Exploring Arizona One Picture At A Time!: Failing Asleep At The Wheel PT I --Into Billings MT

So I try to keep this page as updated and fresh as possible. But work, my family, and just plain life seem to always be keeping me more than busy. This is also an Arizona Exploring blog sight for the most part, but every once in awhile I wander and Explore further down the dusty trail and wish to share. I hope you enjoy the posts--from wherever they may start even half as much as I enjoy taking the pictures and the Exploring. My long running personal blog page usually gets updated more than this here page---Also full of my pictures and Exploring, but maybe not for the faint of heart, easily offended, any type of snowflake, or those in California who now have a third sex option to put on there drivers licences. Anyways please also check out that page at
www.wyomingjack.blogspot.com

I recently had the joy of taking eleven days off work and traveling a few great and amazing places. The first part of the trip was going back home to Wyoming, a place I have not been in 6 or 7 years. But first it was easier and cheaper to fly into Billings Montana, get a rental car, and drive to Sheridan Wyoming. About a two hour drive-if I wasn't known to stop a lot and Explore and get pictures. And get pictures I did---I am going to break this trip into several blog posts because of the amount of pictures I did take along the whole way. I have older posts from Wyoming and Montana you should also check out---full of Exploring and pictures of course, they can be found on both of my blog sights by using key words in the search.

Still in Arizona with time to kill.

Plane was delayed

Airport coffee

Gate to Billings

Originally I had planned on just driving right to see my parents --Originally I had a lot of plans that did not actually happen on this trip. But it was an adventure for sure. In the first place, I was supposed to stay in a guest cabin near my parents-but that also fell through. After hearing this news---something that actually did not turn out to bad at all, and after the pilot announced that it was 45 outside when we were flying into Billings, I decided to splurge a little bit and stay at Motel Six. In my travels this is usually my go to place to stay. And I have tons of pictures of myself in there mirrors. I spanned out in this shot to show the silly ashtrays. They are supposed to be no smoking rooms, but have ashtrays with no smoking signs on the bottom of them. I am still not exactly sure how I would read all that. I don't smoke I just find it amusing. This room was not very good for a Motel Six--but the bed was comfy and check out time was noon. Some time during the night it turned to rain outside -so I was glad that I had dug out my hoodie jacket before coming home and that I had stayed the night in Billings.

In all my travels this is the ONLY Motel Six I know of -where you can stand on the porch of your motel and see another Motel Six.

I had planned on sleeping in a little bit--not much and than doing it my way---and hitting the highway. Stopping at Custer Battlefield-or whatever they call it now. That's what it was while growing up -so that's what it is to me! Although that is one of the few protests for a name change I can understand---Custer and his men got beyond slaughtered here, quickly -probably should not have been named after the poor scalpless white boys.

I had also planned on getting to the motel much sooner the night before. Billings used to be our party town, when we were bored. Bored in Wyoming---that almost never happened. Billings was the big city it had a mall! Anyways, I have not been in the town for a long while. Especially at night. And soon after getting the rental car----another very difficult part of this trip, I was soon lost in the town. From the airport I quickly got to the downtown area, but it was not familiar enough anymore to help me navigate. Thank goodness for online maps! But this was not even helpful at first, because after typing in "Wal Mart" to help get me near the two Motel Sixes-I soon leaned there were now multiple Wal Marts in the area. After several attempts I just typed in the mall----and very quickly had the lay of that part of town.

Waiting for my luggage.

Very small airport to Explore

I only share a picture of the mall because it is exactly how I recall from my teen years. Inside and out. Even the vendors in the food court seem to be lost in time here.

Speaking of lost in time

I found an open Shopko here too!

The following morning I soon decided I needed lots of coffee.

A very good place to enjoy a brew or five!

I work in a very large casino. So it always amuses me what is considered a casino in Montana. The only thing really neat about these places---is when you sit down you can get free beer. Even at the very ritzy gas station casinos! I can't say that I did not hit any of these ---and come out a lil ahead during this part of the trip. ;) Inside there is usually mostly bar. And a few dozen old school slot machines with a lot of Keno games over regular slots.

Much later than I had figured, I made it on the open road. And it is wide open! I had forgot how boring a drive this is and soon wondered how I used to drive this all the time in my youth---like it was nothing. Usually at night. This whole area is definitely a whole new world. And when I lived --grew up in the area I was used to it.

Speaking of wide open, I was not used to the 80 MPH speed limit signs on the highway. In Arizona they top out at 75---and I kept looking down to see I was driving in that range speed wise. Montana used to have no posted speed limit on highways in the day time. The signs said simply "reasonable and prudent." This however could be greatly interpreted differently between the driver and the officer involved. At some point to many people died --although I am not sure what the hell they hit---and the government stepped in. Basically telling the powers that be of the state, that if they did not lower the speed limits, they would loose tons of big government funding. The signs soon changed.

I probably would not even have recalled it was fall time if I had not drove this part of the trip. Not to many trees in Arizona, and cactus do not change color much. Maybe before dying. Although the best fall colors were still about a week away.

I always enjoy an abandoned building in my travels.

Here I had just excited the highway on the Crow reservation. I like to say Crow's are angry natives because they have casinos like the one I pictured above. I like to say a lot of things that later cause me trouble. At any rate at this spot I took several pictures and a native that was waiting for his ride, offered to take my picture here. I probably should have took him up on the kind offer. I was attempting to see the Custer Battlefield at this exit.

I say attempting because some where down the line this turned into a national park--and the entrance fee was way to steep for me. I took many a school field trip here---and could only recall mainly staring over empty fields and being told if we did find any artifacts we could not keep them. So I turned around and hit the tourist trap across the street from the park entrance.