Falling to sleep to rain on the roof and waking to fresh snow on the mountains. It was a magical morning that I drove with my back to Yellowstone. Fog and mist were to be the theme for today’s weather. The fog lay like soft pillows scattered on hillsides from Wyoming, through Montana and into South Dakota. I like how fog lends itself to a certain mystery about a landscape… like you don’t quite know what it is partially hiding… only a hint of a rock or tree…not the stark reality of it.
I chose to drive over Beartooth pass that is closed half of the year. I think I chose thi
s just because it was still open… while beautiful, it was quiet stressful. And last night’s fresh snow was a stark reality of why they don’t open it all year. It was a very slow drive to Billings from Cooke City over the top of the world, as it seemed in the fog, and regretting my choice of roads on more than one icy corner. By the map it should have been a nice little jaunt and I would have been in Billings by 10am to find a wireless hotspot and upload my blog and photos from yesterday. 4 hours and 132 miles later I was in Billings and I had to move to make it to Aunt Beth’s for dinner. But I love Montana, if for nothing else, the speed limits and road conditions… both excellent for driving fast.So I took one short stop for myself despite my dinner plans, I stopped at Custer’s Battlefield National Memorial. What I thought would be 15-20 minutes, took an hour (maybe timing should be the theme for the day). It was so interesting that I got lost in the h
istory and story of it.On my journey today I was told to ‘Vote Crazy Hair for Sheriff’, saw a horse standing at someone’s back door looking like he wanted to be invited in or waiting for someone to jump out and hop on his back, had to slow down for a herd of antelope to skitter across the road in front of me, photographed a cemetery that made me think much more of the landscape of the plains, and used my windshield wipers much more than I had hoped.
Tonight I had a steak dinner with family… there is no better way to finish a day than with family!
3 comments:
Thanks for narrating and taking me along vicariously :) I enjoy a good soul-searching trip.
I hope you and your camera lenses are drinking in the ranch, the butte, sage brush, and whatever else strikes you! Sorry, but I couldn't get thru on Beth's line last night. Guess Terry was a little long winded. Either that or Blane has a girl friend!
Happy Trails--and we'll see you in a week or so.
This is making me miss Montana--although I never had the guts to do the Beartooth for the same reason you had a difficult time driving it
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