie dogs. Cute little fellows. They were in abundance at the side of the road on the eastern side.


I heard you, mama! The one nearest the camera is the mother, she's barking at me (yes, they do bark!) while the one in the background is one of her pups, the lot of them having run to that hole when she commanded on my approach.

When you look at those pics you can understand the (fairly common) line you hear in Westerns as a cowboy comes along carrying his saddle, "My horse stepped in a prairie dog hole and broke its leg..."

You don't remember those lines? Maybe this shows my misspent youth?

After leaving the Devil's Tower I was headed for Mt Rushmore in nearby South Dakota. After rejoining the I90 at sundance I again saw something uncommon to Aussie eyes:



Port of Entry. Trucks have to stop here before going on to enter Wyoming. Weight and compliance are checked.

Strangely enough, this port is for Westbound traffic and it’s on the Eastbound side of the Interstate, trucks are required to take an underpass to get in for checking. I have no idea what the sign about boats is for.

Wyoming's terrain had become much nicer at this eastern end of the state and I was enjoying pleasant surroundings again as I drove through the late-spring in quest of new sights. So that’s what I’ll cover in the next post…