From Bill

Bill took these photos - in Montana - they are before, in and just after Homestake Pass just east of Butte. He was limping along with blown out topper awnings at this point, but there was a bit of a break in the weather and he got his first glimpse of this part of Montana.

Homestake Pass has 2 summits 2 miles apart and between them is a valley with a huge rest area. Going west, it is a long pull up and very beautiful as there are rocky spires and cliffs to the north. And I guess because there is not as much stress going up, it has always seemed to me to be the “scenic” direction….going east an rv’r is pretty busy controlling speed… The eastbound rest area has many signs before it strongly suggesting that trucks and rvs pull into the rest area to check brakes before the descent. At the eastbound rest area is a large billboard that details how many truck drivers have been killed on the descent and instructions for speed. The descent is not horrible - my guess is that the road seems so good - 4 lane divided interstate, no hairpin turns …normal graded turns - that many large vehicles just took a long steep descent too fast. The current approach is to scare the bejesus out of everyone with the many dire signs and speed warnings - it has worked as there have been “a significant decrease in truck accidents” according to Montana Highway Patrol since they added all of the signage.

At any rate, going westbound is easier and the descent is spread out over many miles. Butte is only 1000 feet lower than the pass summit and the entire descent to about 3000 feet (from the 6375 foot summit) stretches the 100 miles to Missoula with some minor ups and downs.

Bill’s photos…