Long Day Of Driving Across Montana, Motion Sickness

Well, it snowed again. It had stopped snowing in the afternoon on Thursday but then over night it began again and continued through morning. It still gets me that it is the end of May and it snowed over 6 inches in the time we were at the Fairmont Hot Springs. Central Montana got hit pretty well by the storm system and it appears most of the northern Rockies got snow.

It took a bit to get everyone up and by the time we got done with breakfast and were back in the room we decided we didn't have time for a dip in the pools before we left. 10 hours of driving ahead of us meant we needed to get driving sooner than later.

We hit the road and got gas where the I15 connects to the I90, a place I have stopped at for gas for 20+ years. Just east of Butte is Homestake pass which is the continental divide. I had been watching the Montana DOT map and the cams while waiting for the family to wake and saw there had been a jack knifed semi near the summit early in the morning and the plows were out clearing the interstate. There was only a single lane of traffic moving in each direction over the summit when I last looked before we left but by the time we got to the summit the road was great and the snow melted off. The sanding and the traffic helped.

The entire way across Montana it was cloudy. It snowed on us off and on until we hit Livingston then in Billings it was dry. The rest of the way up the I94 to the ND border was pretty mellow with clouds and a lot of wind.

The trip has taught us a bit. We had left home on Thursday and within 20 minutes of leaving the house R puked after trying to use his tablet. We hadn't even gotten gas yet and were barely in Idaho. We had tried again in hopes he wouldn't be as bad but it persisted.

Yesterday while we drove we tried again to see if setting the digital up higher on the seat would help so he might not be looking down in the car but that didn't matter, he still puked. The roads are so straight and flat we had hoped both boys would be fine but found otherwise. J was using his chromebook for a while and he had mostly outgrown the car sickness but not this time it seems. After a while he put it up and then I saw him looking peaked and not good. He ended up puking, then after a stop for gas and walking around we were back in the car and he booted again. Poor boys were little vomit factories.

The hope had been that they would have something to do in the car other than stare out the windows but it seems they can't quite handle it. I have a pretty good idea of why this is. When we drive anywhere around home it is really short drives, sub half hour, which means they don't need anything to keep them busy, it's a short drive. That means they don't have the muscle memory learning of NOT puking, the motion gets to them without the more regular experiences. I'm not sure how to deal with this at the moment and will try to figure something out before we head home.

The roads in North Dakota are straight, long, and flat. There is very little traffic until near any of the cities and much of it us still oil patch rigs and workers.

We made it to my MIL's house about 8:15 pm and not long after unloading the car the storms moved in and it started to rain. It rained most of the night but should stop by mid morning, but the area really needs it so the more the merrier. This weekend is the oldest niece's high school graduation so it should be a busy one.