Moving West: Day 3 and 4

Minuteman Missile

Our first stop in South Dakota was Minuteman Missile. It is a National Park site right off the interstate. It tells the story of the Cold War and the missile defense system. It was really interesting and even more so to hear Dad tell me of growing up during the Cold War and all his memories of it. It had started snowing while we were touring. We continued on down I-90 and stopped at Wall Drug.

South Dakota

I had been there once before. It's not really that interesting so we just did a quick lap and left. We turned the elevation on in the GPS. It was crazy to watch it keep going up while we were driving across the plains. We finally crossed over into Montana.

Little Bighorn

Little Bighorn Battlefield is another National Park site right off the interstate. We got there late in the day so we just watched the film and took in the exhibits. There is a tour road but it was snowy and we didn't want to drive around in the Uhaul.

Little Bighorn

We decided to stop in Billings for the night. I hadn't realized that Billings was such an industrial town. It is dominated by 2 refineries. We got there early enough that we decided to actually go out to eat. We had been just grabbing stuff along the way so it was nice to sit down and eat a real meal. Another snow storm moved in overnight and it was still snowing when we got up to leave. The interstate was covered in snow so it was really slow going. We got off in Livingston, MT and headed south! The sun finally came out as we got closer to Gardiner.

I met my coworker Sarah in Gardiner and we unloaded my car from the trailer and unhooked the trailer to leave it at the Yellowstone service center so it would be out of the way. Then we all caravaned to my new home! I had been sent pictures of it so it was nice to finally see it in person. Sarah kindly brought cardboard to lay down on the newly cleaned carpet so we wouldn't track snow and mud everywhere. Rick, my other coworker, stopped by and between the four of us we got that Uhaul unloaded in about a half hour (after we threw hot water on the lock since it had frozen solid). We basically just dumped stuff on the floor without any organization just to get it done. We were pretty hungry at that point but didn't feel like driving into town so Sarah took us to the employee dining room for lunch. Then I went to get my parking pass for the car and she took us on a quick tour of the neighborhood. Finally, I was back in the apartment and I had to start unpacking.

My front yard

Since I had no food, we headed into town to get some elk burgers for dinner and it was delicious. The sun had come out so it was a really pretty evening. We both celebrated not having to be in that Uhaul anymore!