Day 5: Baker, MT to Billings, MT
Clothes in the washer downstairs. Ignoring the debates. Thinking about a fork in my road…
Today started off with me waking up and thinking “Let’s get the hell out of here!” My motel last night wasn’t bad, but it was bordering on bad. Broken outlet covers, loud AC on the way to dying, that sort of thing. At least I was parked close, and the bed wasn’t uncomfortable. And I wasn’t actively in danger from the other guests. So, 3/5 stars.
I didn’t want to linger, but I did sleep not so great, so I made myself coffee. In with my camping supplies, I have whole bean coffee and an aeropress. It’s not the most absurd thing I have in my luggage, but it’s probably top two (alternate candidates: the ergo keyboard, extra lenses). Definitely a luxury. Anyway, I boiled water on my camp stove and made a cup and drank it, listening to music to psych myself up for the day. Tom Waits and then Radiohead. Then I did the usual necessities and loaded up and got moving down the road.
Baker to Miles City was pretty uneventful, except that the air was full of wildfire smoke. Every time I crested a big hill I thought, “I bet this is a great view if I could see it.” I stopped at a rest stop and a couple times on the side of the road and took pictures anyway, because I was so happy to be somewhere that had, you know, landforms.
Stopped in at a place called Hole in the Wall, which was a classic saloon turned into a family establishment. The biscuits and gravy were pretty good. While I was sitting there, I looked at an AQI map and discovered a problem: the air on the next leg of my trip isn’t so good. The whole path through Idaho and Oregon is smoky, so I think I need to abandon Plan A, previously known as the ‘Pirsig Route’ or the ‘ZNM Route’, and come up with a plan B.
Fortunately, I kind of wanted to deviate from the route and take a side trip about now in the plan anyway; Yellowstone and Grand Teton are right there and I really would like to see them. So I think what I do is instead of going to Bozeman, I take 212 directly to Yellowstone, and then spend a night at Yellowstone West the next night. Then, from Yellowstone West, I can go south to Teton by way of 191, and then cut back west. End up in Idaho Falls Saturday or Sunday. Then Boise, Bend, etc etc. Maybe skip Bend, if it’s still bad according to the smoke map in two days. But at least I have the outline of a plan. All I really need is a sketch and a destination for the day.
Anyway. The rest of the day proceeded pretty normally. I ran out of foam ear plugs and had to use the fitted ones, which work but hurt my ears a little still after about an hour wearing them. Need to sand them a little more, I think. Took a lot of pit stops today, just because I knew it was a short day, and once I got past Miles City the forecast was for milder temps, so there really was no rush. Once I got to the highway, my love of cruise control was ended; I really don’t like how it handled charging up hills at speed. But I was comfortable going faster as long as I was in control of the throttle, so I made pretty good time, in addition to having a good time. Good enough that when I stopped off for gas and there was a four minutes slower two lane route, I didn’t hesitate to take it.
Got here, got checked in, and walked up a little hill here next to the hotel that turned out to be an old cemetery. Boot Hill, so called because the deceased were buried with their boots still on, or so the sign said. Then I walked and had a really nice pizza dinner at a local joint, and now I’m back here. Laundry is in the dryer, and I need to edit photos.
Not sure if there will be a ‘sletter tomorrow, I’m staying here in Billings where there are Stores and I can get a few things: foam ear plugs, foot peg rubber, maybe some sandpaper, tylenol because I forgot my bottle at home, some of those cooling bandanas (they have silica or some other absorbent compound sewn in, so they hold a lot of water), maybe even a cooling vest, but buying one virtually ensures I won’t need it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. We’ll see.
