Buffalo, WY

We get up early to drive back into Cooke for breakfast, but find only one “restaurant” open. Even though this town has a number of hotels/motels, apparently you can only get lunch and dinner. We stop at a Cafe, the only place open.  We get coffee, but are told they will not have breakfast sandwiches until 8:00 when more help arrives and we can order then. We get a pastry and sit down with our coffee to wait and use their WiFi to get the weather forecast. There is no cell service in this town. 8 guys walk in and order sandwiches and then another 10 or so people walk in and do the same. We said the hell with it and left.

As we start up the road to the Beartooth highway we see free range cows on both sides of the road. And like yesterday with the Buffalo we have to wait for one group to cross the road.  The drive over the Beartooth is quite impressive. Miles and miles of it above the tree line in alpine tundra. Temperature gets down to 42 degrees. the campground host last night said snow was forecast up here tonight.

Top of the World

We stop so I could take some photos of Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Area. As the name says it is only open in the summer, but they did not get much snow last winter so it was not even open last June. It is a bowl that fills with snow blowing over the ridge, much like Tuckerman's Ravine in New Hampshire.  They run a T-bar here. I don’t know what would be scarier skiing down or riding the T-bar up. Its all diamond or double diamond skiing.

We get to Red Lodge and have a late breakfast at Marli’s, where we had breakfast last June with Scott Luria, my retired doctor, that was bicycling touring last June, starting in Vancouver, CA.

Marli’s, regulars

Stop at Billings, Costco for gas and a nap, as Linda goes shopping.

We have slowed our eastern progress just enough for the high temperatures in the plains to moderate. I would like to go to the Devils Tower National Monument and Linda would like to go to the Badlands. It had been too hot, but might be OK by the time we get there, now.

Tonight we stop at Mikesell-Potts Recreation Area County Park Campground on Lake De Smet. What a great find. We have a site right on the water, $15 night and we can see the cell tower from here.