Road trip journal #15: One Step Closer

Summary

• Start: 12:55 (Great Falls, MT)
• Finish: 21:30 (Livingston, MT)
• Distance: 236 mi (378 m)
• Mood: relativistic time dilation

The day started late, as I’ve spent the time near the hotel to do some video chats, and also wanted to get some rest from the boring drive. I also used the opportunity in civilization to re-stock in a big store. The goal for the day was relatively simple – get as close as possible to Yellowstone. It was still a long drive to get there, and I wanted to drive on US Highway 89, the so-called “National Park Highway” because it connects many national parks on the north-south line.

Rainbow Falls

First up on the agenda, however, was to visit some of the falls in Great Falls. The only one easily reachable by car was Rainbow Falls. I used the opportunity to grab some drone footage.

The other falls required some hiking and driving, which I wasn’t particularly in the mood for. So, I skipped them and started driving.

US Route 86

The drive was, as expected, intially pretty bland, as the day before. There weren’t too many cars on the road, and driving very fast didn’t really make the time on the long, straight roads pass much faster. It must have been due to some road trip time dilation phenomenon. The following images are an impression of the relatively lonely route.

It got a bit more interesting once I reached the mountainous area.

There were also some scenic spots along the way.

The weather got a bit cloudy / smoky from distant wildfires.

Belgrade, Montana

Just as a gimmick, I wanted to visit Belgrade, Montana. This is, of course, because Belgrade is also the capital of Serbia. I had only reached it late at night, so I didn’t catch it in all its glory. It seemed to look like any other rural Montana town, not really living up to its old European namesake.

Livingston

Finally, after the excursion to Belgrade, I had reached my hotel in Livinston. The drive was still pretty exhausting. Hopefully the day in Yellowstone will be better.