Day 4 - Billings, Montana

What a day it's been! The rain started the moment I turned the key in the ignition ... but it wasn't too heavy, and even let up to let me get a good view of The Devil's Tower. Those who are movie buffs will recognise this from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I can assure you this is not made from mashed potato! This massive hunk of rock looks artificial; the vertical striations look too regular to be natural. There is a Native American legend that it grew out of the ground in response to the distress of some young girls being chased by a bear - they ended up on top of it and the grooves were made by the bear's frustrated claws. Well, I don't know about that ... Of course, my view of it is clouded by the film, but when I first saw it in the distance, dark, brooding and with cloud swirling around and partially obscuring the top, I could see how it got its name. It could have worked well also as Sauron's Tower in Lord of the Rings.

US 14 is a lovely road, and had I continued on it I would have ended up in Yellowstone National Park. However, I had a long way to go so I got back on the Interstate heading north-west. Just before Gillette, the temperature plunged and suddenly I was in horizontal driving snow; ice formed on the windscreen wipers [response: windscreen heating on full!]; visibility poor! But this only lasted long enough to transform the rugged landscape into a Christmas card - for about 30 miles, then the only snow visible was in the rear view mirror - and in the Rockies off in the distance! They had been hidden from view until now, but how magnificent, with massive clouds overshadowing them. When finally the sun came out, these clouds became even darker and looked like tempered steel.

As I was driving along, a number of movies came to mind: High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josie Wales, Brokeback Mountain, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, A River Runs Through It ... our view of reality is shot through with and filtered by such imaginary worlds as these.

Today I saw my first bison and my first eagle!

Crow Agency is a pretty little place, on a fertile plain with the Little Big Horn river running through it, nestled between massive hills. And it is, of course, 5 miles from the site of Custer's Last Stand (the fort is still there). Today it's a small town, with the church, the feedstore, the motel and the casino all companionably in a row in the main street. They still do re-enactments of the battle every summer ...

Now at the Hilton Garden Inn in Billings, Montana (aren't Reward Points wonderful?) - but it's back to Motel 6 tomorrow ;-)

Funny sign of the day: "Caution - Snow may slide off roof ... Do not park within 5' of building" [at the gas station/general store at Sheridan, Wyoming, where the marked-out parking spaces are within about 18 inches of the building ...] [not all that funny, but best I can do for today!]