The push home
Every road trip has a point where adventure gives way to the journey home. We had reached ours. The detours were behind us, the hotels for the next two days were booked, and the days ahead would be about making miles. That doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be time to sneak in a couple more discoveries along the way.
Day 15: Bemidji, Minnesota to Sidney, Montana
There was one more important stop planned for the morning before the miles really began to add up. Grand Forks was home to Bernie’s, the restaurant owned by Food Network star Molly Yeh, and cinnamon rolls have never needed an excuse to be on my food travel list.
We opted for counter service and two forks. The roll was just sweet enough, and my husband has shared enough cinnamon rolls with me to know that I get the center.
A cinnamon roll is always a worthwile stop
A quick stop at the geographical center of North America and lunch with my niece and her daughters in Minot, North Dakota, finished out the day before calling it a night in Sidney, Montana.
The plains of North Dakota are checkered with fields of bright yellow canola
Day 16: Sidney to Missoula, Montana: 550 miles, our longest day. It started with a trip to a gas station to buy a $12 travel-sized bottle of Imodium. That’s it. That’s the post about Montana.
$12 and worth every penny
Fitting book for the day
Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild wayside park
By dinner I was feeling well enough that I couldn’t pass up a huckleberry margarita
Day 17: Missoula, Montana to Ontario, Oregon
We left Missoula at sunrise, knowing that one more incredible stretch of road lay between us and Oregon. Highway 12 is not only beautiful, but it is also one of those places where history meets imagination and the landscape tells a story by itself.
Long before pavement and motorcycles, the Nez Perce crossed the Bitterroot Mountains along this route to hunt, trade, and gather. Centuries later, Lewis and Clark followed their guidance through these same mountains, and Travelers’ Rest State Park preserves the expedition’s only archaeologically verified campsite. The route also became part of the tragic flight of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce during the Nez Perce War. Looking at the dense forests, cold rivers, and distant peaks, it isn’t difficult to imagine the determination and hardship of those who traveled here before us.
We had the opposite experience. The road was just curvy enough to keep the miles interesting, and the Lochsa River stayed beside us for mile after mile. We wished we could have packed up that mountain air and carried it into the dry heat waiting for us in Idaho.
For nearly a hundred miles there were no towns, no billboards, and no interruptions; I put my book away and just soaked it in, watching the trees and the mountains roll by.
After thousands of miles of quirky attractions, roadside discoveries, and detours, this felt like the perfect way to end our journey. There was still one more morning before we rolled into our own driveway, but it already started to feel like home.
One more unique discovery-the replica mammoth at Eimers Park in Grangeville, Idaho near Tolo Lake where archeologists found more than 200 fossilized skeletons in the 1990s
Leave a Reply