The AARoads Blog

The longest swath of the Fourth of July trip that we’ll feature in one set of photos: about 800 miles covered in this burst. Continuing on US-212 across eastern Montana, to get to South Dakota, and then driving through the Black Hills at the time of day when they are the blackest. We then continue into Nebraska, and drive US-20 east all the way to Iowa.

Endless fields of yellow flowers are the most prominent feature of the eastern Montana landscape. All the way across the state on US-212, from I-90 eastward, featured miles upon miles of bright colors.

The Milky Way. A 90 second exposure.

Very early dawn in Nebraska. Above this house: a noctilucent cloud – one of the rarest kinds to see!

Slightly later dawn.

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We continue on the Fourth of July trip … across Beartooth Pass we go, on US-212. One of the most scenic drives to be found anywhere.

Squeezing in the last of morning light.

This sign might very well date back to when US-12 in Wyoming was renumbered to US-212 in 1963! There are very few US-212 shields in Wyoming.

About 9500 feet up the pass. This view is in infrared, which causes ice to show up bright blue.

A marmot appears.

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The Fourth of July trip. Undertaken by Daniel Brim and me. Our usual arrangement holds – we take approximately identical photos, and try not to hit any raccoons and/or rabbits.

Our destination is sunny Union County, New Mexico – by way of Beartooth Pass, Sioux City, and various other places that call into question our ability to drive in a straight line.

We fly into Salt Lake City airport, and then make a beeline to Grand Teton National Park for sunrise.

The Grand Tetons at sunrise.

Similar view, different road.

Late dawn, with foreground lighting.

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South Dakota. US-16 and interstate 90. And a wee bit of Wyoming and Colorado in the evening. December 2007. Grim winter.

18×18 I-90 shield. 1957 specs. And, more interestingly, an embossed arrow to point the way. Since the 1957 specification called for white, not blue, arrows, they took a 1948-spec arrow that they had lying around and used it to point to the new freeway.

This is the sign find of the day. There are only two shields with the original specifications left in South Dakota, and this is the only 18×18 example.

The Badlands – a sudden mountain range in the western half of South Dakota. These days, a tourist attraction – back then, in 1866, an impermeable obstacle that prevents one from reaching the west.

Black Hills, South Dakota. An eleven minute exposure, 6100 feet, -11 degrees. Yep, I was cold.

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Here are photos from Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. I woke up in Wyoming after being awake for 80+ hours, experiencing near-total biological failure and thus getting a lease on a $26 motel room and my continued sanity.

I headed south to visit my friend Brian, then was about to turn back west to take photos of the Rockies… before noting that a Snowstorm of Usual Occurrence was blowing through and it would be at least two days before the roads were somewhat less than total failure. Thus, it became a frolic through the farmlands for a few days.

A wintry evening in Colorado.

Foggy night in farmland Kansas.

Hey look, an old sign. I happened upon this one in the middle of the night, and got the long-exposure shot out in the middle of the frosted fields.

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back to US-10, back to Montana. We head out in the night eastbound, just to touch North Dakota, and then as the sun rises, to scour all the old alignments and see what there is to see – mainly, old I-94 signs. Then we head south on US-87 into Wyoming and search for old I-90 signs.

Old US-10 bridge at dawn. Glendive, Montana. The bridge dates back to 1922 and is no longer in service.

Now here are some old signs! Painted directly onto the side of a bridge – go ahead and try to steal them! They’re in Miles City. Some of the oldest highway shields in existence. The bottom one is ROUTE/22/MONTANA, which is Montana highway 59′s old number.

And here’s the very last of Montana at the end of the day.

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