So I am confessing right up front, we did NOT take Rte 20 the whole way on 7/24/21. We left Cody, WY at about 8:15AM to head to our next campground in West Yellowstone, Montana. We had previously been off of our Route 20 by necessity; in order to hit South Dakota, and then again when we went South in Wyoming to spend the two weeks in Cheyenne. We caught back up with it to go northwest to Cody, WY. Truth be told, we COULD have taken 20 the whole way into Montana but... that would’ve brought us immediately into Yellowstone and we had heard stories in town about how backed up the traffic got early on in the day. So, instead of going Rte 20 from the get-go, my navigator-extraordinaire decided we would take the Chief Joseph Highway to Beartooth Highway and then onto Rte 20. Well my man is, and I am not using this word loosely…BRILLIANT!!!! What amazing views we had and with no traffic! Both "highways" are curvy roads with lots of mountain switchbacks. Truly breathtaking and relaxing. We had about a 4 - 4&1/2 hr driving day ahead of us, so THIS was the way to do it!
At one of our scenic pull-offs that we simply HAD to stop at to appreciate the view of the
Beartooth Mountain range, we left a couple of bikers drooling in our tracks - one over our “Cadillac Of A Trailer” (his words) and the other over our truck! They kept arguing with each other that they didn’t appreciate what they were seeing - it was hilarious (and quite flattering to have two bikers articulating our awesomeness)! Then right after we left our biker buds we went around the bend and Karl almost immediately pulled over again. I looked at him questioningly thinking something must be wrong and then I looked up ahead and realized why we had stopped. There before us were a couple of antique pick-up trucks - a 1914 Ford (towing a trailer with a pop-up tent) & a 1925 Ford. Karl just HAD to go check out these automobiles and meet these gents driving them. Come to find out there were three gentlemen in their 70’s-80's traveling together and staying in the popup trailer and a tent. (I know this sounds quaint - but check out the pictures below to get an actual sense of what I am talking about...YOWZA!!!) One of the trucks had overheated a little on the inclines of this winding steep hilly road, so they were taking a break and enjoying the views. Karl learned that they had started in Tennessee and had driven all on secondary roads to Spokane, WA (I believe for some type of antique auto event) and were now on their way back to Tennessee. They had stopped here and there to see some friends en route and were basically, literally, "enjoying the ride"! Karl had a fascinating chat with them and was beyond impressed with the resilience of the old Fords as well as these amazing adventurous souls.
We eventually came upon a little town called Cooke City…I saw this cute little sign coming up and I put my window down to catch a picture of it and I was SHOCKED to see we were entering Montana!!! Cooke City describes itself as "the coolest small town in Montana" and I don't know about cool - but it was pretty damn cute! We chose this opportunity to get out and stretch our legs and take in this little town. We bought some lunch so we could sit outside and take in the ambiance a little longer. Some of the shopkeepers were a little brusque which added to the experience of being in the hills of Montana!
We got back in the truck and approximately 5 miles or so up the road we were kind of shocked to realize we were already entering Yellowstone National Park! We hadn't planned to "do Yellowstone" this year except for this Rte 20 trip which takes us THROUGH Yellowstone. So we enjoyed the beautiful three-ish hour drive through the Park, while looking forward to returning and doing it justice at another time.
We then entered West Yellowstone, MT where we had reservations at the Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park & Cabins for the night. We arrived at the campground around 3:30PM and after a little stretch-our-legs stroll we didn't feel like setting up to cook dinner, so Karl started looking on line at some place nearby to get some grub. He immediately made a command decision that we were going to Bullwinkle's! For some reason, it just struck his funny bone or his heart (I’m not sure which) that if we were in Montana, we had to eat at Bullwinkle's!!! (So I may choose campgrounds due to their clever names, but this time it was my hubby who had a bee in his bonnet and simply HAD to go there for dinner!) We had a nice walk down to this little commercialized downtown area and at Bullwinkle's Karl got to have a special entree... BUFFALO Prime Rib! It was quite impressive and it was fun to watch Karl's enjoyment as he tried something new and delicious - and yes he shared a bite and it really was awesome! I went for the Pesto Zoodles (aka zucchini noodles) simply because it spoke to me on the menu, even though it felt sacrilege to not be having some kind of beef in Montana. I complimented my meal with a glass of Washington Cabernet and mmmmm - loving this west coast stuff already, even though we’re not there yet!
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