The Road: Day 3

Waking up in Sheridan, Wyoming, two things became quickly apparent. One, we would not be allowed to transition gracefully into Winter. While the rest of the country was dealing with snow and sleet, Wyoming and Montana just had cold. Real cold. We are talking negative temps here. Just loading the car was enough to freeze your face and turn your fingers useless. We knew this was coming but not on Day 3.

When we finally got on our many layers of clothes and ventured out into the frozen world of Sheridan, WY, the second thing we noticed is that we were finally in the West (or the "West at its Best" as the town slogan claims). Everywhere you looked was a photo, t-shirt, mug, or even a bar sign with the state logo of the rodeo cowboy.


As we ducked in and out of stores, which beats window shopping when it is negative 5,


we got an eye-full of true country couture. Wendie tried to talk me into getting a pair of cowboy boots but, even though I've always thought Maverick from Top Gun made them look pretty cool, I'm pretty sure they are still out of my league as both a fashion statement and status symbol. (At least until they make them fleece-lined).


Leaving Sheridan and heading Northwest toward Montana, the icy breeze and on-and-off flurries created a swirling fog that hovered above the road like smoke dancing over a witch's kettle. While this hazy mist obscured the Big Sky as we crossed in MT,


it was the perfect backdrop as we pulled into the hallowed ground of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.


Covered in snow, we did our best to picture what the site of Custer's Last Stand and the Native American's last big victory against the US Army was like in the summer of 1876. The graveyard of Custer's 7th Calvary


and the Last Stand monument (the headstones here represent where soldiers died, not where they were buried), as well the museum displays dedicated to Sitting Bull, were vivid reminders that the West has many stories to tell, and many perspectives from which to tell them.


As we were leaving, we bumped into this big bunny trying to stay warm near the visitor's center


After a lunch stop in Billings, we followed one of the most desolate stretches of I-90 as we cut above the Absaroka and Beartooth mountain ranges until we reached Livingston. From there we headed south to Pray, MT and the home of Chico Hot Springs. A hot spring that has been pooled for the last hundred plus years, the waters reach about 100-degrees, which seemed to us a perfect counter-balance to the day's frigid temps. Braving the cold five feet from the changing room, we hopped in the pool for a pre-dinner swim. The water was incredibly refreshing despite the fact that whenever you popped your head out your hair instantly froze.

We zipped back up to Livingston to eat at the 2nd Street Bistro, where author and Livingston-local Jim Harrison had dined with chef Anthony Bourdain on a recent episode of No Reservations. The food more than lived up to its billing. The only problem being that we couldn't decide whose entree was better: Wendie sided with her bacon-wrapped meatloaf while I leaned toward my chicken breast served over pasta and cheese.

Driving back along the Yellowstone River to Chico, the clouds finally cleared enough for us to get a glimpse of Montana's big starry sky which, we hoped, promised warmer weather to come.