Glacier National Park Day 7
Glacier National Park
Day 7 - September 13, 2006 - Billings, MT to Monument, CO
Our hotel neighbors were up and out at six o'clock, we heard them banging doors and bumping suitcases down the stairs. Travel Manners -- I wonder who teaches courtesy on the road?
We had our little breakfast, packed, checked out, and were given two apples for our lunch. When we got outside, it was 50° with a heavy dew, and all of the cars were covered with a fine coat of ash. The sun is a red of fire ball through the haze; we were back in the burn area of Montana.
We had an easy entrance back on to Interstate 90, as we headed east, and then south to Hardin and then on to Sheridan, Wyoming. We crossed the Bighorn River at Hardin, and entered the Crow Indian Reservation. Of all of the areas we have seen in Montana, this seems to be the most rundown and the poorest. The whole state of Montana has a huge public awareness campaign about the dangers of Meth drugs. There are billboards, displays, and reminders everywhere with graphic pictures and warnings.
The Cottonwood trees along the Little Bighorn River were turning golden brown and Gen saw several hen pheasants along the side of the road. All sure signs of Fall here in the Rosebud Mountains, and the Bighorn River valleys.
At 9:30 we crossed the border into Wyoming. This is the land of rolling hills and pastureland, tall microwave towers, and huge snow fences along the interstate. There were many antelope herds grazing under the sun and the 80 degree temperatures.
We turned south on Interstate 25 at Buffalo, which was our worst section of road. However, just south of the city, a construction crew was taking care of the problem with about 20 miles of new road. We were on a detour, a two lane section of road but as traffic was very light, we were able to maintain the posted 65 mph speed limit. Out of the cone zone, we had smooth sailing south into Casper.
We crossed the North Platte River at Casper and stopped for gas and a sandwich at noon. It was 90° in the shade, and as they say, "there is no shade in Casper"! We were back on the interstate, driving east to Orin, where the road turns south again. Because this part of the trip was so flat, with very little traffic, it was a boring section of road and all we can do to keep awake on this hot afternoon.
When we stopped at Cheyenne to get gas at three o'clock, we discovered that in the week we have been gone the same gas station had lowered the price of gas by $.15. This was a very pleasant surprise! Just as we were about to cross over the Wyoming, Colorado border, we saw a great herd of buffalo grazing in the meadow along the side of the road. We made a brief photo stop under the Welcome to Colorado sign and then started south for the last 160 mile trek home.
What we got to Fort Collins, we hit the afternoon rush hour and congestion, this was more traffic today than we have encountered all week in Montana and Wyoming. We knew this would be the case, so we reached into our pockets for money for the toll road and got off Interstate 25 and joined the E-470 bypass, to avoid the tie up going through Denver all the way home. We marveled at the green fields here in our home state. We know we have been very lucky this summer to have frequent rains and as much moisture to keep our state green.
We pulled into our driveway at just about 5:30 and looked at the front hood of the car. We had collected so many bugs during our hot day's drive. As soon as I brought the suitcases into the house Gennie began the laundry and we started to get organized putting things away. I made a brief trip to Safeway to get a few groceries and by the time I got home things were starting to be back to normal.
We traveled a total of 2766 in seven days. The car consumed a total of 95.01 gallons of gasoline. That makes it an average of 29.11 mpg for the trip.
| Miles Traveled | Gallons | Avg. Price | MPG |
| 292.3 | 10.42 | $2.879 Prem | 28.05 |
| 182.8 | 6.24 | $2.789 Prem | 29.29 |
| 165.4 | 5.40 | $2.879 Prem | 30.63 |
Comments
Featured Journal
Day 13: Azores & Madeira: Portugal's Unspoiled Archipelagos
Day 13 - Saturday, April 22, 2022 - Depart for U.S.
The hotel prepared a box breakfast for us as we had to be in the lobby way before the breakfast room was open.
Last night we found out that our departure flight back to...
