Road to Alaska: Sturgis to Livingston via Road of Death

Hwy 212, while I considered the road conditions to be still pretty good.

When I woke in Sturgis this morning (again at 0430 thanks to Millie) the weather was pretty awful.  Winds were still gusting at 40+ mph and it was snowing.  My original plan was to visit Devil's Tower National Monument on my way to Livingston, but after checking road conditions and weather forecast I cancelled that plan.  I took the most direct route there as indicated by Mapquest and my GPS.  According to Montana DoT website, the road conditions on that route was supposed to be relatively good.  How wrong they were.

Going out of Sturgis, I was on I-90 for a bit.  There was lots of slush and poor visibility.  Once off of I-90 and onto this "direct" route of US Hwy 212, conditions looked much better.  I thought I would be good to go.  There was no snow and the roads were dry... for about 40 miles.  All of a sudden there's snow being blown everywhere creating very poor visibility.  There was now snow on the ground.  I had to slow down quite a bit. 

I hadn't passed anyone or been passed by anyone since I got on this road.  I saw maybe 5 trucks go by in the other direction.  There was not a single place to stop at so far and I feared there would be none for the next 40 miles either since that was when my next "turn" was.  I assumed there would be something at this "turn".  Until I get there though, it was us and the crappy road conditions in middle of BFE.  I thought I was going to die out here.  If I spun off the road or my car broke down, no one may come by for hours.  I didn't even know if I had cell reception where I was.  It was scary.

About 10 miles later, I came behind a congo line of tractor trailers.  They were going about 20 mph.  Turns out roads were now a bit icy so it was probably a good idea to slow down more.  It was going to be a very loooong 30 miles at this rate.  About 10 miles later though, visibility improved, and roads weren't as icy.  I was able to bravely pass the congo line, although I wasn't really sure I wanted to take lead.  Finally, I reached the point where the "turn" was and there was a rest area.  Thank goodness cuz I really needed to go.

At the rest area there was a minvan carrying 3 Koreans, one with an H-Mart logo jacket.  They were busy emptying their van of their goods, including an unboxed rice cooker.  I was very curious as to what they were doing but I didn't ask.  I'm still wondering though....

Once out of the rest area, there was still more of the US Hwy 212 to go.  At some point the roads were fully covered in packed snow and I started approaching an uphill with a sign indicating a place to pull over to put on chains.  F***.  I didn't have chains.  I didn't even have winter tires.  What I did have going for me though were brand new all-season tires.  So I kept on.  There were 3 big trucks pulled to the side as I climbed up the hill.  I had no idea what they were doing since they weren't in the designated pull-over area.  I kept going anyways and it turns out I got up and over the hill just fine. 

About 5 hours into the drive I see my first proper gas station and fast food chain restaurant.  I was so glad to be back in civilization.  I got back on an interstate and then swore up and down that I am never again doing another road trip through the midwest in the middle of winter.

The rest of the drive to Livingston was pretty smooth sailing compared to the rest of the day.  Once in Yellowstone County, the scenery changed dramatically for the better.  I can see mountains and rivers.  There were also no snow or high winds.  Walking Millie at the rest areas and around the hotel once again became a pleasurable experience.

Road to Alaska: Mitchell to Sturgis via Mt Rushmore

Today was supposed to be a good day but it turned out kinda sucky :(  I didn't sleep too well last night, probably because of the stupid Mountain Dew.  I ended up getting up just after 5 and decided to hit the road early.  Not sure how good of idea that was.  I was on the road by 0630 in the pitch dark with gravel like material flying all over the place.  I was going roughly 75 mph, until I realized there was a salt (?) truck ahead.  I thought it was just laying down salt for upcoming snow.  Well, once I passed it I realized it was because the roads were icy as hell.  I was going slow by that point but I could feel my car swerving a bit.  I slowed even further, passing couple of cars going probably about 20.  Once I got to a point where there was more salt, I sped up to 30-40ish.  I kept this pace for over 40 miles, maybe even longer, because I had no idea when the salt might suddenly end.  So I drove slow, being very alert... or trying to be.  I was actually pretty tired.  I had 1/2 bottle of Mountain Dew and a bottle of energy drink but that didn't help.  There were hardly any places to stop along the way either.  Rest areas were spread far and apart, with very little in between. 

At some point the roads no longer seemed icy but it began raining.  That sucked too.  Nothing like wanting to go 75 mph but not because you worry you could go slipping off the road.  Eventually it cleared up, showing the rolling hills of Badlands, which was a nice change of scenery from the flat plains I've been staring at the last couple of days.  I hoped that the sunny skies will hold until I got to Mount Rushmore.

Once at Mount Rushmore I saw that the clouds had come back.  Snow had started falling by the time I finished giving Millie a potty break.  I ran up for a quick view and a snap (see above).  The trails were closed due to icy conditions, and I skipped the museum because I worried about leaving Millie in the car too long.  I'd been looking forward to seeing Mount Rushmore and this turned out to be such an anti-climactic visit.  Perhaps if the skies were blue, the trails were open, and I wasn't rushed, it would have been a nicer visit.

From Mount Rushmore I only had another hour's drive to my hotel in Sturgis.  Sturgis seems to be most well known for its motorcycle rallies.  For me, it was just a place to rest.  What I did want to do here though was take Millie for a nice long walk.  Bear Butte State Park was near by and I had planned to do the 2.5 mile Lake Loop.  Unfortunately, winds were now gusting 40+ mph and it was miserable outside.  I did let Millie out off leash for a bit so she can run around, but not long enough.  She's not been getting enough exercise lately, so today she has been acting up really bad, which hasn't made the day any better. 

Bear Butte State Park