last day!

It is early morning in Missoula and we are getting prepared for the final day. From here to Seattle is about 500 miles, which should take us a bit more than 8 hours. It has been a very smooth, if very long, trip. Ask Alison to plan your next journey-- she did a remarkably thorough job of organizing this so far. Other than the lack of internet access at a couple of places-- the Motel 6 in Rapid City SD says they have internet access because you can get a signal from the hotel across the street-- we have had very few setbacks. Smokey has been great, the weather has been good, road construction has been minimal.

Yesterday was our longest day, more than 700 miles. Wyoming has a bleak beauty, with wide open spaces covered with sage and stony bluffs along the horizon. Montana has suprised me everytime I have traveled it because it is huge. There are a few more small rivers in southern Montana and a bit more water. The battle site along the Little Big Horn was a good stop. You could see how an army could come over the hill and see an encampment, only to be deceived about its size if it were behind another hill. We hit bands of thunderstorms along the road. The first one, on the long open space between Little Big Horn and Bozeman, had very high cross winds with things blowing across the road and limited visibility. That was a little scary but there was not much traffic so it was not too bad. The burnt out areas and the wildfire surronding Missoula were unexpected. Missoula is a beautiful western college town but right now, it is a fire zone. The large M landmark on the side of the hill over the town marking the University of Montana is barely visible through the haze.

Time to pack up and head out for the last leg. We have gotten really good at packing the car so we can move out quickly. After the stop at the Starbucks across the street.