Wednesday morning, and we're heading to some serious high country, down the
Beartooth Highway, through Beartooth pass, into Wyoming and Yellowstone.  But,
first things first: the last flat piece of highway we'll see for a spell, and the very last
"civilized" biffy for a while.  Look at the smile on that lady.  Happy?  Relieved?
Going up...and up...and up...and up...get the idea?  Lots of "up."
Come on
up just a
bit more.
About two-thirds of the way to the top, and we're already almost even with those peaks
across the way.  Doggone it, where's that little paper bag I brought, just in case?
Hmmm, there's a lot of snow on those peaks over there.  Wonder if there's very much
snow where we're going.  Could that snow blower be some kind of hint of things to come.
Finally, at the top of Beartooth
Pass, leaving Montana, going
into Wyoming and Yellowstone
National Park.
There's that "Welcome to Wyoming" sign,
and there's that snow plow driver telling
us the pass has just been closed.  It is
impassible, due to snow.  Turn around
and head back down.
Looking down at the valley.
Looking down at the clouds.
We'll be back down there in an hour and a half or so...much quicker if we miss a curve.
See those "twigs"?  Those are full-grown trees, taken
out by a wind storm.  It blows pretty good up here.
You see those rocks?  You think this netting is gonna keep 'em off your head?
One of the first things you notice, when you turn around:  it's just as far down
as it was up. If you get queasy on a tall ladder, you might just pass on this.
This is Sand Creek, and it rambles many
miles through Montana.
We finally made it back down from our unsuccessful assault on Beartooth
Pass, and wheeled into the beautiful town of Red Lodge. Feeling a need
for some comfort food, what sign should we happen to spy, but Scoops
...ice cream!
Dennis Nyback is the owner, now in his second year at Scoops.  Sassy is the
official greeter.  (That's Sassy on the right).  She's also the one who cleans up
any spilled ice cream.  Dennis made us feel right at home, told Jay to go scoop
us some ice cream.  He got Moose Tracks, Sherry was more exotic.
Sassy was right there, just in
case there was droppage, but
no luck.  So, we stopped in Red
Lodge for about an hour, had
some ice cream, got a root beer
float to go, and met two new
wonderful friends we'll look
forward to seeing next time
we're out here. That's always
one of the the best parts of a
trip: the people you are blessed
to meet.
Then it was Eastward across the Big Horn Basin to renew a friendship
from nearly 30 years ago at the Frannie, Wyoming, Tack Shop.
Don and Pat Campbell came out here from Michigan in the early 1970s.  They lived
their first year in a line shack, then they bought "this place", as Pat puts it.  The place
had a small log home and a small building, about the size of your kitchen, that Don
and Pat turned into a tack shop.  Don went to school to learn to become an excellent
saddle maker.  His son, Rick, has continued in the same direction, breaking a horse or
two and a bone or two along the way. Jay used to get all his saddles and tack here
and did some advertising for them as well on what was then KPCQ radio, aka Q-92.  
The Tack Shop sponsored the 7:30 news every weekday, and Skippy Fargo was their
mouthpiece.  Wow, how the business has grown...certainly the biggest in Western
Wyoming. Sadly, Don passed away some years ago, but he was the kind of man you
remember...John Wayne big, with a million dollar smile.  Oh, yeah, he was a mule
man.  It was so good to see Pat, Rick and Luann Campbell at the Frannie Tack Shop.
The dog waved "goodbye."  The moose just
mumbled something that sounded like 106.7.