No pictures today, so I pulled a favorite from a past trip. The smiling elk was at the National Bison Range outside of Missoula, MT.
Although I did see a little snow yesterday, today I saw more. The staff at the Spearfish Super 8 suggested staying on I90 rather than the shorter route on US 212, so I took them up on it. I don't know what 212 was like, but sections of I90 were almost whiteouts. I did see one section where a couple of cars spun out, but for the most part it was drivable, although sometimes at 30mph.
The wind was interesting. There were fairly strong crosswinds yesterday - I watched a motorcycle driving along on a straight section leaning sidewise into the wind about 15 degrees! Today it was 40mph headwinds. My miles per gallon went from an average for the first 1800 miles of 24.7 to 23.5 in just 200 additional miles. Part of that might be the 70 mph I was driving most of the time, and I also have a feeling the 85 octane fuel that sells for regular doesn't go as far as the standard 87 we use in the east. In any case, I made far more refueling stops than on previous days.
I stopped for the night at the Bozeman, Montana Days Inn. 466.5 miles today, and 2309.4 miles so far for the entire trip. According to Matilda, my GPS we only have 800 miles & 12 and 1/2 hours to go to Chilliwack. Of course that will depend on whether or not I can get across the Continental Divide tomorrow. I checked the weather at Elk Park Pass near Butte, and it looks OK, although the pass web cameras show lots of snow. Right now the roads are clear here in Bozeman, but there is a couple of inches on the ground & it's snowing.
As to boring housekeeping stuff - my room is just down the hall from the guest washing machines, so I did 5 day's worth of laundry.
Till Tomorrow -
I loved the town of Bozeman, Jon. Be careful driving over the pass.
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