US12: Dakota Dash

The last 75 miles of US12 in Eastern Montana transit stark, rugged country that my DashCam photos can't really capture. I don't think I can describe it either. The remaining wildfire smoke gave it an even more foreboding feeling. Let's put it this way: If you drive this road, make sure your vehicle is in good shape. You wouldn't want to get stuck out here.



Crossing into the southwest corner of North Dakota, US12 runs for about 90 miles to the southeast before hitting the South Dakota line. The scenery remains the same, and we only stopped once for a few minutes so that Happy could add ND to her list of state's she's peed in.



Paralleling close to the northern border of SD then continuing to the southeast, the landscape rapidly becomes much greener. There is organized farming, with large hay fields and even some short corn. We've finally gotten away from most of the wildfire smoke, so the whole setting was much more pleasant. I always love to drive the lonely roads of rough lands, but it's good to see green again.



After passing through a half-dozen very small towns over the course of the next hundred miles, you suddenly see a large body of water which is the Grand River Lake. Just a few miles later, you see an even bigger body of water and cross the Missouri River.



Happy and I have stopped for the night in the town of Mobridge, SD, which one would guess gets its name from the "MO (river) Bridge" right outside my window. Tomorrow should get us into Minnesota... Stay tuned!