Day #3 Moscow, Idaho to Billings Montana

October 24, 2014

8:00 am Day #3

Leaving Moscow after a stop at Java Bug.

 We’re a little put out by Sam, the iPhone GPS Guy.  We asked him for the closest coffee shop and he was directing us to one 3 miles away and we practically ran into Java Bug.  Not Sam’s fault, I guess.  Java Bug needs to do some marketing and tell SAM/SIRI about them. 

 Coeur d’Alene, Idaho: Beautiful! 

 Gassed up and potty break.

Dinner in Billings

 In 1989 Dave and I took a trip from Kansas to Illinois, dropped the kids at Grandma’s and proceeded to look for a job.  As we traveled through the various states we realized each state had a unique way of warning passengers that bridges freeze before roads.  We started a collection of them.  So I decided to do it again.  Why not? I thought.  So another dimension of these states’ descriptions.  I will announce how they warn us of the bridge hazard.  Idaho’s is   “Bridge May Be Icy”.  Another awesome traveling aid is the speed limit is 75.  These roads are practically empty in some places and a lot of things are very isolated.  If they didn’t raise the speed limit everyone would go that fast anyway and it takes FOREVER to get anywhere this way so it cuts down on commute time.  We had to get used to driving that fast, though.  At 75 mph a second with your eyes off the road =several seconds while going at 55.  Also, it takes longer to stop.  We’ve encountered a few slow movers and they come up to us so fast we really had to be alert.  They come up quickly.

9:54

Mama taking over the controls now Yikes Bikes!

  

Entering MONTANA

Big Sky Country

11:00 am Pacific Time 12:00 Mountain Time 

ETA for Billings, Montana 6:20 Pacific/7:20 Mountain.

We really need to change our watches.  Phones correct themselves but alas we have to manually change the car clock and watches.  What a hassle.  We want better technology so we don’t have to do anything manually again!  We’re Gen X.  I’m also starting to identify more with Emilie.  Must…remember…I’m…a…Baby …Boomer!  I learned how to do EVERYTHING manually.

Watch for ice on bridge.

  

1:10 Mountain Time

  

Missoula, Montana

Emilie’s driving again.  She took over after we stopped at Starbucks in Missoula.  I wasn’t sure where we were so I asked the Barista.  Emilie thought we were in Missoula so I lost that one.

Notes on Montana: The mountains are gorgeous.  There are zillions of pine trees and millions of trees changing their color for fall.  Don’t know the type of tree but it must be the only one that grows at this elevation.  The leaves are from golden yellow to bright yellow.  They are about 25% fallen.  When the sun shines on them they sparkle like diamonds.  The evergreen trees are a very deep, deep forest greet.  In fact, we thought they were black until we got closer to them.  People (when we encounter them) are very nice.  I guess when you’re so isolated you like the chance to talk to other people, I guess.

Billings, Montana

Trip Meter: 1006 miles traveled so far

7:30 pm

Arrived at the Clock Tower Best Western.  Got unloaded and were going to walk to a restaurant close by.  Before that, Alice ran out of the room after Emilie.  Emilie had already gone downstairs to the parking lot.  Alice didn’t know that.  She thought Em was still on the second floor.  She could hear Emilie’s voice but couldn’t figure out how to get to her.  She would go zooming around outside the second floor rooms desperately trying to get to Emilie.  At one point it looked like she was contemplating jumping down so I finally caught her and carried her down.  You never know what a dog will do.  Our Eddie once jumped out of the car when he was with Michael.  They were going about 40 mph and he had music on.  She got nervous and jumped right onto the road then ran to someone’s front lawn.  He brought her home and Eddie was all shaken up but only had a few road burns on his little body.

We walked to our restaurant (sans Alice) and watched a heartbreaking game 3 of the World Series.  We had enough leftovers to save for tomorrow’s lunch.  Slept well, got up and out by 8:00 am.  Montana has its beauty but it’s a l-o-n-g way across.  Mostly prairie as we got closer to North Dakota.