Well I’ve been hanging in the Bozeman.  There is an awesome library here that I’ve been spending some time at, you know reading the books and using their interweb functions.  Today was the first big snowstorm.  I made it back to the house alright and got a nice fire going. 

I’ll put up some new pics.  There was a nice billy goat hangout eating grass up at the Mount Rushmore. 

I did have a little scare on the way out here.  From Sturgis I decided it would be a good idea to take 212 instead of staying on 90.  Well I had about ½ a tank of gas and I rolled past a gas station that was a little more expensive.  Well that car that I’m driving has a tank that’s a little smaller than I’m used to.  The tank dropped to about a 1/4 .  I’m still not thinking that this is a big deal.  It has been a while since I’ve seen a town though.  Its pretty much just rolling hills and ranches out there.  Well anyway the low fuel light goes on I really don’t know how far from the nearest town I am.  I finally saw a town that said Broadus.  It was still a half hour or so away.  I’m thinking, man this is gonna suck if I run out of gas out here.  Its not like 90 where there are a ton of cars.  Well I tell you, I rolled into town and boy was I happy.  Since then I’ve been filling up way more often.  Also, with the price of gas so low out here I feel like why not.  Today I saw gas for $1.66.

So the I’m crashing at my pal Chris’ place out here in Bozeman.  He lives in this trailer park just outside the city.  The city seems to be a lot of students.  Unfortunately, the furnace is broken, so the house is heated with this really sweet woodburning stove.  Its nice and toasty by the stove.

Chris also has this little weiner dog named oscar.  He is the cutest little thing, but a little on the needy side.  Chris and his son took me on a nice hike up to see this water fall in the mountains, I can’t remember the name of the place.  The mountain range nearest here is called Bridger.  Chris had a 40s til you die party here the first weekend.  Most people brought 40s, I opted for a local brew, which upon later inspection I found was brewed in Wisconsin even though the front of the bottle said Bozeman Mt.  Man I felt ripped off!

The finger wave is big business out here.  I find it interesting that out here if you don’t wave to someone they consider it an insult and become upset.  Chris said that he can always pick out the locals from the students and yuppie ski bums by their finger waving ability.  I guess that’s part of living in a small town. 

More later…

The Drive

So on the way out to Bozeman I ended up getting a hotel in Wall.  There really isn’t much going on here this time of year.  There are lots of hotels, but most of them are closed for the season.  The big thing in Wall is Wall Drug.  Anyone who has driven through SoDak knows the signs.  They start like 500 miles away and have pictures of cowboys and cattle and that sort of thing.  I’ve been there before and to tell you the truth it’s kind of a let down.  Not that I get totally worked up for commerce, but when there is a build up like that…well I felt that I should at least drive by it.  It’s really just a block with a lot of dumb knick-knacks and crap.

 

I decided that with the election of Obama and all I am feeling a little patriotic, so why not swing by Mount Rushmore.  Its actually a pretty cool drive through the black hills and this is a good time of year to do it, cuz there aren’t tons of annoying tourists with little kids and there isn’t any snow yet so the drive is still pretty easy.  I did chuckle to myself a couple of times though.  Driving up to the monument there is a town called keystone.  Basically, the town is set up for tourists and its shut down the rest of the year.   It was a ghost town and there was actually tumble weed blowing across the road.  Driving through Keystone I couldn’t help but imagine what it must be like up there in the winter.  I kept thinking of the shining and being stuck there and it being super creepy.

ugg...i'll post more later

Today I was off on my way to Montana.  I was gonna swing by pipestone, but guess what???  It’s super duper cold so I decided to skip it.  I actually planning on sleeping in the car, but its quite frosty here in sodak, so instead I got a hotel room in Wall.  I took a couple of pictures, but none of them really turned out all that great.  A couple of things I noticed about sodak.  They like meat and don’t like ‘animal activists’ as according to a shoddy looking billboard.  I’ve heard that there are more severe penalties for defacing meat billboards than a normal one, but I have no actual proof of this.  I didn’t have the camera out so unfortunately I don’t have a picture for all you fine folks.  Right now on TV is the old version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame; this is the high point of the trip so far.  Food so far has been clif bars, pb&j with banana and trail mix.  I’ll do another posting when something interesting happens.

Boo! moving really sucks.  The cat is a little skiddish! I gotta plan a travel route.

Last night at eclipse Pat said I should go to needels in SoDak.  I've never heard of it, but it sounds cool.

Laters.

Hello

So this is my blog.  As many of you know I've quit my job and am going to do some traveling across these United States.  I don't know if anyone will read this, but I guess its a good way to let people know what I'm up to.