Roadies

Two and a half weeks after his surgery, BiL braved the long trip back to Montana. We reclined his seat as far as we could, brought the trusty ice packs, packed the car as much as it could hold, prepared an easy to reach (for BiL) basket of goodies, and departed on our thousand mile plus way around 1:30 pm that day.

Routing ourselves to circumvent the worst of the latest snowstorms, we took a slow journey, stopping every 90 minutes so he could stretch and move that knee (doctor's orders). As the sole driver, I must admit that the frequent rest stops helped me stay alert. The roads were nearly empty, and dry as a bone through Nebraska and most of South Dakota. We found lodging in Rapid City for the night, and continued the next day into heavy winds and blowing snow. The road was mercifully dry and safe till we got into Wyoming. Reduced to single lane travel, I90 wound it's way along the higher altitudes with intermittent snowpack and ice. We stopped in Gillette for lunch. By the time we got to Sheridan, I was very happy to take a long break at the Java Moon, where BiL had a latte and I found just what I needed in a pot of honey lemon ginseng tea.

Almost at the Wyoming Montana border, the ice cleared and traffic returned to normal speeds. That is, until Billings, where the pavement sported a steady layer of ice. Another rest stop there, and then we continued slowly enough to keep our track steady. Things improved greatly after leaving Columbus, and we rolled into our little neighborhood around 9, I think.

Josh had the driveway cleared for us, a fire in the woodstove, and ample wood to get us through a couple days. After two 11 hour days on the road, what a welcome that was!