Blowing through Billings

Elks Lodge, May 12, 2014 – Billings, Montana

The departure is cast in stone (well sorta) and we are tired of waiting on the weather to improve. The day we left Blackhawk was predicted to have some of the strongest winds yet, but the weather map indicated if we could just get 50 to 75 miles north and west from here the winds would die back down again.

I don’t know about you, but driving in winds coming at you from the side is especially tiring. Big Guy’s alignment is right on the money, but with those winds blowing you around, it doesn’t matter if your tires are straight or not. You’re going to fighting that steering wheel all day long.

The train that traveled right next to the campground made one more pass as we were leaving.

20 miles from Black Hawk, we made a stop in Sturgis at a coffee shop Frank remembered from our last time through here. We made a wrong turn and had to drive down Main Street Sturgis which was kind of neat because no one was there. Hard to imagine this place with hundreds of thousands of people here in August for the motorcycle rally.

Frank tends to get sleepy without his caffeine so this was a necessary stop. One special and one regular coffee to go and we were back on the road.

Leaving South Dakota, we passed through a corner of Wyoming before entering Montana.

In Broadus, Montana we made a lunch stop at a combination bowling alley, casino and café. There wasn’t much else in Broadus. Turns out the food was good, the desert was great (homemade cherry pie) there was one guy in the casino and the bowling alley was empty.

Nice scenery but we kept hoping the sky wouldn’t open up and dump a bunch of rain on us.

Semi-modern TeePee?

Finally Billings comes into view.

Our plan was to overnight at Cabella’s in Billings. The Days End directory had it listed as a business that would allow RVs to spend the night in their RV parking lot. But when we got there, “No Overnight Parking” signs were posted all over the place. Have to send an email to the Escapees about this one.

Plan “B” was to find the local Elks lodge. The Google satellite view showed the had a large parking lot so we gave them a call and they said “Sure, come on over”. It was in a very nice residential area and was very quiet. The next morning we gave them a donation for their children’s fund and they gave us a tour of the inside.

After a long 300+ miles day, Big Guy spends a peaceful evening in front of the Elks Lodge.