High Plains Drifters

buffetbuster

Mosca


Those look like they were shot with a Canon SX30.

You are 100% correct!  You know your cameras!

 
Or, I can right click and choose, "view exif data", hehe....   I love your reports, I wish my work allowed me to get out and about... except then I would be as big as two houses, instead of just one.

Monday June 13, 2011 cont.
 
Doing a little research ahead of time, I read about a restaurant in Miles City, Montana that sounded interesting called 600 Cafe.  As we approached Miles City, I asked Johnny if we was up for a food stop, and well, questions don't come any dumber than that.  I called the restaurant and they confirmed they do make their own pies and they were already out of the oven.  We got off the highway and made our way into town.
 
Man, this place just screams Roadfood. 


The inside, with high-backed booths lining the wall, covered with Western art and lots of counter seats, particularly appealed to me.  We didn't have the appetite for a full meal, so just looked over the pie selections. 

And there it was!  Finally, my favorite pie, sour cream raisin.  I was so happy, I would have hugged the waitress if I didn't think she would call the police.  Since Johnny has never had sour cream raisin before and has endured listening to me drone on and on about it, he ordered it, too.   
 
When I came back from the bathroom, this

was sitting there.  My first instinct was that they brought us the wrong pies.  Where was the meringue?  But once I saw the raisins in it, I knew this was it and was terribly disappointed.  Truthfully, there was nothing wrong with this pie.  It was very dense, lots of raisins and a heavy dose of cinnamon.  It just wanted what I expected.
 
While paying, I mentioned to the woman that I had never seen a sour cream raisin pie without meringue and she told me she had never heard of a sour cream raisin pie WITH meringue.  Obviously, just one of those differences from region to region.  She continued that it was an old family recipe that had been handed down for generations.
 
Even though we didn't get to try any of the regular food, I get a very good feeling about 600 Cafe.  Next time, I am going to show up with a full appetite!
 
600 Cafe
600 Main Street
Miles, City, MT
406-234-3860

By the time we were approaching the North Dakota state line, we were ready for something more substantial and got off the highway in the small city of Glendive, Montana.  On the way into town, we found Frostee's In & Out. 

This, is one strange little place!  The building itself is hidden from view underneath a long carport. 

Everything is drive-thru and there are three tall stands with menus and speakers on it

to place your order.  A sign attached to the left of the menu reads, "Every item of every order is cooked fresh for your enjoyment, so it may take a little more time as we are not fast food."  Always a good omen, we always like seeing this and never mind the extra wait for fresher food.
 
There was a couple of vehicles ahead of us by the time we pulled up to the window.  To deliver the food to you, they have a tray on some rails that slides back and forth. 

Never seen that before.  Despite the sign, it didn't take that long to get our food.  Johnny then pulled into one of the spots under the carport, so we could eat out of the sun. 
 
We started with a single cheeseburger,

which we ordered with ketchup, mustard and onion and we cut it in half.  The cheeseburger was fine, but was the item we liked least.  I had read ahead of time that the potato salad was the one item you can't miss here and it was indeed excellent. 

Not too sweet, very mustardy and with lots of egg, this what potato salad should taste like.  Johnny is a bigger potato salad fan than me and while he enjoyed it, he prefers his more on the sweet side and less mustardy.
 
Our other side was something you don't come across very often, fried cauliflower. 

This came in a huge portion size, with standard ranch dressing on the side.  Lots of big pieces, lots of small pieces, coated in a delicious thin breading.  We both said we would order it again.
 
To drink, you can get shakes, malts, frostys or tornados, but we stuck with standard shakes.  Quite a few flavors to choose from (banana, boysenberry, cherry, butterscotch, chocolate, coke, grape, cinnamon, orange, peanut butter, pineapple, root beer, strawberry, vanilla) and you can mixture of flavors.  My boysenberry

tasted of fresh boysenberries and was very thick.  Johnny drank a cinnamon shake.
 
Frostee's In & Out
1810 Crisafulli Drive 
Glendive, Montana
 
We continues on I-94 East and crossed into North Dakota.
 
Much more to come.....

Each Chapter gets better !! Keep'em coming !  I must admit the pie does look a bit like the "cook's mistake" sort of event.

buffetbuster -
 
As a breakfast lover, Stella's would have been a tough choice...left side vs. right side!  Everything looked great especially the shake...nice touch!

I have been in those states many times but now you make me wanna go back.  Great food and great pics.  More power to you guys.
 
Paul E. Smith
KNoxville, TN

Monday June 13, 2011 cont.
 
This was only my second time visiting North Dakota and the previous time was over a decade ago.  For Cousin Johnny this was his first visit and became state #43 for him.  The scenery right across the border was nice,

but it was about to get better, because our next stop was Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

 
I have a friend who's parents spent just about every Summer driving around the West.  When I asked the dad what his favorite national park was, he told me Theodore Roosevelt because of all the wildlife.  That made an impression on me and I have been wanting to get here for years.  When we entered the park, the ranger told us we should be able to see buffalo, elk, wild horses and turkeys.  Oh and LOTS of prairie dogs!
 
It wasn't too long until we came across the first prairie dog town. 

You can see one sitting near it's hole in the center of the photo.  But what struck us, was that there were holes as far as the eye could see.  My new camera has a x35 zoom, so I had a lot of fun trying to get some close up shots of the prairie dogs.



I especially liked this one

of a group of pups playing.  This was my first time seeing prairie dogs in the wild and I loved them, although I wouldn't want a yard full of them.
 
Lots of very nice scenery here, too.








There was one place where you could take a short walk up a steep hill to an overlook, so Johnny and I parked and started our walk.  On the way, we passed a guy coming down who said he saw a rattlesnake up there.  We paid very close attention to where we were stepping, but we never did see a snake.  We did get a nice view, though. 

Before this, I had no idea that North Dakota had their own Badlands.
 
Over halfway through the loop, we had only seen prairie dogs.  We were really wanting to see some buffalo and finally there was one

right around the next corner.  Not wanting to end up in a State Farm commercial, I didn't stray far from the car to get some photos.  Just around the next bend was another buffalo standing right next to the road. 

From then on, we saw quite a few, none of them being even remotely bothered or interested in us and what we were doing.  Unfortunately, we never did see any elk or wild horses.
 
After spending a good four hours driving around the park (note: we only visited the South Unit, there is a North Unit about 50 miles directly north), we stopped back at the visitor's center.  They played the movie for us and we took our time looking through the museum, which featured a bizarre wooden Teddy on top of a wooden horse!

We didn't pay enough attention to the time, as the visitor's center was closing and we hadn't had a chance to see Teddy's cabin.  Luckily, the ranger happily agreed to show it to us.  Known as the Maltese Cross cabin,

here is the park ranger

explaining the significance of the Maltese cross.  The actual location for the cabin when TR lived here was seven miles away.  The inside of the cabin was cramped,

but apparently this was considered luxury living in the Dakotas at the time.  Some of the interior objects are originals and she told us that TR wrote several of his books at this very desk.

 
By now, we were ready for dinner, but the options in nearby Medora didn't look too promising.  Our plan was to spend the night in Spearfish, South Dakota, so we started the drive south on Rte. 85, looking for a place to eat.
 
Much more to come.....

Great shots BB.  Reminds me a lot of when my brother and I visited the site where Custers last stand was.  We saw similar wildlife.  That part of America is very interesting, strange and unique.  You are correct as there is not a lot to eat around there.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN 

buffetbuster

she told me she had never heard of a sour cream raisin pie WITH meringue.  Obviously, just one of those differences from region to region.

Someone should start a website or write a book or something about those sort of things

Heck, I'd never heard of sour cream raisin pie.

Outstanding report! I've loved each and every installment! Though I've not traveled this area, I feel like I have taken a "desktop" trip through your report. Thank you!
Teresa

Buffetbuster


I'm surprised you didn't get the whole wheat cinnamon roll at Stella's you know you have eat something "healthy" every once in  a while.
 
Searching  for sour cream raisin pie in Montana? isn't that out of the "sour cream raisin pie belt?" It seems the further away you move from the region of popularity, it seems to lose itself (think of Davydd's BPT's)
 
Did you take one of those prairie dogs home with you? I bet they would make a great pet!

BB, thanks for a great TR.  I traveled thru Wyoming & Yellowstone a few years ago & that is a trip I could do over & over again.  It is my favorite part of the country.  I can't imagine how you guys can eat so much.  Thanks again. 

Great trip Cliff.  Cousin Johnny is looking good.  I even see a family resemblance in that pic.
 
I'll put this on my travel agenda now that I live out West.  I'll wait a couple years for the restaurants to get restocked.

What a great report so far!  Cannot wait for the rest.....

Love those bison!
 
I have a real soft spot for bison.  Fell in love with them when we visited the bison enclosure at Waterton Park in Canada (just over the border from Glacier National Park).

A friend of mine who has about 400 head of Limosine cattle.  He bought four bison to fatten and slaughter.  They were so tame that he could not do it.  They would follow him like a dog and make their mooing sound when he left.  They would beg for food just about like my ugly dog.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Monday June 13, 2011 cont.
 
We had no plan for dinner and were hoping to find something quick and homemade.  As we approached the town of Bowman, Nort Dakota (population 1,650), we saw a billboard for a restaurant called Big J's.  Considering we are both Big j's (I go by my middle name, but my first name is also John), we considered that a sign we were supposed to eat there.  Getting the address out of the GPS, we pulled up in front, only to find it is now a Chinese restaurant.  Oh well, we stopped at the convenience store for gas and while I was inside, asked the nice lady at the register for a restaurant recommendation in town.  She told us to try Jabbr's Family Restaurant  and that it is owned by the former cook at Big J's!  
 
Jabbr's 

is located in a big building and it looks fairly new.  We were seated in a booth, that not only had a deck of playing cards sitting on it,

they also had four brightly colored coffee cups and saucers perfectly lined up in a row.

The menu was fairly standard, with the only interesting item being that they call the 1/2 iced tea, 1/2 lemonade drink a tea-nade,

instead of an Arnold Palmer.  Which I did order

and it leaned heavy on the iced tea part.
 
Johnny and I decided to order two dishes and then split them in half.  The dish I ordered was a club sandwich,

which was very good, especially the fresh tasting lettuce and tomatoes.  A packet of mayo and a packet of Miracle Whip came with the sandwich.  I like them both and just grabbed the Miracle Whip to put on my half.  It then occurred to me that I should have checked with Johnny, because he might have a preference and luckily, he loves mayo and hates Miracle Whip.  I would have felt bad if it was the other way around.  On the side was what the menu called gems and what back home is called tater tots.  These were very crispy and actually, a little overcooked.
 
Johnny called his hot roast beef sandwich

the best he has ever had.  Moist and tender, thick cut beef, it was impressive.  Unfortunately, the potatoes were most likely from a box and the stuffing didn't taste homemade, either.
 
They do make their own pies here and when the waitress read off the list, she mentioned strawberry rhubarb cream, which Johnny happily jumped on.  A few minutes later she walked back to tell us, no they don't have strawberry rhubarb cream.  Choice # 2 was coconut cream,

while I ate the chocolate cream.

While I did like the chocolate filling, the crust was not very good at all.
 
We are going to give Jabbr's a mild recommendation, mostly for that hot roast beef sandwich, despite the fact that our sullen teenage waitress was completely disinterested in waiting on us.
 
Jabbr's Family Restaurant
706 Hwy 12W
Bowman, ND
701-523-5757

From there, it was straight to our hotel in Spearfish, South Dakota for the night.
 
Much more to come.....

After seeing the bison and prairie dogs, I am pronouncing this the "cutest" road trip ever!!

Glad you like animals, Ann, because we got the best animal photos still to come, including plenty more prairie dogs.
 
And thanks again to everyone for all the positive feedback.  It is genuinely appreciated!  Sorry it will be several days before this is continued because of the holiday weekend. 

Another great report, Buffetbuster!  The bread sure looks thin on that club sandwich.  Did you notice that on the menu, the Hot Cocoa is "regular $1.49" - I wonder what irregular is?

Tuesday June 14, 2011
 
Despite getting in late the night before, we were still out of the hotel early, driving west towards Devil's Tower National Monument in NE Wyoming.  Some of you may remember it being prominent in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  On the way, Johnny suggested this would be an good time to eat our leftover giant white cinnamon roll from Stella's.  Excellent idea!  Here

it is right before we tore into it and as big as it was, it was devoured it mere minutes.  I was very impressed by Johnny's ability to drive despite fingers covered in cinnamon frosting.  Even the roll couldn't have been as fresh as it was the day before, it was still soft and moist, ultra-sweet and we were wishing we had bought two.
 
The drive to Devil's Tower was an easy hour drive and even our first view

of it, from fairly far away, was still striking and impressive.  And as you got closer, the view just kept getting better and better. 

As always, we stopped to pose for photos with the national park/monument sign.

 
On the drive to the visitor's center, you pass plenty more prairie dog towns,

so of course, we paused and took more photos.




 
There is a 1.3 mile trail

around the tower, which we walked.  And the best thing about it is that you get to see the tower from many points of view, often with it looking completely different than it did 100 yards previously.






We also got to see some climbers slowly making their way to the top of the rocks surrounding it. 

Wish we could have seen how far they got, but we lost sight of them. 
 
While on the path, we also saw some other animals, including some very cool looking squirrels.

Then we spotted a deer about 30 feet away from us. 

We stood still for a while and watched and the deer eventually got within just a few feet away from us, crossing the path right next to me. 

Whether it didn't see us or just isn't afraid of people, it was something we both really enjoyed.
 
After spending a couple of hours here, we returned to the car and crossed back into South Dakota.
 
Much more to come.....

Fantastic is all I can say.Should about cover it.

With VW introducing TAP or Temporary Auto Pilot, you guys could sit in the back seat and eat leftovers and to go orders in between stops!  Just and idea...man!

MiamiDon


Another great report, Buffetbuster!  The bread sure looks thin on that club sandwich.  Did you notice that on the menu, the Hot Cocoa is "regular $1.49" - I wonder what irregular is?

No, I did not notice that, although I most likely wouldn't have asked the waitress considering her personality.  The idea of irregular hot cocoa is a little scary!
 
CTD-
Had we bought a second cinnamon roll, that TAP might have been necessary. 

Tuesday June 14, 2011 cont. 
 
Back in Spearfish, the first stop was Black Hills State University bookstore.  I happened to be wearing one of my favorite college shirts, this one from Arizona State University, that shows Sparky and the words, "Fear The Fork".  Obviously, a shirt any Roadfooder would love!  Already at the register with a couple of t-shirts, the manager noticed what I was wearing and told me I had to buy their version, which was "Fear The Sting", since their athletic teams are named the Yellow Jackets. When I told her I was already happy with my purchases, she said I had to have one anyway and gave me one.  How nice is that?
 
Lunch was in Spearfish at a place called Cedar House Restaurant. 

Before leaving on this trip, I solicited suggestions from the Roadfood forums for where to eat in the area.  New Roadfood poster paintman, a local from Rapid City, came through with several interesting suggestions and Cedar House was one of his.
 
This place was immediately on my good side as soon as I saw the list of homemade pies. 

Both of us started our meals with soup.  Johnny had the Mexican beef soup. 

He said it had a decent amount of small pieces of ground meat and lots of taco seasoning.  Homemade turkey noodle soup

is always on the menu.  It didn't have much turkey in it, but the soft, thick noodles made the soup worthwhile.
 
Because he loved the hot roast beef sandwich so much the night before, he tried to recreate that magic and ordered it here. 

The meat was on the thin side and a little dry, but he liked the gravy and thought the sandwich just okay.  Before ordering, I asked the waitress if they roast their own turkey for the hot turkey sandwiches and she said they do roast their own turkey, just not there.  Not really sure what that means.  I did order it anyway

and with the moist slices of turkey, it turned out to be a good decision.  The mashed potatoes and stuffing were fine, but nothing to go out of your way for.
 
Pie time!  Of course, I went for the sour cream raisin and look,

it even has a meringue topping!  Still, it completely threw me off, because there was a distinct cinnamon flavor to it, which I didn't think a sour cream raisin pie is supposed to have.  After adjusting my taste buds, I did manage to appreciate the pie for what it was and it did have a nice sour/sweet balance to it, even if it was light on the raisins.  Johnny tried the sour cream blueberry and we expected something similar to the raisin pie, only with blueberries.  Uh, no, this was a completely different animal.

No meringue or cream topping, other than the dollop of whipped cream on top, this was more like a crumb pie.  Still, it had a pleasant sour taste, lots of blueberries and was quite good.
 
A tip of the cap to paintman for this fine suggestion!  Johnny and I both agree that Cedar House rules!
 
Cedar House Restaurant
130 Ryan Road
Spearfish, SD
605-642-2104
 
We made a quick detour to Deadwood, but the town looked too touristy for us. And since neither one of us like to gamble, we didn't see much reason to stick around.  We did stop to visit Mount Moriah cemetary

to see the grave of Wild Bill Hickok.

Also buried here is Calamity Jane,

who made the dying request, "Bury me beside Wild Bill."  Understandably, the graves are mostly fenced off, to prevent people from being able to get too close.
 
We got back on I-90 East towards Rapid City.
 
Much more to come.....
 
 

You give the most wonderful reports- thank you!! And the way you scheduled 2 dinners when duty called- otstanding- now thats roadfooding!!

What a pie list...oh, if only I was your porter...

Again, a cute road trip....however, love the Devil's Tower shots, and the food, to me, is incidental on this leg of the trip!!!!( not really)

ann peeples


Again, a cute road trip....

Ouch.  I bet that hurts.

Now that's a Sour Cream Cinnamon Raisin Pie that all know and love!