A Slight Set-Back

I do stupid things sometimes. Yesterday was a time. I was in Gillette, Wyoming. At a hotel. I forgot the power cord for my laptop there, and didn't realize it was missing until this morning. Now I'm in Billings, Montana. That is 8 hours away. So, the point is, I won't be able to use my laptop when the battery dies. That's not for 4 hours or so, but still. It's imminent. Sorry about the no pictures thing. I'll try my best, though. The good news is they found it and are sending it to me in NY.

Before we got to Montana, we stopped at Devil's Tower! It is seriously evil looking. I took about a thousand pictures of it from different levels of proximity. And then I bought a cowboy hat. I needed to, if only to fit in.

So, anyway. Billings is a cool city. We got here at around 4 yesterday, and went to a coffee shop. There was no one on the streets and we were all like "what the hell, man. where is everyone." Then we ran into two old ladies closing their shop. We asked them how to get to the movie theatre, and then after they told us we mentioned how dead the town seemed. "Oh there's Alive After 5 today," one lady said. "Alive After 5" is a summer concert series. We went to the place where it was held, and found a whole bunch of people (I'm not good with quantifying, but maybe over a hundred). There were oudoor bars set up, and a fairly decent band playing. It was a really cool vibe, though. We grabbed Coronas and stood around listening for a while.

Then we found an awesome campsite that had EVERY convienence possible (pool, hot tub, wi-fi), and set up out tent. I ate an apple for dinner.

Troy and I had a little talk. I mentioned to him that I can't see this trip lasting an entire other week. It's been really hard to be around another person with absolutely no break. I could probably only do that with someone I'm in love with. And even then it would be difficult. So, yeah, he agreed it's been hard, too. We've decided to try and spend at least an hour apart a day. This could work. Evidence: when we were waiting for our Jewel Cave tour, Troy went down to the woods to draw, and I stayed near the car and read. After a little while, I found myself sort of missing him. When I found him sleeping on a bench I was actually happy to see him! So the hour apart could be what saves this trip.

We are planning on spending a few days in this enormous state. Montana used to have no speed limit, but now it's 75. I still find myself unable to go over 80mph. When the speed limit is 65, I go 80. When it's 75, I still go 80. WTF? The state is really pretty, although it hasn't been very green so far. But then again, we are still only in the Southeastern portion of the state. We drove through a few Indian reservations on the way to the Interstate from Wyoming. It was the most depressing place I'd ever been. Everyone we encountered seemed so sad and hopeless. We took down our American flags when we went through. I'll write a little about the American Flag car adornments next time. Gotta get on with the day. Hope everyone back home is happy and having fun!