Billings to Ritzville, with an important stop inbetween!

Typical -- and beautiful Montana scenery...

Grain elevator in Manhattan...

More scenic Montana...

Homestake Pass...

In the distance, a huge open pit mine by Butte...

Lookout Pass...

Sunset near Spokane...

After a good night's sleep, we were on the road again -- down to the part of the trip that was all about getting home. Thankfully, we did have one last stop to look forward to...

We made it to Uncle Stan and Aunt Sal's by lunchtime...She told us she'd have a "sandwich waiting for us" and did she ever! We feasted on home-cookin' -- sloppy joes on bakery kaiser rolls, apple sauce, chips...and warm -- WARM! -- freshly baked apple crisp. : ) There was even coffee for the road...Aunt Bonnie's co-worker covered for her at the school and sent her over to see us for a little bit. It was great to visit with them and tell them a bit of what had happened since we saw them last. Then, it was time to hit the road, and see if we could make it to Washington yet that day. The Montanan's assured us that our timing was good -- Snow was predicted for their area in a couple of days! (Note: they did get snow -- and strong winds two days later! Billings got even more snow -- almost a foot!)

We enjoyed the scenery through Butte --massive open pit mines could be seen from the road. We stopped in St. Regis at the espresso stand -- more coffee! -- and took pictures of antique machinery for reference for Uncle Stan Likkel. : ) The view on the passes was spectacular once again, as we had lovely weather. In Idaho, we gained an hour as we passed back into Pacific Daylight Time. We were traveling so well, that we decided to use that extra hour and stay on the road until Ritzville. We could get rooms there at one of Mom & Dad's favorite motels, and have a nice short drive to home the next day.

That night at dinner, Dad said, "I'm kind of sad that it's almost over..." which made me feel very glad that he had had such a good time, and was not overly weary from all the days of travel...It's been a good, good trip!