Casper, WY to Great Falls, MT July 7

We got on the road this morning by 5:50am. The drive from Casper to Buffalo was a little over 100 miles and it we wondered about how lonely it would be for the few people who lived along that stretch. There were miles and miles where you didn’t see any houses at all and when you did see one, it was often completely by itself. I would have to be much better prepared to have supplies on hand if I were so far away from any grocery store! We saw a lot of pronghorn antelope along the way, but I didn’t get a pic of them.

We stopped just outside of Harden, MT for some travel information. They had a lovely Big Horn County Museum with a lot of old buildings on some well kept grounds. 

About 2 o’clock, I was feeling road weary and asked David to pull into the little town of Stanford, MT using the excuse that I’d seen a sign for antiques. The antique store was closed, but we found a place to stop and walked across the street to a little deli to get some ice cream. I had my first (of what I hope will be several) huckleberry ice cream cones. The deli was connected to a little shop that had some fun rustic stuff in it. We started visiting with the owner who was laughing that we must be twins separated at birth because we liked the same things. We bought some things and were walking out when David asked me if I’d seen a set of galvanized metal trays. They were overpriced, but I immediately liked them, knew how I would use them and figured if he pointed them out, who was I to say “no”…. We picked them up and headed back to the counter to pay for them. The owner said, “I’m going to give you a deal and you can have them for half price.” David said she didn’t need to do that and she just said, “Well, I’m the owner and I can”. Score! And David got an “Atta Boy!” and “You da MAN!” from me.

The rest of the way into Great Falls was uneventful. Supper and a shower were both welcome and we will be headed to bed shortly. A little over 400 miles tomorrow with the border crossing and we’ll be at Lake Louise Campground in Banff National Park!

Oh, and Christy, I agree with your comment about not wanting to be the child to have to count the revolutions on the wagon wheel ! Can you imagine how that conversation went? 

Dad: We're going to pack up what little will fit into a wagon and travel across country to find a new place to live, so say good bye to all your friends. It's gonna be great! And Susie, your job is going to be to walk beside the wagon (from Missouri to Oregon) and count how many times Mamas hankie comes back to the top.

Susie: I'm gonna what?

Wyoming KNOWS how to do snow fences!

This stretch of Wyoming is majestic, beautiful, vast, desolate, and lonely.

We loved this interesting old truck outside the Big Horn County Museum!

There were some interesting rock formations along one of the back highways that we were on. David pulled over for me to take some pictures and 3 or 4 vehicles passed us including a pick-up pulling a travel trailer. A few miles further down the road we had our excitement for the day when the trailer went off the road, came back on and very nearly flipped both left and right. The driver got it back under control and just kept going. They didn’t even slow their speed! I can’t imagine what the inside of the trailer looked liked. With the way it tipped, there had to be stuff everywhere as well as damage to either the pick-up or trailer where they took out the steel reflector pole!

Truck turned planter in Stanton, MT. I would put this in my front yard in a heartbeat!