Day 2: Truckin' Down The Road: Rock Springs, WY to Butte MT

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

80 MPH is The Legal Limit in WY, ID, MT

 Today we drove.  It is one of the longest single days of driving we had planned for our Great Alaska Adventure.  Luckily, in this part of the world, you can (legally) do long boring drives at 80 mph. I know that sounds amazing to you East Coasters-- but out here in the wide-open west 80 is the norm.

 M handled herself admirably, and purred along at 80 (or 85, or the occasional more than that when passing on a two lane road) just as she does as 65.

 The day began where we left off at the Holiday Inn in Rock Springs, WY.  We then crossed the border into Idaho where we spent several hours.  We continued on to Montana, where we stopped for the night in Butte.  Here are the highlights:

Wyoming:


 We drove through the WY piece of the trip at 80 mph. (We also passed two of the power plants where Bob did very successful work.)

Idaho

This picture is of the Idaho drive-- just a single cool looking cloud in the sky.
Idaho-- Just a Cloud In The Sky
As we were driving through Idaho we saw this exit sign for the "Area" of "Portneuf."  At first we were mystified.  But Bob soon came up with the answer. He supposed that when they were thinking about a name someone claimed that the "area" in the middle of nowhere wasn't "Portant enuf" to name, and it stuck.
How Do You Think This Town Got Its Name?

 We stopped for lunch in Idaho Falls at the Snake Bite restaurant in the historic downtown. 

Welcome to Idaho Falls, ID

 It was a tasty bite indeed.  Bob got the "special fry sauce" for his onion rings-- and it was definitely special.  We didn't get a chance to ask, but I'd swear it was Russian Dressing with Chinese Duck Sauce mixed in.  The best word for it is "interesting."


Shortly before reaching the Montana border we saw a sign for "The Opal Capital of the US," and of course I just had to stop.  Turns out that tiny Spencer, ID has purportedly been the home to the only opal mines in the US for 25 years.  There are several mines there, and we visited a couple of shops.

I'm sure you're not surprised to hear that I came away with some beautiful stones. (Nelson, if you're reading this you have a job when we get back.)

Montana


Did you know that the first exit on I15 in Montana is exit 0?  Well now you do.
Exit 0, the First in Montana on I15

We also got a scare in the middle of Montana when M suddenly started beeping and giving us warnings about hazardous traffic ahead.

M Is Concerned for Our Safety

She was alone in her concern, as we sure didn't see anything but a small construction zone that didn't even cause a traffic slowdown.  Go, figure. (Perhaps a PTSD flashback from the collective BMW memory of the road in the snow and ice?)

The rest of the ride was uneventful, but the scenery was beautiful-- in fact it was even more beautiful at 80 MPH, because we didn't have to stare at the same view for too long.





We pulled into the Butte Holiday Inn Express, at about 6:30 and spent the rest of the evening planning our exploits for tomorrow.  We have a down day to explore the town.

More to come after a good night's rest.

--Lisa


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