John Colter Trail 1807 — 1808

Day 34: September 16th, 2005 Billings — Bismarck

Today I will finish my John Colter Trail and will start my long way back to Pittsburgh. But for now I drive over to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Although it is not even eight in the morning, they are already extremely busy. According to this the servers are already trying to catch up. But the service is still pretty good. Around nine I pay and drive over to the Cenex gas station in Logwood. This is the lowest priced in the whole city! Because my video tapes are also running low, I buy some spares at Wal–Mart.

I-90, MT

Around 10am I am ready to roll. Because I have already been traveling these areas on backroads, I take this time I–90.

I-94, MT

Then I continue on I–94.

I-94, MT

I-94, MT

I-94, MT

And proceed to the Bighorn River.

88 S10 Blazer, Bighorn River, Ft. Raymond, MT

Highway 10, Bighorn River, MT

I-94, Bighorn River, MT

There I do again a side trip to the spot, where most likely once has stood Fort Raymond. This is the finish of my this years trail, where John Colter was back in the Fort after several months in the wilderness, straight through the mountains and this in winter time!

Because noon is slowly approaching, I use the opportunity for a comfy lunch break, before the long way back to Pittsburgh starts. On I‐94 I follow first the Yellowstone River.

Burning Field, I-94, MT

Burning Field, I-94, MT

Burning Field, I-94, MT

Suddenly I see a big cloud of smoke. As I am getting closer, I realize, that a whole field is burning. But lucky me, the Interstate only receives a bit of smoke and I can pass safely. Of course, my video camera battery is empty exactly when I reach the smoke…

I-94, MT

I-94, MT

I-94, MT

I-94, MT

I-94, MT

I-94, MT

I-94, MT

At Glendive I do a brief stop to gas up and around a quarter past two I continue my long ride to Bismarck in North Dakota. When I traveled the same stretch a couple of years ago, I drove in the pouring rain through this area. But today I have plenty of sunshine.

I-94, State Line MT and ND

I-94, ND

I-94, ND

I-94, ND

I cross the state line to North Dakota and am able to enjoy the views of the Dakota Badlands before I finally reach Bismarck.

I-94, ND

I-94, ND

Around half past six I am checking in at the Motel 6. Then I check my video taping of today. Originally I planned to go again to Applebee’s. But the Red Lobster is way closer. Because it is already pretty late, I decide to go there for dinner. All in all I already planned for a long time to try dinner there once.

I decide to take a combo of several different shrimps. But my server Thomas gives me the hint to order the “Endless Shrimps”. It is just one type of shrimp per order, but I am allowed to order as much as I want. So I almost try every possible version until I am completely stuffed. Because of this great hint and because I will not have any desert, I give an extra big tip. Around ten I drive back to my motel and lay down comfy in my bed.