The whole country seems to be in the middle of some kind of heat wave. Last night we arrived at our next location, Missoula, Montana. Typically the average temperature in June there is a high of 74 (sounds glorious), however, that has not been the case. When we got in last night it was in the upper 80s and hit 90 during the heat of the day! Today there is a high of 85. It’s just awful.
However, this morning I’m sitting out on the porch of our airbnb, sipping coffee and it’s a calm 60. I’m surrounded by mountains and it’s just serene. I can still hear the birds like in Medora, but now I also hear the whishing of cars on the highway nearby. I think I miss the stillness of Medora, haha!
I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Let’s back up.
Yesterday we got up and went to breakfast in that little western town of Medora. We ate at none other than the Cowboy Cafe. They had pictures of famous cowboys from the area and their associated personal brand on all the walls. Even the chairs and benches had their brands burned into them too.
It was a small restaurant, cash only, the kind of place where the cook comes out to tell stories to his customers and laugh and be merry.
We had our eyes and heart set on one thing from this restaurant. The caramel roll.
Before our trip started, we did our research. The story we found is that North Dakota is known for a lot of comfort foods, but beyond all else, they make a killer caramel roll. This intrigued us since we are avid cinnamon roll lovers; I can’t think of the last time we went to the mall and did not get cinnabon.
The caramel roll was a huge hit! Like most things up here, it was huge! Honestly we could have gotten one of those to split and been happy. It was delicious! The dough was moist, the cinnamon filling was evenly spread, delicious and sweet, and the caramel was covering the whole thing like a warm gooey blanket. It was amazing and I think Cinnabon should add it to their menu.
With our bellies full, we walked back to the car and passed a random line dancing class. Hold up, let’s pause for a second.
A line dancing class.
All the tourists in town (like 50 of them) were in the town square doing line dancing at 8 in the morning. That town is so strange, we couldn’t figure it out. There were some large groups of people there for some kind of dodgeball tournament too. I really don’t know, it was weird.
We hit the road and soon found ourselves in Montana! We stopped at the rest area in Wibaux, which is right on the border. A historic town itself, the founder of Wibaux was apparently friends with Teddy Roosevelt before he became president; when he was just a rancher near Medora. We read this sign that told us the drive east to west in Montana was the same distance as the drive from Chicago to New York. This was the exact drive we were about to embark on.
The drive was the first one where we actually felt it. We are glad that for the next 3 days our top distance is 3 hours. It will be nice to have a break.
This trip has taught us one thing: converting and living out of a van while traveling the country would be a dream come true for sure!
However, staying in the locations you visit for more than a single night would be ideal.
The drive was no longer than the previous day when we drove through Minnesota and North Dakota. In fact, I thought it was a prettier drive. We saw the rest of that Painted Canyon, rolling grassy hills, foothills of the mountains, and then got to drive through some of the snow-peaked mountains themselves. We saw the land change from sparse trees in the open country to heavier wooded mountain land. It was gorgeous!
But time just seemed to move slower for some reason. We are almost done with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I think there are just 2 chapters left! Then we get to move onto Taylor’s favorite of the series!
Long drive or not, we made it to Missoula safe and sound around 5pm their time. The time change has been rough on Taylor. Since she’s still working, her 8am meeting in NC is getting earlier and earlier. Monday will be the worst when her meeting starts at 5am.
However, night time has been getting rough too. Usually after dinner, that internal clock clicks and Taylor is wiped out. And to be honest, I’m pretty wiped out once we get in bed and I read for a minute. There is still something that feels wrong when you go to bed and it’s still light out, but also it stayed light out until like 9:30pm last night.
Missoula is a neat little town. We liked downtown a lot and had a delicious dinner at the Iron Horse!
We only have a 3 hour drive today, so we plan on going to a coffee shop and walking around a bit more before heading out for Spokane.
They have a nice river downtown that apparently has parts where people surf!?
During the winter, skiing and snowboarding is all around. It seems like it’d be a pretty neat city to live in. Especially when it’s not during a heat wave, haha!
As I reflect on our travels, it is just mind boggling how far we’ve come and how fast we’ve done it. Today we are going to hit our destination and thus begin the return journey home. That’s wild!
Reflection is an important part of life for me. Looking back and seeing how far you’ve come, how much God has done for you and grown you. He made the Israelites make altars and stack rocks as a reminder. So years later they could pass them and be reminded of God’s great grace. A reflection that helped them hold on and trust God.
When we reflect on all He’s done, we are reminded of His grace and love and can trust and rely on His goodness and faithfulness. Not that everything will be rainbows and sunshine in life. That is not a promise God ever made. However, He does promise He will never leave us nor forsake us, that He is right there and works all things together for His good plan. That’s the promise we can hold onto and be reminded of when we reflect.