An Escape

By the Yellowstone River Sunday, November 08, 2020

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Let's see, two trips to Miles City to take recycling and hit Wal-mart and one trip to Dickinson to see an orthopedic guy for a brace which I never got and that's it since the day before Thanksgiving 2019 when I had my surgery.  I have not been out of town!  I am amazed at how I have accepted the situation with going slowly mad!!  In fact, I do admit that everyone I know has done pretty well considering the quarantine situation.  The big thing I hear that people did was clean house -- all those boxes were finally sorted and gone through.
        But this is about my escape on Saturday.  I thought I was getting company, but that didn't happen so I called my nephew in Rapid City, Cole, and asked him to meet me in Buffalo, South Dakota.  It was time for a lefse drop!  I had ordered lefse for the family and now I had to get it to them.
I left town heading east about 7:30 a.m.  The minute  I left town I hit fog.  I drove in fog nearly the whole way 161 miles.  It wasn't pea-soup thick, but it was enough that I couldn't pass on two-lane highways.  Just as I am amazed at the folks who don't wear masks these co-vid days, I am surprised at the folks who didn't turn on their headlights when driving in the fog.  It really was dangerous.  
         I drove the first leg of the trip behind a pick-up pulling a trailer.  We just got to Baker (75 miles) and a coal train was going through -- at the four way stop the pick up went west and I headed east -- right behind a man hauling several rolls of hay (wide load) on a flatbed.  The speed limit in North and South Dakota is 65 on 2 lane highways so that was the only thing that made me have patience.  Being a Montana driver I am used to faster speeds. Dad called it my "lead foot".
         Cole and I met in Buffalo at the gas station on the south end of town. (Great spot to meet -- can't miss it!) We bought a sandwich at their convenience store and sat in the car and ate.  I got a good pre-covid hug, turning my face away from him, but it felt so good.  Other than a couple of zoom gatherings I hadn't seen him for a year!  He is such a nice man.  
          I drove back, stopping in Bowman to fill up with gas and get some junk food and then headed north to Amidon and Belfield before I hit the interstate.  By that time the fog was gone and the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.  I got back good season before the deer started coming out.  It was a beautiful ride.  The windshield time is always a time to be treasured.
​          Today there was rain and snow, (see photos above) then some clearing, but more of the same predicted.
​            What freedom!  Of course I used plastic gloves to put gas and put on my mask going into the station.  It was good to know I could drive that far and made my hip healing almost complete.  Distance traveled 340 miles round trip.