I began the day in the drooping goatee of Montana, the southernmost region that borders Yellowstone. Brisk again—that’s the norm for the mountains. I can probably use my car as a refrigerator overnight. I set out northwest, following the Madison river. Over fifty years ago, an earthquake shifted the river’s course and created a new lake, drowning parts of the forest, the road, and twenty people. The trees, still rooted to the riverbed, stick out like elongated tombstones.
Today was a long, ten-hours-in-the-car day. I drove from West Yellowstone to the capital city of Helena, stopping for lunch and trombone equipment, then continued north all the way up to the town of Browning in the Blackfeet Reservation. This part of Montana is called Big Sky, and I can see why: more than anywhere else so far, it looms, casting beautiful wreaths of blue and pink along the mountain ranges.
To pass the time, I listened to plenty of music and some podcasts. A new favorite is Triviality, which features questions that pull from my generation’s knowledge base (still plenty of history, but no obscure 1970s film questions). The highlight today, inspired by “That’s Life”, was a category called Puppet, Pirate, or Poet. Play along at home: how many can you get?
- José Gaspar
- Floyd Pepper
- John Drinkwater
- Sara Teasdale
- Lionel Wafer
- Pugsey Hurley
- Siegfried Sassoon
- Abelardo Montoya
- Asad “Booyah” Abdulahi
- Horatio the Elephant
What?!?!
You went all the way to Montana and didn’t check out the Burma Shave signs on Highway 91 between Dillon, Mt. and Idaho Falls?
Shame on you!
Ten hours of driving?!! Sounds wicked. Jeff and I did that just once, driving from Seattle to southern Oregon, with a stop at Mt St Helen’s along the way. Now that’s an interesting place to visit, if you are out that way in your travels. Your pictures are great, as usual. Between your commentary and the pictures I get a really good idea of what you are experiencing. Interesting about that lake that formed as a result of the earthquake. And your shot of the Big Sky at Browning is really good. I love the sunlight filtering through the mountains. As for the Trivia, the only name I think I recognize is Sara Teasdale. And I’m thinking maybe she was a poet but I really don’t know! Love, Grandma