Homeward

Somehow crossing the Missouri River in South Dakota, then farther on crossing into Mountain Time made me feel like I was almost home even though we had four more days of driving.

Last night we stayed in Sheridan, Wyoming, in a motel on a hill at the edge of the plain. As we settled in to sleep, a violent thunderstorm came through, blowing against our third floor window and pelting it with large, hard raindrops. (No hail, thankfully.) It was a bit scary, although on consideration the motel wouldn’t have survived until now if it wasn’t prepared for such storms. 

When I lived in Laramie, I had a neighbor who worked at a bank on the edge of town. He remarked once that it sometimes surprised him how much more violent the weather could be at the bank than in our neighborhood, where we surrounded by houses and trees, nestled down together. Experiencing the brunt of the storm last night made me think of the isolated ranches and the weather they endure in this part of the world.

Today we continued west through Montana. Tonight we’re in Butte. Tomorrow we cross into Pacific Time. This area has a comfortable, homelike feel for me, but we’ll be another two days on the road. It’s been a good trip, seeing new sights. But now we’re once again in familiar territory, and our thoughts are of our home in Oregon.

NOTE: Andrea pointed out to me that if you get notice of a blog post in your email, and you read the post there, you don’t see the title picture. To see that picture, click on the blog post title, and you will be taken to the complete post. Today’s title picture should look like this: