Western USA 2003
Near Cheyenne Reservation, MT to Mina Recreational Area, SD
Cold again last night below freezing. I have no heat in the car when sleeping and it doesn't hold heat so the temp inside and out are the same. As good as the white sleeping bag is I wear multi-layers of clothes and a hat which is enough to be able to sleep but still wake occasionally shivering.
Up early 8am and spend an hour eating and washing and on the road by 9am before my VA camp companion gets on the road, hopefully no more road clusters from him. Route 212 east and take a detour from Alzada to Capitol .. this is flat open big-sky country of Montana and this road is like being in the mud pits of the Russian Steppes. It is a dirt road that goes for 80+ miles and is being re-graded and is complete mud with tires sinking in up to the rims at parts. The mud was so thick it stayed on the truck undercarriage for months after I got home despite numerous washings and rains. Very bumpy and long road by early afternoon I was exhausted but saw some of the raw country of Montana including an open range cattle ranch, which are rare in the USA but how cattle ranching used to be done without barbed wire. It's fun driving through the middle of a herd of 100s of cows they think you are a big metal cow and walk along side the truck with a herd mentality, even if the cow is blaring out the sounds of hot Jazz.
Needed a solid lunch and stopped in the town of Buffalo, SD for lunch at a Café, asked the grocery store lady across the street if it was good and she said "yeah, its the only place in town". Good enough. Turns out it really sucked it was the worst meal of the trip, memorably bad. Open face turkey-product with instant mashed potatoes on Wonder Bread everything is processed food loaded with MSG I left feeling sick. And super sugary lemonade. The waitress served it with a look of "I wouldn't eat that" but I was too hungry and what else does one do the Rubicon had been crossed after the order was placed. The atmosphere of the place had all the charm of a cinder block prison with the patrons of similar fare. I spoke to no one and just got suspicious looks. Funny how every town has its own character. Bunch of squatters living in tents just outside of town.
Limped over to Riva Gap at Custard National Forest and pulled off and went comatose for 3 hours and woke up in the hot sun feeling like death. Something had to be done I grabbed a large bottle of water and just started walking and drinking trying to shake it off and that helped to move the liquids on through.
Continued on to Bison, SD for gas and someone mentioned there was a Hurricane hitting the east coast today and I felt lucky not to be there. A hurricane was working through my bowels.
Made it to Sitting Bull monument at night fall overlooking the Missouri River. Sacajawea (who helped Lewis and Clark) also died here around 1815. There is a guy from Wisconsin deep in thought sitting at the monument just the two of us overlooking the Missouri river from this high bluff. Keep on traveling into the night first time in weeks driving at night. Most of the day today I pass very few cars perhaps one every 20 minutes this is a wide open land with few people.
Camp at Mina Recreation Area a state park on a river near a boat ramp on blacktop (pdf, right side, next to "VT") nestled in some trees. Very cold again last night, South Dakotas reputation of being cold is true.
--Mina Lake campsite.. note mud falling off rims.