These horrific conditions continued to near Billings (140 miles or so) where the snow depth quite quickly diminished. We passed Billings and head south, with only light snow cover. As we pass from Montana into northern Wyoming, the snow depths on the border were light, only 1 - 3", road conditions were good. We breathe a sigh of relief....this was premature....the band of snow that was moving south through Wyoming ahead of us was dumping 10 - 14". Although winds were light at the moment, a low pressure system was deepening at our location and moving east. As we move south towards Sheridan, snow depths increased again. We arrive in Sheridan to fuel up, and within the next half hour the northerly gale starts. Sheridan has received between 10" and a foot of snow, and the Arctic blast starts to work its trick.

They've closed the road (I-90) between Sheridan and Buffalo, and we are forced to take a lesser country road (Highways 14 and 16). If we thought conditions were bad earlier, they were a Gold Coast holiday compared to what we were about to experience! Highway 14 winds in and out of ridges...although the road was ploughed, the winds were already starting to drift the snow across the roadway. At times, we were caught in a whiteout with no vision. We were forced to almost stop, but feared getting buried in snowdrifts.....then our transmission froze in Drive and we couldn't move our gear selector. We cheered ourselves up by suggesting this was better than being frozen in Reverse.

We came across vehicles with bonnets up and steam rising....we were astonished to see that there was so much ice coating the front of the cars and radiators that the engines were boiling...what a weird setup that would be.....if the headlines the next day read - "People Freeze to Death while their Cars Overheat"... We battle on for nearly 2 hours, and then miraculously the snow depths suddenly decline near Gillette where we pull over and refuel - the underside of our car is virtually caked in ice...occasionally it falls off with a 'kerthump!'. We discovered the reason why our transmission was stuck in Drive - it was caused by thick ice around the linkages, after about 15 minutes of idling the vehicle the rock hard ice finally breaks away from the linkages and we were able to operate the transmission selector. A friendly female attendant at the gas station invites us to drink her freshly made coffee - it was the sympathy that we needed after our ordeal.

With the experience behind us, and the discovery of what winters are like in North America, we speed east to South Dakota leaving the snow behind.

Snowplough at the ready in Bozeman!!

One of the better uses of a credit card! (cleaning ice & snow off car windows)

Leaving Bozeman, snowploughs were already busy..

We're not sure where they store them, but they were all out racing about..

As we drove further east, the snow got deeper and the road ice got worse.....

A worrying aspect was that the big trucks didn't seem worried by the snow and ice and kept at their maximum speed of 65mph leaving a trail of flying ice and slush in their wake.

A railway snakes through the pass

Speeding trucks test the limits.....

Halfway between Bozeman and Billings, the snow depth started to get up towards the 8-12" levels

The I-90 winds through steep rock gorges making for spectacular sights

These monstrous trucks caused us real problems.

We couldn't work out why trucks were speeding with advertisements like this! Near Big Timber, Montana

As we approach areas that had a foot of snow, the snow ploughs were really working - the snow plume was shooting 20' in the air and landing on our side of the road - not sure if that was meant to happen

We couldn't resist getting out and paddling around in 12" snow depths - the temperature was 27F (-3C). It's a weird sight - even the locals regarded it as very unusual.

Avalanches of thick snow were cascading off rooves as we drove past

After the snow had fallen through Montana and Wyoming, an horrendous northerly gale sprang up...temperatures plummeted and snow was blowing everywhere.

A sole tree stands out

Between Sheridan and the Montana border, when we thought things couldn't get worse...they did! Snow depths here were easily a foot or more - most traffic was forced to follow the ploughs

Snowploughs are equipped with a container that drops grit or maybe salt

We had to be careful of snowploughs whizzing past on the other side of the freeway and occasionally had to drive through the plough's snowfall

With a 30-50 knot northerly - as soon as the road was ploughed it was covered again with blowing snow. They eventually closed I-90 and we were forced onto a side road.

Vehicles tended to drive in packs - occasionally swaying madly in semi-loss of control

I-90 near Sheridan

It's amazing what gets covered in ice in such storms - even the petrol bowsers were iced up

We were amazed to see the depth of snow that accumulated on rooves and the nasty icicles that formed - they would occasionally crash to the concrete.

We were diverted to Highway 14 when they closed I-90. At times we thought we wouldn't be able to get through as the blizzard got worse!

Cheap property! Northern Wyoming

We approached at times near whiteout conditions...this was indeed worrisome - it's rare for Australians to experience such conditions

The howling north wind distorted the alignment of icicles.

We were amazed at how rapidly snow drifts developed as hillsides were blown clear and snow piled up in lower areas

We are not surprised that so few people live here!

As we approached Gillette, NE Wyoming, the snow finally eased off, but the howling 50 knot northerly remained with a temperature of 30F (-1C)

We come across the last of the snow near Sundance, NE Wyoming