Tag Archives: I-90

North America, USA, Yellowstone

Wyoming: The Road Kill State

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I don’t even know where to start with this entry. Maybe with some photos…

After we had driven through miles and miles of corn fields in Montana, the scenery in Wyoming was a welcomed change. Luckily, we managed to take the scenic route to Devil’s Tower which made a lot of difference. Most of these shots were taken from a moving vehicle, so don’t be too sad if they’re off kilter.

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We drive major highways all the time. Every day. Hwy 1, Hwy 5, Hwy 16, Hwy 97, etc etc. Even including all the driving in other countries, the number of times I’ve seen road kill prior to this trip is probably less than 20. In Wyoming, that number is probably about 1500, and I’m not exaggerating. Why the hell is there so much road kill on the I-90? So disheartening.

Bet you really wanted to know this—in many States and Provinces it is legal to collect and eat road kill. Seriously. Animals are collected (if they’re not too smashed up) and distributed to churches, soup kitchens etc to make meals. People can keep the meat they find; different rules apply in different areas though. I suppose it makes sense? At least you know how and where the road kill happened to be if you’re the one who hits it? Is it really different than hunting game? The animal is still being killed, just with a vehicle, not a conventional weapon? But somehow I don’t think I’ll be trying roadkill stew any time soon.

Wikipedia even has a nutritional values chart. Yummy.

North America, USA

Montana: The Heathen State

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i90logoMontana has some weird stuff going on. If you drive through Montana on the I-90 you’ll notice that there are a bunch of liquor stores, gun stores, pawn shops, porn shops, and casinos. The road-side billboards are all advertising those same things.  Apparently the license plate slogan should be “The Heathen State” not “The Treasure State.”  Who knew?

In Butte, the billboards aren’t any better than the establishments because they’re all about Meth. I suppose this is all fairly typical of a mining community, or any other small town that is highly independent on one industry (oil, lumber, coal, etc). Apparently the anti-meth campaign has been extremely successful though. The billboards definitely have an impact; I’m a few thousand km away and still thinking about them. My favourite one we saw: “Before Meth I had a daughter, now I have a prostitute.” Billboards and Montanan pass times aside, there were some great finds…

Evel Knievel DaysLike Evel Knievel Days! Who knew that Evel Knievel was from Butte, Montana?!? I’m only sad we weren’t there in July when all the stunts were going down. That would have been classic. There were helium stars and stripes balloons lining the street along with placards hanging from lamp posts to honour this home town hero. At some point in his career Evel Knievel wanted to jump his motorbike across the Grand Canyon, but never did. He did jump 13 Pepsi Trucks though. FYI: His bike is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. Don’t think I’ll be making a special trip there to see it, but if I happen to be in the neighbourhood you never know.

Our Lady of the RockiesThe other find, not much of a symbol of Americana, but also in Butte–Our Lady of the Rockies. (ps: I don’t know how we manage to find so much Catholic iconography on our travels, but we do.) The statue caught our eye from when we were checking out the historic district. Now, thanks to google, I know what it is all about. Here’s a little recap: Our Lady of the Rockies is almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Bill O’Bob built the statue for his wife after he promised the Virgin Mary he would build a statue if his wife recovered from her battle with cancer. When she recovered, and the statue was built to honour women everywhere. Another interesting fact–Our Lady of the Rockies sits atop the Continental Divide which we crossed several times during the trip. Stay tuned for the next entry of our exciting I-90 adventure.

Happy Travels,
~j