%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |   Norma's Wanderings around a small section of Montana |
| Today we left the house at the wonderful temperature of 60 degrees. Yes - it is July 27th and it was chilly. Tomorrow is hubby's birthday, and I shudder when I think how old he will be. But that doesn't matter. He wanted to go fishing. We don't live near any decent river, the Musselshell has catfish, yuck. So we decided last night to drive up to the Missouri. What a wonderful river that is, what history. Lewis and Clark. Fur trappers, pioneers on steamboats, Ft. Peck Dam in the depression years employing thousands of men and women. We drive up US RT 87 from Roundup to Grass Range. Then you get on MT Rt 19 for a short time and then get on US Rt 191 and go for another ways til you get to the Charles Russell National Wildlife Area - The Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument. So we drive for about 90 miles to get there. Through mile after mile of open land, recently baled hay in those big round bales. Then occasionally you'll see some cattle, and some land gone to sagebrush. We did see some antelope next to the highway - they were really flying. That reminded me of the time we saw some antelope, a good herd of ten or so, in Big Timber. (Big Timber is between Billings and Bozeman.) We were cruising along a back road in our old Jeep, our beloved dog, Bonnie in the back. The antelope were cruising along, so we thought, 'Wonder how fast they can go?' We clocked at 45 MPH, they raced beside us for a mile or so, before we slowed down, they moved to a field and out of sight quick as anything. Amazing. So today the song, "So give me a home, where the buffalo roam, the deer and the antelope play....." So we saw antelope and cattle are ungulates like deer, so I'll count that...... but no buffalo. Darn. That would've been cool. Anyway, up the road we go, through Petrolem County for a few miles. Now this is interesting. Petroleum County is very small. There are maybe 500 people living in the entire county. But recently an alumnus of the high school gave the county over a million dollars to build a community center in Winnett, the county seat. Amazingly generous. So through Petroleum County on the way to Grass Range, a small little burg off the highway. Stop at the light and keep going. You see Black Butte and the Judith Mountains off to the West as you drive. Beautiful. But there are over 40 more miles to go. And now you enter Fergus County. And then suddenly you are at the bridge over the Missouri. It's a large river. So we take the drive to the fishing access area. Hubby finds a place to park. Ahhh, bathroom. Good idea. Goops, locked up because of the virus. Really? Oh well, bushes work. Then we walk down to the bank, high above the river. We put the grasshoppers  in our yard to work. They are bait, take that, you buggers. He fishes for several hours, I walk about. Fishing  to me is like watching paint  dry, watching grass  grow, playing golf  . Boredom. I read a book. I take pictures. I take a nap. We eat some food, he fishes some more. You may catch paddle fish here. That would be cool! No dice. Or sturgeon. No dice. He gets one nibble. So after a time, we decide to go over to the other side of the river, where there is better access to the river bank. The other side of the river is a recreation area, camping and such. The bathrooms there are open, curious. Why here and not there? Who knows. No one around to ask. Oh well. We park under a tree because now it is about a million degrees in the sun. After a time, we eat the rest of our food, and before we leave, hubby decides to use the bathroom. He wanders to the toilet, but uses the bushes beside it. When he comes back, I say, "Why go outside? The bathrooms here are open." He replies, "I know, but this one is closed." "What? Why this one?" "A big snake crawled under the wall there and curled up right beside the door, so this one is now closed." COOL! What kind of snake? Rattlesnake? "How should I know? I wasn't about to get close enough to look." So I had to go get the camera and go back and check this out. Now remember, I'm the one that touched the alligator, or was it a crocodile? in the Everglades and lived to tell about it  . I have a picture of this extremely large brown and yellow snake coiled up in front of the door to the vault toilet at the campground. I'm also the snake wrangler at the motel where we used to work. Snakes and things don't bother me. I looked it up at home, it's a gopher snake. They can get to be 7 feet long, common to all of Montana. Wonderful.......So we bundle back in the car and make the trip back home, no fish but a really cool snake story! Plus two antelope. It was a good day. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
