Big Horn River to Idaho Falls

It had rained all night along the Big Horn River, and it was still coming down hard in the morning. I was surprised at how many fishermen were out on a Sunday in the pouring rain. Apparently, nature was their church, and they weren’t going to miss a Sunday. I left around 9:30 and started the long drive toward Idaho Falls.

For most of the day, the weather matched the morning. I worked my way west through Montana, stopping regularly for gas, food and a break from driving. I had also started noticing gas prices creeping upward again, and in a few places I was now paying more than $5 a gallon. As I approached Montana State University Billings, the rain finally began to ease and patches of blue started appearing through the clouds. Somewhere along the backroads, after hours of gray skies and rain, I suddenly saw a large opening of blue sky ahead of me. It was such a change from the rest of the day that I pulled over and took a photograph.

From there, I continued west and eventually turned south on U.S. 191, following the Gallatin River through the mountains toward West Yellowstone. The highway passes through the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park before reaching West Yellowstone, then continues south toward Idaho. I stopped about every 90 miles or so just to get out of the van, stretch and take a break. By the time I reached Idaho Falls, I had been on the road for about eleven hours.

I had read that Idaho Falls allowed overnight parking and sleeping in a vehicle for up to two nights, and as I drove along River Parkway I noticed another camper already parked there. It would be dark shortly, and after eleven hours on the road I wasn’t interested in going much farther. I pulled over, made a light salad for dinner and went to bed. It had been a very long day of driving.