Montana - Day 22 - back across MT to Grass Range

The Ole Mercantile, Grass Range
Monday, 22 August 2022

Below is what the Makoshika badlands look at sunrise.

Those layers of sediment are a walk through time itself.

When I was out walking with Dext before bedtime yesterday, I got stung by a bee or wasp, and it really hurt.  And it still hurt this morning - enough so I was afraid that when I swatted it its stinger might have broken off in my leg.  But I hoped that once we got on the road and my attention got distracted from it, it might stop hurting.  Which it mostly did.

I felt bad about running the generator all night and possibly ruining a hoped-for wilderness experience by the 2 other couples camped near us.  Not bad enough not to run it, but bad enough so I left early this morning and drove down to the visitor center so I could run it without guilt.

The visitor center is the head of a short trail, and while we were there I saw 4 groups/couples/singles with or without dogs head off down the trail before 7:30.  I was surprised so many went so early.

I saw a bluebird in this park - always welcome, though I don't associate bluebirds with desert.

today's route

Once we were on the road, we ran into rain, heavy at times, then intermittent, but rain all through our drive.  Hard to complain about it when the state needs it so badly.  When I crossed the Red River, for instance, I noticed it barely existed.

As you might be able to tell from the map, we saw a whole lot of wide open spaces today.

I've been seeing large piles of firewood at people's homes everywhere, but I can't figure out where the trees are coming from.  Almost the only trees I've seen so far in the state (except for those near the Idaho border) have been planted or they grow along streams.

The town of Circle bills itself as "An Agricultural Community."  We always called places like that farming towns.  They expect people to come visit for the hunting and fishing, according to signs I saw.

I suffered from lack of sleep all morning.  The sun didn't go down until 8:00, and it stayed light much longer, and then I woke up at 1:00 and couldn't get back to sleep.  Maybe because of the noise from the generator - though it never got too cool in here for me.

A highway sign warned me of a "rough narrow road next 40 miles."  Not really what you want to see but I appreciated the heads-up.  And they told the truth.  That road was also straight and very hilly (making it harder for me to stay awake).

I saw more cows, fields of grain growing and bales of whatever grain had been growing there.

I've been seeing "Mandatory Watercraft Inspection Stations" all over the state, and unlike most states, the ones here in Montana are always staffed.  There was one at a rest area where we stopped so I could try to wake up.  And that's where I saw this signs about local history; I was particularly interested in the observation at the end by a local resident:

Montana is 630 miles wide, and today I'd planned to drive only 211 - so at this point, we were a third of the way on today's route, which I suppose would make us a sixth of the way across Montana.  It felt like more than that.

The sign had told me the "rough road" would last for 40 miles, but we came to miles of road construction, effectively increasing those 40 miles by a lot.  At 2 different projects we needed a pilot car, so these weren't simple little 1-lane-road short detours.

At the town of Jordan we crossed Big Dry Creek - and recrossed it later - so I can state with authority that it isn't a dry creek.

At one ranch I saw 2 large steamrollers (or whatever they're called these days) parked just inside the entrance gates - and they were surrounded by a herd of horses.  Maybe they cast shade?

After more than 2 hours of driving, I was just saying to Dext that there's bound to be another rest area up ahead - when a sign said in 1 mile there'd be a rest area.

They had a fenced-in dog area at this rest stop, and while I was waiting for Dext to get tired of sniffing around, I noticed the flags that were flying here.  Specifically I noticed that it's time for them to retire these.  Montana must really be having budget problems to leave the state flag in this shape.

It's worn down so much the last "A" is partly missing.

After crossing the Musselshell River, we were in Petroleum County.  I know mining has been a critical element of Montana's history, but this county name seems to be leaning into it a bit too much.

I'd spent this whole drive falling asleep at the wheel, an absolutely horrifying prospect with no easy remedy.  When I stopped at the rest areas and walked around, I felt awake enough to keep going - but I never really was.  Coffee and coke didn't seem to make a difference.  What likely kept me alive was the surprising lack of traffic on this highway plus the rumble strip along the center line telling me I'd drifted out of my lane.  Finally, I put on some Jimmy Buffett and that finally did it.  Hard to fall asleep when you're singing along to "Cheeseburger in Paradise."

After we'd passed Winnett, I noticed mountains in the distance - the first I'd seen in several days.  When Montana does plains, it does them good and proper; and when it does mountains, it does Rocky Mountains.  No half measures in this state.

I passed a farm with a pair of political signs: "Freedom Convoy 2022" and "Let's Go Brandon."

Following Google's directions, at the T-intersection of MT-200, which I'd just spent hours driving on, with US-87, I turned south for 1.1 mile and found what looked to me like a truck stop, right where it was supposed to be.  

I'd found a place called "Little Montana Truckstop and Campground" by looking at a Google map to see if they flagged a campground in the area.  And even though it sounded pretty casual - a truck stop, after all - I'd called ahead and made a reservation just to be sure I'd have a place to stay after a long drive.  So while I was getting gasoline (though not filling up because they were asking way more money than any place I'd been all month), I looked around for a sign but couldn't find one.  It looked like an RV was parked at another business across the road leading to the town of Grass Range, and I couldn't see a campground at this one, but I asked inside when I paid for the gas and they said sure, they had vacant camping spots.  

It seemed a little odd that they couldn't find my reservation, but that's happened to me before and this place seemed a little on the casual side (to say the least).  But I hadn't paid in advance, which might have clued me in that I was in the wrong place, so I didn't think much about it.  I paid for a night, they said to pick any spot behind the building I wanted, I drove back there and saw 6 or 8 campsites with full hookups, and I picked the one that seemed the most comfortable for us.  It was while I was walking Dext around that I noticed a small sign that read "Little Montana Truckstop" at that business across the road.

By then, there was nothing I could do about it.  No chance the folks here would give me my money back just because I got the place wrong and the other place looked a lot more pleasant (trees vs no trees, grass and other RVs vs weeds and being on our own).  Google hadn't warned me that there were 2 alleged truck stops at this intersection (and they weren't exactly truck stops, though several truckers did stop there overnight).  And this place didn't have any sign at all while the place across the street had a very small sign that I could barely read even while I was walking around and not driving down the road.  It was just one of those things.

But I didn't feel safe there.  This "Ole Mercantile" store had a bar/restaurant right next door that looked like it could get rowdy at night, and we were all by ourselves back there in the weeds.  I was once again thankful I had Dexter with me, and I locked all the doors (which I almost never bother with), and decided to make the best of it.

We got here early enough that I could have worked on my blog, but I was so tired after driving for 6 hours in hard driving conditions, and with the lack of sleep from last night, that the most I could do was edit some photos.  We had an early supper and an early last walk and called it a day.