Though it was extremely difficult to pry myself away from work on time, I was able to do so. Not really, I was chomping at the bit to get out of there as soon as I got to my desk.

I was already mostly packed the night before so all I had to do was gather my food, take a shower and say goodbye to the boys and grandma/mom. A quick stop at the C-Store for ice on the way out to I-43 and I was on my way.

Since I didn't have Yumi with me this time I was able to blast my newly burned country mix CD---repeatedly---and eat junk food without receiving a health lecture.

Since I had been down this "road" before I settled in nicely and played a game of "can I get to Minneapolis in less than 4.5 hours?". I won this round by getting there by 19:54---a new PR! After that it was a race to beat 6 hours to St. Cloud, MN. You betcha...by 20 minutes. I continued to make good time until I felt like I had to stop for rest. Again, I plopped myself in the back of my truck on a couple Therm-a-rests and snoozed for almost 6 hours---another PR while on the road.

The next morning I needed to gas up and did so at Medora, ND. Medora is a fascinating little town at the entrance of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I would have liked to have poked around here for a bit but needed to make up for lost time I spent sleeping late.

By 9:15 I had made it to the Montana state line and needed to figure out where I was going to go. I still had thoughts of going to Glacier but wasn't crazy about the added drive time. In my heart I knew it would be the Beartooths and continued on the interstate when I got to Glendive just before 10:00. Now all I needed was to get my hands on some maps. This would prove to be a bit tricky,

I figured I'd be able to find some maps in Billings when I stopped there for gas just before 1:00. Unfortunatley, the clerks at the C-Store had no clue where I might find an outfitter, much less maps. I was beginning to think I may have made a rather large mistake.

I drove into Laurel thinking there might be a shop there. No such luck. When I finally made it to Big Timber at 2:00 a wave of relief came over me when I saw an information center just off the interstate. These people would know, right?

Wrong. While helpful, the elderly lady had no idea how to help me. I had done some research on Big Timber and recalled reading about the "Fort". The Fort supposedly had everything for everybody. We'd see about that.

As it turned out, the Fort did have my quads. i bought the sheeets I needed and took off for the Box Canyon Trailhead 50 miles south.

My Falcon Guide said that the drive from Big Timber to the trailhead was a slice of the real Montana. I can't disagree. As I got closer and closer to the trailhead the geography changed from scrubbbland, to ranch land to wilderness, all the time following the Boulder River. NFS campgrounds were plentiful, as were ruts in the road once the pavement ceased to exist about 25 miles from Big Timber. All told, it took me about 1.5 hours to get to the trailhead, but it was a beautiful drive.