07/09/23 Billings to Ryegate

July 9, 2023

The Billings Motel 6 will remain seared in my memory. If it weren’t for the fact that the place was definitely hooked into the Motel 6 network I could easily believe that some random people had taken an abandoned building, turned on the lights and started renting out rooms. It was a dark labyrinth of turns to get to the hall with my room, through corridors that obviously hadn’t been cleaned in weeks. Some rooms were wide open, the curtains billowing in from broken windows, the beds bare and the furniture broken. A group of young Cubans (I presume from their Spanish) were bouncing down the hallway going in and out of all the open rooms and having a grand old time. The ice machine was broken and covered in mold, the ceiling full of holes. All the outside doors were propped open by trash cans, the electronic door locks ripped open and the wires dangling in the wind. The parking lot had multiple broken down cars, clearly incapable of being driven and obviously parked there for weeks. It was a post apocalyptic marvel. All the drawers were missing in my room, no television, and the counter where the TV would have sat was full of holes, as if someone with power drill had gone at it. But, the shower was strong and hot and the air conditioner was quiet. The blanket was filthy but the sheets looked white so I lay my sleeping bag on that and slept in my own bed.

I rode through downtown Billings, just to see it, and my already bad impression didn’t improve. I’d forgotten that there’s a population threshold where downtown generally stops being charming. It wasn’t until I got to the north end of town, where the colleges are, did things begin to get appealing. My attitude towards Billings had softened considerably by the time I got away, but nevertheless I don’t see myself coming back.

The first 40 miles out of town were across prairie, with barely any trees at all. Just isolated houses miles apart and an occasional tiny hamlet. With no shelter from the sun, no shelter from the wind, and nothing really to look at, it was a welcome change when the road tuned west at Lavina and started to follow a river. Cliffs and trees lined the river and making it an altogether different experience. I stopped for food in Ryegate and then camped by a reservoir a few miles down the road. I’d hoped to have gone further, all the way to Harlowton, where there was a park for camping and a restaurant for breakfast, but with the wind I was back to my normal, slower pace and it was going to be difficult to get their before sunset.

Heart

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