EASTBOUND

Unable to travel any farther west than Whidbey Island, WA, we began our trek homeward bound.  Driving across the dry center of Washington, we enjoyed the performance of a dust devil:

Farther along I-90 in Quincy, WA, we visited a monument called Wild Horse Monument that we visited 20 years ago (with frightfully funny memories that included a rattlesnake).  As with most things, the access and parking changed, but the monument and the view of the Columbia River were just as spectacular:

College Girl and Eagle Scout climbed trail on left to the top.

View at top

MONTANA again ...

Driving back through Montana gave us a new perspective heading eastbound!   ;)   We noticed that every town along I-90 had its initial monogrammed  on the mountain.  "M" is below for the town we were passing by.

We traveled near the Missouri Headwaters in Montana.

We appreciated Our Lady of the Rockies as we passed her eastbound, knowing what the “white thing on the hill” was and having a better angle to see her.

I tried a Huckleberry Smoothie, which I almost devoured before remembering to take a picture.  It was delicious ... similar to a Blueberry Smoothie with an aftertaste of blackberries.  YUM!

South of Billings was miles and miles of open land with occasional cattle.  It is hard to believe that there is SO MUCH open range as we have seen on this trip.  Even our GPS stated “Ahead” as we traveled south on I-25 when it normally states what exit or what road is upcoming.  There was NOTHING around!

WYOMING again ....

 If we were casually traveling the country without our goal of returning home, we would have stopped at Ayres Natural Bridge  since this leg of the journey is in Oregon Trail Country.  In fact, we camped one night in Casper, WY, which was the hub of all the major westward trails:  Oregon,  California, Mormon,  Bridger,  Bozeman,  and Pony Express!  

A Walmart in Wyoming had a bucking-bull & cowboy (rodeo) soda display:

Having traveled most of Lewis and Clark’s trail on the way out west, we were able to learn more about the Oregon Trail when heading east and following a majority of it (backwards!) via the highways.  Consequently,  we visited a historic monument in Guernsey, Wyoming, and enjoyed seeing some preserved wagon-wheel ruts.

First a slithering snake enthralled us in the parking lot.  We looked it up to identify that it was a gopher snake.

We delighted seeing AND walking along the Oregon Trail!

 

Upper view of trail ruts where the boys are standing

 Views ON the trail itself:

 Walking on the trail:

Closeup of the outside ruts

Walking the trail in the direction pioneers were heading :)

Heading westward!

We chuckled in imagining what traveling was like for those children without their Kindles!  ;-)

Farther south in WY, still in open territory, we were in a known windy area.  Thankfully our truck/camper rig wasn’t affected.  We spotted an area with two alternating rows of evergreen trees planted in hopes of creating a wind barrier, but they are so tiny that it will take years to be large enough to do so!   There are also fences strategically placed  along I-25 to assist in breaking the wind before it reaches the highway.

Both pictures are taken through window of moving truck.  :)

Rain was encountered in the west as we traveled but was welcomed to wash the bugs and dust off the truck and camper!

We crossed back over the Continental Divide at 6,393 feet.  Even though we weren’t passing through the highest parts of these mountain ranges, we still traveled halfway home at altitudes of 4,000 feet or higher.  It took us four days to make it from the Pacific Ocean in Washington to the other side of the Rockies.