Missoula MT
Big Hole National National Battlefield MT
Bozeman MT
I now know that rain can quickly turn to snow when getting into the higher elevations. That delayed me about
half an hour plus made me wonder if I was going to get stranded in the snow and spend the night in my car.
Earlier I had also learned about fog-nadoes. They the fog in the wind sometimes form mini "tornadoes".
The snow messed with my schedule. Because I wanted to quickly get back to just rain I decided to skip
spending the night in Butte MT. Instead, I drove to Bozeman MT. That gave me the wonderful opportunity to see
the incredible colors of sky and clouds over the mountains just east of Bozeman. That is a sight I will long
remember even if I could not capture it on camera.
Buffalo WY: A bad idea was selecting Buffalo WY instead of Gillette WY for a gasoline stop. Buffalo is quite a
ways off the interstate.
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This visit was to re-visit the University of Montana, this time I knew where to find the campus signs.
This remote national park facility is in east central Montana. It was the site of a battle in the Nez Perce War.
It makes national park #138 that I have visited.
This visit was to re-visit the Montana State University, this time I knew where to find the campus signs.
The Games Drivers Play:
While driving between Butte and Bozeman, I realized that there are two types of games played when driving on interstates
or other such divided highways. One causes the other to happen.
1. Big trucks like to pair up and when they see cars coming from behind, they start their Leap Frog game. The back
one pulls into the lane to the left. The right lane one slows from between 5 to 10 MPH below the posted speed limit. The one in
the left lane only goes 0.5 MPH faster than the one in the right lane. Thus, 3 to 5 miles before left lane passes right
lane. All cars behind slow down and wait.
2. BUT, to prevent this Truck Leap Frog game from being played, the cars all line up a short distance from each other in
the left lane before a truck can pull over into the left lane. This is the cars' version of Chinese Checkers -- blocking
the right lane from moving into the left lane because the spot is already taken. I noticed this being played in all of the
remaining states I drove through.