The past 48 hours were challenging.

My plan was to head up from Colorado into Wyoming. Most of Yellowstone National Park is unfortunately closed for the winter, but I wanted to drive through the part that was open at the top. I confirmed which two entrances were open and the latest status on the NPS site, and confirmed my route through Google Maps. It was on.

It started off well enough:

I went through Bighorn National Forest, which was beautiful.

But! Let’s go back and take a closer look at that map, shall we?

This is what Google Maps confidentially assured me my route would be, which aligned with what the NPS website said. However, in actuality:

See, you can get to Beartooth Highway, and you can even drive a little bit down either direction until the highway is closed, and it’s only open for snowmobile recreation. Now, you’d think that would be handy for Google Maps to note, or for there maybe to be a sign up that says “road closed ahead, this will lead to a dead end”. You would think.

So instead, I drove maybe sixty miles of narrow winding mountain roads down to hit a dead end, and then had to backtrack all the way to 120 and head on north. In total, it added about three hours of travel to my day. Then, once I was back where I first got off track, I had to figure out how to get back to where I needed to go, despite being out of service and with Google Maps not working, which added another hour or so.

Still, I can’t really complain, as they were probably the most beautiful hours of travel I’ve had on this trip, and I definitely wouldn’t have gone if I’d known.

It’s called the Chief Joseph Scenic Bypass, if you’re in the area, and if the highways are open, it’s well worth taking.

The only downside to the whole endeavor was driving through pain. I’ve had moderate leg pain ever since I herniated a disc in my back a few years ago, it pressed on the sciatic nerve that runs down your leg to your big toe. This is usually fairly moderate, but flares up occasionally, especially if I’ve been walking a lot, or alternately, sitting in a car for a lot.

Yesterday was possibly the worst day on this entire road trip, with excruciating pain centered in my right big toe, which, as it happens, you tend to use a lot while driving. I would have liked to take a lot *more* pictures, but every time there was a scenic turnout I had to weigh the chance of a great picture against wrestling myself out of the car, then balancing on my left leg while trying not to move my right at all. At the gas station, I was hobbling around on my right heel, and because I’m a complete idiot, I forgot to bring my cane with me on this road trip to at least help balance things out.

I finally got back on track and headed up into Montana to see my sister. As I approached Bozeman, in the matter of a few minutes, the sunshine disappeared, storm clouds rolled in, and before I knew it, I was in the middle of a blizzard.

I was well behind schedule, and wouldn’t have arrived until after midnight. Exhausted and in pain, I stopped in Bozeman and grabbed a hotel for the night.

Today is much better, pain-wise. My foot hardly hurts at all. Instead, my lower back hurts, but I’m very used to that, and it’s much easier to deal with. I rolled up to Plains and have been hanging out with my niece and nephew for most of the day. They have:

• Given me a complete tour of the house, despite the fact I’ve been here before. “This is the laundry room. This is the washer. This is the dryer.”
• Explained the function and practical reasons behind each room in the house “We keep shoes here because Dakota likes to chew on things.”
• Added unsolicited comments about things “Grammy has books on her bed because she likes to READ.”
• Demanded, immediately, that I read “Calvin and Hobbes” to them.
• Corrected me if I skipped over a line of dialogue.
• Requested that I recite poetry to them
• Once I had recited a lengthy poem, Luthien looked at me, dead-eyed, and said, “Do another one.”
• Jack proudly explained to me that he had mastered the art of figuring out which shoe goes on which foot, which he demonstrated to me, correctly.

My niece and nephew are magical.

Also, my sister is having her third baby literally any day over the next few days. I’ve been trying to convince her to let me live-blog the home birth, which I have done before to great effect, but she’s not into that. Sorry!