The Long Winding Road~

July 26, 2012 - The Chugwater area of Wyoming

I feel like a Road Warrior!  Ten days on-the-road so far & another to get back home.  The final mileage will be interesting.  The landscape is something out of one of the old Westerns.  As I sped along about 75 mph - watching the scene roll by - how I wished I was in Farah's saddle, feeling her big walk & hearing the quiet of the country.  Maybe back about one-hundred years in the timeline.  When I dared to pull off to the side of the Super-slab - noise was the biggest onslaught to my senses.  Even so - just taking in the scope of the country is such an amazing experience.  It had been years since I'd taken a drive of this magnitude by myself.  The last time was about 1995 - driving a black Ford Mustang 5.0 that the truckers nicknamed;  "That little muscle car!"  :-)  This time, it's still a Ford, but a full-size Bronco - with four-wheel drive, not smart to go over 80.  With the Mustang?  Safe to say that the upper limit was over three figures :-)

July 27, 2012 - Just after 10 a.m. West of Billings

Butch & I had taken the trip in 2008, but the changes are startling.  Almost every town along the major interstate highways has grown even more.  So many new interchanges, each with the mandatory gas stations & fast food.  Gone are the days of the small unique restaurants where you took your chances of getting a great meal, or not!  Getting gas is a challenge too, with all the large motor homes - especially the ones towing jeeps or other vehicles behind.  When they pull into the pumps - they take them ALL!  Lines were common, even during the week days.

July 27th,11 a.m. - Grizzly Mountains, near Big Timber, MT

The majesty of the views become almost overwhelming & certainly awe inspiring.  I wished that grandson Ben had been able to come with me for the trip.  His mother & I had taken my orange 78 Mustang with T-tops (The Starman Mustang) all the way to Iowa in the summer of 1990, to visit my grandparents - when she was about the age he is now. That time we took in the Corn Palace of Mitchell, SD & Devils Tower, WY.  Travel Gods willing, one more long driving day & I hope to see the green, green grass of Home!