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| Yumi is ready to hit the
road now that she's got a cup of coffee. |
|
I'll blame my sleeping until 8:30 on the Moose Drool's
consumed during the previous day. We had previously decided
that with Yumi's sore knee that we'd take the long way back
home through Whitefish, Kalispell and maybe Missoula. Yumi
had always wanted to see Whitefish, and I was curious to
get a look at Missoula since it's on my short list of places
to semi-retire to.
We quickly broke camp, loaded up the truck and stopped
at the Apgar store for some milk and coffee to go along
with our day old Polebridge pastries. Departing Glacier
this time wasn't nearly the traumatic experience it was
for us in 2004 but still a bit sad. I couldn't help but
think of missing Boulder Pass and Hole in the Wall. Someday.
The sky was particularly thick with smoke and i had to wonder
if the scenic drive down to Seeley Lake would even be worth
it?
Once we made it to Whitefish I realized that I was overdue
for an oil change so we found a Quick Lube and got that
taken care of before exploring downtown Whitefish. Quite
the bustlin' town, Whitefish boasted a lovely central business
district with many gift shops and eateries. We purchased
a few gifts then found a bookstore so that Yumi could find
something to read on the way home. In a moment of stupidity
I recommended Tom Clancy's "Debt of Honor". Anyone
who's read the book knows that the "villain" in
this epic novel is Japan. Yumi is Japanese. Doh. At least
I now had another copy for myself!
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| Downtown Whitefish |
|
We cruised along the main street, stopping in a few shops
to find a few more gifts for family members but couldn't
find much that excited us other than the Craggy Range Bar
and Grill for lunch. Managing to beat the normal lunch rush
we were ushered to a small table looking out onto the main
street. The menu appealed to Yumi, especially the Lake Trout
BLT. I settled for, ironically, the Smoky Range Burger and
a side order or sweet potato fries. Shortly after I ordered
the fries I realized I had just had a "blonde moment"
thinking that, for some unexplainable reason, I was ordering
baby red fries. Oops. I thought they sucked while Yumi liked
them very much. The burger and BLT were both delicious and
our server semi-hot once you got past the multiple piercings
and goth-like eye liner.
Soon we were back in the truck heading towards Kalispell
through the smoke. We didn't get to see a lot of Kalispell
through the haze other than an abundance of big box stores
and a rapidly expanding housing boom.
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| Summit Lake |
|
Continuing south towards Seeley Lake on 83 we were hoping
for some relief from the smoke in order to see what many
have said is a very scenic drive. Luck would not be on our
side as we saw very little other than Summit Lake. The big
steer at Clearwater Junction proved to be the highlight
of this leg of our journey.
Feeling cheated for the umpteenth time during the trip
we decided to bag the sightseeing and made a beeline for
the interstate at Missoula. I'd also wanted to at least
drive through but figured that to be a waste of time. I
can see city streets back at home. Once on I-90 our next
stop would be Butte. I'd remembered driving past Butte in
1978 thinking it was a cool town. Today we'd drive to the
heart of the downtown looking for oriental food, and after
a little bit of searching came across the Pekin Noodle Parlor.
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| Yumi about to dig in to her
chop suey |
|
Like most of the downtown, the restaurant was located in
an older building that appeared to be listing downhill.
Not yet worried about our saftey, we climbed a narrow staircase
which seemed to lead to nowhere. At the top of the stairs
we were confounded by the lack of things most associated
with restaurants: a hostess, tables and the sound of diners
and/or kitchen. One corridor led to an empty sitting room
containing some beat up furniture that even the most desperate
fraternity house would take a pass on. We were just about
to leave when we finally made contact with the hostess who
escorted us to a small enclosed booth with an additional
curtain drawn across the entrance for added privacy.
Noting the pink walls, I was suddenly overcome with one
of my many brilliant thoughts: We were eating in an old
whorehouse! I kept this thought to myself for a while and
perused the tattered menu for something that I hoped wouldn't
make me sick. I had little doubt that the Pekin Noodle Parlor
would've flunked a health inspection. Throwing caution to
the wind, I ordered a combination plate and hoped for the
best, while Yumi went with some noodle soup.
The food was forgettable but the conversation we had with
our server after paying our bill was not. I just had to
ask her about the history of the building. Originally, so
she was told, the building was a boarding house for Chinese
immigrants working in the mines, but she and most of the
rest of the city didn't believe that line of crap and more
or less confirmed my original thoughts.
As we made our way back to the interstate we passed a high
school football field with many charcoal grills fired up
and full bleachers. The carnival atmosphere, I believe,
was Butte Central's intrasquad football game. I wanted to
stop and take a look but didn't think Yumi would go for
it. Instead we got back on I-90 east. At least I'd get a
look at the Absaroka's before nightfall---maybe.
Before too long, the drought-buster struck again and we
were driving through rain. I hoped it would rain like hell
and give some much-needed relief and fire suppression but
it soon fizzled out.Approaching Bozeman around 8 PM it occurred
to Yumi that we needed to find a place to sleep for the
night and didn't mind setting up camp one last night. I
had no idea where to go but decided to head south on 85
hoping to run into a NFS camp ground before too long. After
about 15 minutes without luck we decided to head into Bozeman
and get a motel room for the night.
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| The Occidental Hotel in downtown
Buffalo, WY |
|
We found suitably cheap accomodations on the east end of
town and immediately hit the showers. I'd noticed several
maintenance issues while Yumi was getting cleaned up and
a few more when it was my turn in the bathroom but wasn't
going to complain too much for $40 a night. Better than
sleeping in the back of the truck to be sure. Yumi then
informed me that the building was going to be torn down
in just a few days.
After a shower and snack we watched a little TV and hit
the sack. It felt good to sleep in a bed again though I
wished we were still in the park.
I was up by 6:00 AM and again went to the truck so that
Yumi could sleep a little longer and to figure out the best
way home. I eventually decided on heading south on I-90
once we got to Billings largely because I wanted to get
a look at the Bighorns.
We checked out by 8:00 and were on the road heading east.
Soon the Crazy Mountains came into view and I was reminded
of my trip to the Absaroka's the previous year. Since Yumi
hadn't had her coffee and we needed gas I got off the interstate
at Big Timber and drove over to "The Fort" where
we purchased gas, coffee and danish. I love "The Fort."
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| Dorf focusing on the road |
|
Soon after we got back on the road we passed through Billings
and made the turn south. I had never been on this stretch
of road and was amazed at the sight of the high plains.
Then we entered the Crow Indian reservation and was amazed
by that as well, but for different reasons.
By the time the Bighorns came into view it was about time
for lunch so we decided to take a drive through Buffalo
to see if we could find an establishment that could rival
the noodle parlor for lunch. We parked at the same place
I'd parked in 2005 and started walking the main street,
aptly called "Main Street", to find it. I'd hoped
the Occidental Hotel dining room open for lunch, but it
was closed for renovations. Out of luck, we decided to head
back toward the interstate and ate at the Bozeman Trail
Steak House, chatting with a nice elderly couple from Sheridan
while we ate.
After gassing up (2.97 per gallon) it was time to get serious
about getting home. By 3:30 PM we were in South Dakota and
breaking the posted speed limit by nearly 15 mph. We made
a quick stop at the Piedmont rest area and pushed on.
We were both starting to get hungry about the time we entered
the central time zone at 6:15 (or, more correctly, 7:15).
Unfortunately, South Dakota is what it is and we had to
drive another hour to get to the next town of any size,
Chamberlain. Managing to waste a half hour driving through
the Chamberlain-Oacoma metroplex, we settled on dining at
Al's Oasis which was 1 minute from the exit we'd gotten
off at.
The meal pretty much sucked, but was enough to get us through
to Minnesota where we pulled off for the night at the Worthington
rest area a bit past midnight.
Up again at 6:15 I wanted nothing more than to get home.
We were dead-tired and still had about 8 hours of driving
to do. But by 9:40 we were back in the land of highly taxed
gas/Wisconsin and stopped for one last fill up.
Yumi had mentioned that her SGI
chapter was having a meeting in Oshkosh later that afternoon.
Since my wife was such a trooper during the trip I made
it my special mission to get her there sometime during the
meeting.
We made it. I fell asleep during their meeting and woke
up in time for lunch. After saying goodbye to Yumi's friends
we completed the drive back home, arriving around 5 PM.
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