19 August 2017, Saturday.
We breakfast at Days Inn and get some coffee for the road at the Starbucks across the street. By 8:45 we are driving west once more. We cross into Mountain Time and gain an hour.
Shortly after we cross into Montana we stop at a windblown rest area. With the low humidity and high winds we decide this is a perfect location to dry our tarp and Big Agnes tent, still soggy from Minnesota’s downpour our last night in the Boundary Waters.
We unfurl the tarp. O and I each grab a corner and the tarp is flapping noisily in the wind. We stand there for about 10 minutes as the tarp dries. A few people walk by and stare at us curiously. One finally asks if we need help. She thought we were having trouble getting the tarp folded in the strong wind. We explain what we are doing. The next time she walks by we are holding the tent in the wind. She asks if she can come with us on our next trip. “You guys seem to know what you’re doing.”
We head off another woman’s questions by preemptively explaining that we are contributing Minnesota moisture to the dry Montana air. She gets all excited. “I’m from Minnesota, too!” “Are you guys going to see the eclipse?”
“Yes,” we reply.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“Shoshoni.”
“That’s where we’re going! We are renting a house in Cody and driving to Shoshoni. See you there!”
Makes us wonder just how crowded Shoshoni will be!
The North Dakota ranches give way to badlands at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We had been planning a visit there this year, but the park will still be here next year and the eclipse beckons us on. Theodore Roosevelt spent about 5 years ranching in North Dakota as a young man. He believed he never would have become president if not for those formative years. North Dakotans hold him in high regard.
We continue westward and enter the Yellowstone River Valley at Glendive shortly after crossing into Montana. At Billings we dine at the Montana Brewing Company. In another 60 miles we arrive at Basin Montana Campground in Custer National Forest. We are camped near a beautiful creek at an elevation over 7000 feet. This is a pine barren with tall straight lodgepole pines covering the floor of the campground. The campground hosts greet us warmly. I express and interest in staying longer than three nights. Helen (the host) tells me the site right next to the stream will be empty tomorrow morning. I should just let her know if we wish to move.