Blogs from Montana, United States, North America - page 2

Today was a travel day. We had breakfast at our hotel where we had another pancake machine…I know I’m just a big kid but it’s fun to watch it plop the pancakes into Your plate. This one was even newer…it was a no touch.. just wave your hand and it went to work. We had about a 5 1/2 hour drive to our home for the next three days in Gardiner, MT, the north entrance to Yellowstone near the Roosevelt Arch. As usual the drive was interesting watching landforms change. We followed the Yellowstone River so we saw fishermen and boaters along the way. We saw mule deer and whitetail deer as well. Our only stops were to WalMart for bug cleaner for the car, a few groceries, and allergy medicine. We also gassed up and ... read more

Day 6: This morning we were in no rush to leave because Manoli had to call Glacier National Park at 8am to see if we could get entry passes through the "lottery", first-come first-serve. Unfortunately, even though she was signed in by 8am, we didn't get them. Glacier National Park is part of the reason we planned on stopping at Missoula, to either spend a day at the park, or go there on our way to Spokane. We left the KOA and awesome Yellowstone behind and hit the road on our way to Missoula, about a 4-hour drive, with no special places to stop along the way. Since we already knew there was a WalMart near our destination, we didn't both stopping in Livingston or Bozeman. We did stop for gas and a coffee after we ... read more

Sally: Here's some sober self-reflection: As we search for "property" which means looking at the "house" and the "land" and the "access" and the "water rights" and the orientation of the property to allow for, or prevent, successful winter greenhouse and other vegetative food production, there is also the matter of "the community." One could find the absolute and affordable ideals for house and land, etc. and never know the nature of the people who live in proximity, both close-in neighbors and also one's "town," where we'll buy groceries and building supplies and stuff. The more we risk reaching out with some honest comment or question, the more sober and humble I feel. I've been saddled with patterns as a self-protective psycho-snob for much of my adult life. I've found it easiest to risk vulnerable connection ... read more

If you look for the Impenetrable Mountains on a map of Montana, you will not likely find them labelled. But we can assure you that they exist. We have been in them since we got here. The phrase comes from Peter Kingsley, a favorite author and guru, as he recounts an old Mongolian myth, about people being stuck in an impossible situation, with no hope of escape, no hope of moving forward, no hope of resolution, and how, at last, a magical wolf appears to bore a hole through the mountains and lead the people out of their stuck place, or a shaman appears and shoots a magical arrow that cuts a hole through the mountains and achieves the same end. We've used this myth, and this phrase, as a way of looking at our present ... read more

We're sitting in a quirky diner in Butte, eating breakfast and using our phones for wifi. We found good coffee in Deer Lodge, but the one restaurant gave us a bad feeling. We drove 20 minutes to Gold Creek, to find the restaurant there no longer in business. So then we headed back in the other direction and made it to Butte, where we could find an open breakfast restaurant. On the way, I saw yet another electronic sign telling us how many traffic fatalities Montana has seen this year. I've been seeing these signs since we first entered the state from North Dakota. In the time we've been here, there have been an additional 15 traffic deaths. Contrast that with the 17 additional COVID-1984 deaths* we've seen in the exact same time period. The COVID-1984 ... read more