I love Montana

I'm really glad I decided to change my route. Today I had a great day.

First off, I didn't add to the roadkill collection on the highway. I'm still worried about it though. The deer here aren't really afraid of cars. I passed by some on the side of the road and they didn't even flinch when I passed. Thankfully I'm still roadkill free. I did, however, annihilate a few billion bugs with my car. I went through an entire tank of washer fluid trying to clean them off as I went so they didn't dry on. At one point it sounded like it was raining out because so many were hitting at once. I have pictures of my car - I'll upload them later when I have the energy to walk across the room and get my camera. Enough about the bug massacre, how about my days:

1. I've covered four firsts for me:

• The first two are tumbleweed and buffalo. First time seeing either. I saw them each along the highway and I yelled without hesitation and with the excitement of a child, "YES!" and "BUFFALO!!!!" respectively. I was really excited and I'm really not sure why.
• a canyon. Painted Canyon in the Theodore Roosevelt Nat'l Park. I didn't even know it existed. I was driving, the scenery was slowly changing from flat farmland and approaching mountainous when suddenly I caught a glimpse of it off the side of the road. I was blown away. I stopped at the little rest area they had for it. So cool. There were even buffalo there at the edge of the rest area to greet me. They're strange animals.
• BIG mountains. I've driven through the Appalacians, White and Berkshire mountains and maybe more that I don't know the name of. They have real mountains here. Big ones. I spoke to the woman at the front desk of the hotel I'm at and it turns out her boyfriend lives in Alaska and she's been there several times. She says I'm in for a treat up there if I'm already blown away by the mountains here. I took pictures that I'll be uploading later.

2. I saw some really great signage:

• a billboard without any branding on it that had a picture of a father and son together and said Take Your Kids Hunting (that was in North Dakota)
• Another billboard that didn't have any branding either, it just said 'smile.' I saw two of them on completely opposite ends of the state (ND). I tried to get a picture to send to Erica, the smile queen, but the one I got was a driving picture so it's horrible.
  
• 'Welcome to BEEF country!' (I think that was in Montana, but it may be ND)
• a highway sign that said "Anglers and boaters, tune to 1610 for local tourism information. Prevent aquatic hitchhikers." (I'm lost. aquatic hitchhikers??)
• In Montana I've seen 5 signs on the edges of random farmland in completely different areas about being pro-life. They weren't billboards, but they were big enough to notice and read easily. It's weird because I actually just had a discussion about pro-life/choice with someone the other day. Tasteful pro-life ads, as usual. For instance, one had a picture of a baby reaching his hand out and the one liner to go with it was "take his hand, not his life." I don't know why they don't just cut to the chase and use "you're a baby killer" as their slogan.
  

3. Other random thoughts:

• What is the deal with road trips and worlds biggest something or other attractions? I saw what looked to me like a hunk of rusty old scrap metal that slightly resembled an old highly deteriorated bomber or something. There was a sign next to it and I just passed a military base, so I thought maybe there was significance. It ended up being the largest grain elevator. Real exciting. I also passed the world's largest cow, buffalo and metal fish sculpture. Who keeps track of this stuff? Did he actually outdo a lesser metal fish sculture? I'm going to pass the largest coffee pot and gold pan while I'm in Canada. Jealous?
• I liked cows when I was younger. I don't know why, I just did. I still like them, but I like them even more now. I saw a ton of babies and they're so incredibly cute. I passed a hillside they were grazing on and a bunch of the babies were lounging together. I watched them as I went by because they were so cute and all these little heads turned in unison, following my car. It was a section of highway that not too many cars go by on so when one does they must notice it and check it out. It was a priceless little moment, seeing them all looking right back at me. I also like the way cows flip their tails around while they're grazing. I realize the reason they're doing it isn't glamorous, but I still think they look funny when they do it so I like it.
• Sadly I had to stop using cruise control when it got too mountainous. My car wasn't enjoying trying to keep a pace of 75mph down AND up the side of a mountain. I had to switch to level footing it. Normally that isn't remotely possible at home because it's so congested and people don't understand how to use the highway and they don't understand that you may speed up a little when you go downhill and slow down going uphill. They just know th Here it seems to be the norm. Why not let the mountain and the inertia you've got going do a little of the work, right? The mountains KILL my gas mileage, so any bit helps to save it.
  
• I'm blown away by the beauty of this place. I'm glad I got the chance to do this because who knows if I'd ever have seen it otherwise. A lot of people skip US travel in favor of foreign travel. If only they knew what's out there

I'm in desperate need of sleep. Tomorrow it's Yellowstone and then probably an easy day of driving since I've had a hellish schedule these past days.