Roadtrip to Montana

Jun, 2, 2011 by Amberr Meadows

Sturgis, South Dakota

The furthest I’ve been from Georgia was when I embarked on a cross-country trip with my younger brother and three-year-old daughter to Miles City, Montana, in the summer of 2009. Such a rare adventure might have excited even the most complacent of travelers, but the undesirable circumstances that necessitated the trip put a damper on any form of high spirits. In early May of 2009, I found out my grandmother had been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer, and by the time it was discovered, it had metastasized and was present in her spine, lungs, and lymph nodes.

Doctors gave her two months to live without chemotherapy and seven months with it. Although she opted to take the chemo and potentially had seven months, I felt desperate to get to her as quickly as possible. I knew my grandmother was on precious borrowed time, and I feared that I might be too late, regardless.

Wild West Plaza Cafe in anywhere, USA

A strange twist of fate placed my granny in Montana when she discovered the cancer. She’d complained to my uncle about being short of breath, and it continually worsened over the course of a few days until she was forced to go to the hospital. She’d only intended on visiting my uncle in Miles City for a month or so, and then she was off to Amelia Island for a risque retiree life of penny slot machines, beachcombing, and miniature golf. She never made it down there.

When she found the cancer, I think she became afraid and felt my uncle, a perpetual bachelor with no children. would be best suited to care for her. Leave it to my grandmother to think of herself last as usual; even my intense pleading for her to come home with me, she stayed in Montana until the end to avoid being a “burden.”

This is what exhaustion looks like. It is best expressed on the face of a tired tot, and her face mirrored everyone

Going by plane to Miles City would have been saner, but limited time and a cash shortage eliminated that possibility. Riding for 18 hours straight and still being 10 hours away from our destination while listening to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for 28 endless hours was pretty brutal. We drove the first 18 hours without stopping to sleep. It was sheer, exhausting delirium, and we felt as though we were in the twilight zone.

Missouri, I believe. A lot of it looked the same.

Stopping along the way to take pictures wasn’t much of an option, but i did manage to grab some while we rode. Many of the pictures I took were in Sturgis, South Dakota, home of a huge Motorcycle rally that is famous nationwide. It is a festival of partying and rowdiness that is definitely not the normal scene for a backpack toting, nature loving “tree hugger” like myself, but my younger brother wanted the pictures.

Sturgis, South Dakota

On the road trip to Montana, we traveled through nine states; Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana itself. My most distinct memories are of passing endless plains of land, miles of rolling hills and irrigation systems and passing mountains upon mountains that appeared to be the product of the careless sweeping of God’s great paintbrush on the earthly canvas. I also remember overwhelmingly large skies–not for nothing is Montana considered to be the “Big Sky State“– and Missouri looked to be quite the naughty, pornographic state, as indicated by the near-constant signage promoting “Adult XXX” wares along the highway.

Missouri

Did you know that South Dakota has something like 300 miles of signs on the highway promoting a little rinky-dink place called Walldrug? They do, and I counted about 20 signs before I gave up. I wonder why the intense promoting? I’m guessing there’s not a whole lot of action going on in the Wild West, but it is beautiful, and one day–under happier circumstances–I’ll go back. Only I’ll make sure to have plenty of rest time in hotels along the way. I’ll also focus on more than just Sturgis, and my camera will be with me for every leg of the trip. Until then, it will just be one of my wishes.

Miles City, Montana

somewhere, USA

Anywhere, USA

Sturgis, South Dakota

Sturgis

God knows where, USA

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