July 26

Yesterday was a long day of travel through a great variety of settings. We started out in the mountain valley that Hamilton rests in between the Bitterroot Mountains and the Saphire Mountains. It is an area that has many farms and lumber mills as well as other things. There are many folks who have come from other parts of the country to retire here and I can tell why. From there we went up to I-90 and drove across Montana, and drove across Montana, and drove across Montana. It was a beautiful drive but it does go on and on. We followed I-90 down into the edge of Wyoming and then into South Dakota. The Black Hills are amazing in the evening sun, however everyone and their grandparents have come to the Black Hills for vacation and we finally got a room (the last one they told us) at a Best Western in Wall SD.
Today will be another long drive as we hope to make it somewhere between Des Moines, IA and the Quad Cities.
Now for a little interactive opportunity for those who are still reading. Yesterday we blew through my mileage estimate of 8,000 give or take a thousand miles for this trip. In fact we are very close to the upper end of that guess. What do you think our total mileage will be. Just post an guess and you will win .......
nothing actually, but you will have the self-satisfaction of being a better guesser than others.