The Cowboy Loop

Pat and David Thompson in Colorado

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The Cowboy Loop

Day 1:

On Tuesday Oct 27, I took the train from Denver to Omaha where Tommy met me at 0530. It was still dark but I had left the snow storm behind in Denver. He was driving his white F150 Ford pickup. It had a slightly extended cab so some of our luggage went into the bed along with the two mountain bikes and waterproof rooftop bag. We took route 29 out of Omaha up to Sioux City where we stopped for breakfast. Then picked up 20 West to another set of secondary roads whereby we worked our way north to Pierre, SD, the capitol city of SD. Then went on our way to Wall, SD where we stopped and visited the famous Wall Drug store. Wall Drug is a conglomeration of old businesses linked together to form one large wandering store which has every geegaw known to appeal to tourists. The one thing that appealed to both of us the most was:

From there we traveled on to Rapid City. The storm was beginning to catch us so we hunkered down in Rapid City for two nights and organized our flight plan. We dined at the Minerva Restaurant which was attached to the Best Western. They had excellent fare and it was a very comfortable place to “hunker.”

Day 2:

Rapid City planning, reading, relaxing waiting out the snow. We also decided that eating a large meal late in the day was a bad idea as neither of us slept well after doing so. Our regimen was to be a mid-day meal and light snack in the evening.

Day 3:

Rapid City to Billings, MT via Mt. Rushmore and Devils Tower, WY. Mt. Rushmore was snow covered and drastically different from the last time I visited in 1963. More developed with a lot more concrete, although I will admit that it was tastefully done. Devils Tower was awesome. It was visible from, what seemed like, 150 miles away just sticking up out the plains. It was equally as impressive up close. Got my Senior Lifetime pass at the entrance there which proved useful later on Then we drove on to Billings where we over-nighted.

At Mt. Rushmore Devil's Tower Guided by "The Light!"

We can’t seem to find the location of the “bar/inn” where we first implemented our mid-day meal and late night snack policy, but agree that it was a “Cowboy Bar” somewhere in Montana. As we left the interstate, we agreed that we didn’t want “fast food” and needed to find a local establishment of promise. The first thing we say was sandwiched between a gas station/fast food joint and some other nondescript traveler’s oasis. We agreed it seemed to offer more promise than anything in our immediate range of vision. We pulled in and entered what appeared to be an emergency exit, it had no windows in the door, but there was no other apparent entrance from this side. The noise volume almost overwhelmed us as we entered a room with a pool table, several fairly young people, one older blond woman and a whole lot of cigarette smoke. It seemed there was much “partyin’” going on! Well, we wanted local flavor! Passed the food service counter and went into the bar beyond. The barmaid came over and took our order for drinks but advised that we needed to place our orders for food at the “grill.” We did so and had no sooner sat down at one of twenty empty tables in the room to enjoy our beers than a young, quite inebriated guy from the only other occupied table came over and sat down with us! I had a hard time deciphering what he (John) was saying but the gist of it was that he was consoling his buddy, the other guy at the other table, because his (Mikes) wife was cheating on him! Since we didn’t shoo him away promptly we became his buddies and the object of his immediate attentions. He proceeded to introduce himself – “Hi! I’m John! This is my buddy Mike! His wife is cheatin’ on him!” What do you do? (Me) I’m retired. (John) No, I mean WHAT DO YOU DO? (Me) To keep things simple “I did carpentry.” Cool, crushing handshake! (John) Hi, I’m John, what do you do? Etc etc. At some point, he proceeded to undress, as in remove his vest, his sweater, his shirt and got down to his tank top and displayed his not inconsiderable bicep for us with it’s attendant tattoo. He then flexed it and brought it close to Mikes face and said “kiss this” as he pointed to it with his other hand. He then sat down in the chair at our table and promptly fell over backward! At this point, the barmaid offered that she would call them a cab when they were ready to leave and I understood clearly that she wanted that to be immediately if not sooner.

Day 4:

Billings to Kalispell via Glacier National Park. Very windy drive. Saw tipped over tractor trailer and towed covered trailer. Winds reported to be 65 mph.

Day 5: Sunday

Kalispell to Bozeman via Butte (The Pit!) Lunch at old Gold Exchange. Pit was closed. Trip through Anaconda into Bozeman. Lunch at Teds Montana Grill.