Day Three (Saturday June 19)

We woke today to the deafening roar of silence. A palpable lack of wind greeted us. The raging wind, our friend and companion for the past 36 hours had vanished without a trace. Its departure saddened us. We will now have to cope with not having to chase stray napkins, bags, camp stoves, suitcases, children and mini vans caught up and scattered about by it. See you soon old friend. Meet you back in Minneapolis in January?

Today was a day of driving, fine dining, and rainbows. It was also the first time I changed my shirt (or any other garment) all trip. This development led to much rejoicing among the travelling party (the shirt changing not the rainbows). We put about 350 miles and 5 rivers between Teddy Roosevelt and us. It started out rather slowly as it took forever to break up our camp and load the van. That was due in no small part to the fact that there was basically one person doing all the work. (I won’t name names.)

Once on the road we pretty much stopped immediately. Right outside of the park is the charming town of Medora, ND. Addie was keen on accessing her e-mails so we stopped at the Badlands Pizza Parlor and Saloon. It did not disappoint, offering us free wi fi and some of the finest pizza available on that particular block in Medora. Refreshed and having already put five miles behind us we set out again. The rest of the day was spent driving and alternating between listening to Harry Potter and the Glee soundtrack. We crossed into Montana and followed the Yellowstone River southwest. There were no bison incidents today but we did come dangerously close to running out of gas. I blame Addie for the close call but have no actual evidence as to why it was her fault and not mine. We had a quick picnic in a nice spot overlooking the river. Then it was back to Harry and Glee. We decided to get off the freeway and tour Billings (Montana’s biggest city), taking a half hour drive through town and getting some ice cream to boot.

Then the drive continued. We saw the first rainbows (plural because it was a double rainbow) of the day at the same time we saw the Beartooth Mountains rising in the southwest in front of us A few minutes later we hit the 1,000 mile point of our trip. We pulled into Red Lodge, Montana and Gallagher’s Irish Rose Bed and Breakfast a short time later. Red Lodge is a real nice little town perched just on the cusp of the mountains. There are a lot of little shops and restaurants. Understandably, after our drive, we had a hankering to immerse ourselves in everything and anything related to the mid 20^th century Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart. By a miraculous (thank you mini pope) coincidence, the Red Lodge dining smorgasbord includes Bogart’s. There were scores of movie posters and Bogie photos on the walls. Why I do not know. Now naturally Bogart’s is a Mexican restaurant. So we ate in Bogart’s (I had the “Here’s Looking At You, Kid Fajitas”), a restaurant with no connection to its namesake; in Red Lodge, a town with no Mexicans. In a strange twist of fate the food was quite good. The highlight of the dinner for one of us (I won’t name names) was the opportunity to slug down two locally brewed Red Lodge ales. We left the restaurant only to be greeted by another double rainbow (this one a full one). After jogging 3 blocks back to our room in the rain, we all took our first showers of the trip and went to bed. Tomorrow we brave the dreaded Beartooth pass!