Dawn and Dusk, Deer are Near
2300 miles through the Great Lakes, Great Plains, and North Rockies
Wheels = up!
Offline maps = downloaded!
Koulourakia from my landlord = in my belly before I left my driveway!
I set off for Chicago to scoop my friend John, who joined me for the first leg of the trip. John and I grew up together playing basketball and attending summer camp; he’s a Pittsburgh native that relocated to the Windy City a few years back.
John and I ripped through Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Hibbing before jetting out west. There’s a common thread between small-to-midsize midwestern cities that I really appreciated; seemingly everywhere, there is cheap/free, readily accessible parking. A quarter for 20 minutes! I’ve been towed and ticketed enough in Pittsburgh, DC, and Malibu to really appreciate a little thing like that; easy parking is my love language.
Although NBA season has yet to begin, we stopped by the home of the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Arena. When Giannis Antetokounmpo was a rookie in Milwaukee in 2013, he would often wire his NBA earnings back to his family in Greece. In a now-famous story, he sent every penny he had and didn’t have taxi fare. Giannis began to run through downtown Milwaukee to the arena and would have been late for his game had he not been intercepted by a fan and driven the remainder of the way. I was glad I had my own transportation to Fiserv!
On to the first musical stop of the tour - Bob Dylan’s childhood home in the mining town of Hibbing, Minnesota. We listened to the Blood on the Tracks album en route and stopped by Dylan’s home and many spots he frequented in his youth. One of my favorite Dylan-adjacent books details the recording process of the seminal 1975 record.
Much of the highway system up in Northern Minnesota warned of critters on the road; you’ll see some words of advice below on a sign we saw frequently. According to some light research, 1 in 81 Minnesota drivers record an animal collision annually. We drove a bit more slowly in the early mornings and late evenings!
In the land of 10,000 lakes, the warmer water meets the colder air in the mornings to create a really unique haze unlike anything I’ve seen before.
I won’t take up too much space to detail North Dakota. From east to west, it’s the same thing for 6 hours of driving. We did stop for gas and groceries in a place called Valley City, the self-proclaimed “City of Bridges” (?). My Pittsburgh folks aren’t going to like that one.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park was stunning. In full disclosure, I had never heard of it until panning a map to trace the route from Hibbing to Billings a few months ago. TRNP is home to bison, prairie dogs, coyote, magpies, deer, wild horses, and a few more types of wildlife. The bison were my favorite. They have an unexpectedly calm temperament! We drove within a few feet of them and they didn’t mind as long as you don’t interrupt their grazing. Really big, mellow creatures! The park was criminally underrated and under-travelled. I’ll let the pictures and videos speak for themselves.
@Ford, sponsor me!
In a first for this road trip, John and I decided to pick a camping spot on the fly. There are a number of resources available that help campers locate campsites for the night; I used iOverlander to find a spot in Red Lodge, Montana a few hours before we arrived. iOverlander is fantastic because it includes reviews from travelers as far as directions, amenities, etc. In an effort to assess the safety of the site, we got there before sundown: something I feel pretty strongly about continuing for future camping.
Once the sun goes down around 7, there wasn’t much to do other than settle down and read. Bedtime was usually around 9 for this reason; it’s pitch black at most sites. I was a little on edge outside the car; approaching the campsite; there were a few signs that (gleefully) read “You’re in Bear Country!”. John was happy to keep an eye on the woods while I was digging for supplies in the trunk.
John had identified a scenic route for the next day’s drive to Bozeman, a road called Beartooth Highway that cuts across the Wyoming Rockies at heights of over 10,000 feet above sea level. After a navigation mishap, we pulled over in Bear Creek, Montana (Population: 82) at 7AM to reroute. According to Google Maps, our preferred route would have been “difficult or nearly impossible” due to 18 inches of snow. While we were pulled over, a man walked up to the car and motioned for me to roll down my window. He (Mike) noticed my PA license plates and wanted to ask where we were from. Mike graduated from Penn State in 1979 with a degree in Agricultural Sciences and Economics. He’s lived in Montana for 30 years serving the ski industry (having a blast, in his words) and owns an apple orchard. Mike saved us a few hours worth of driving by confirming that a road we thought of taking was closed for the winter. In parting, he urged us to “spread kindness - there’s not enough of it out there”. We replaced the Beartooth Highway route with a route that was the highlight of my week, the Chief Joseph Highway through the Wyoming Rockies. It was full of switchbacks and snow-capped peaks, and completely isolated.
Here’s the view from the top:
And a topographical map:
And a path that shows the switchbacks in our route nestled between the mountains:
A chipmunk and I became buds atop the lookout. I’d be lying if I wasn’t tempted to bring him with me.
On the way to Bozeman, we drove through 3 hours worth of Yellowstone National Park. That place is HUGE, and sprawling. I’d be surprised if we saw even 1% of the park in that time. At one point, a bison blocked our path in the middle of the road. My car was first in what resulted in a traffic jam.
A truck behind me started beating on his window to encourage us to drive around the buffalo. It reminded me of a bit from comedian Stavros Halkias regarding traffic:
After Yellowstone, John and I hit the laundromat in Bozeman and grabbed a celebratory local beer from a nearby bar in between washer and dryer cycles. I’m ready to resume travel for the next leg of the trip. Off to Grand Tetons and Northern California with another friend, Andrew!
On the aux this past week: Bob Dylan, Derek and the Dominos, Sly and the Family Stone, Jeremih, Mariah Carey, James Taylor, and Pure Prairie League.