dare2go

Sunday Drive in Montana


Continuation from < Page 1 < !

Leaving Harlowton, we turned north, still following the 3, and came across a wind farm at Judith Gap. This particular part of Montana seems to be well-suited to these huge turbines, as you could feel the wind affecting our truck as we drove. We arrived at Lewistown in the late afternoon to find a rest area on the edge of town which had a sign welcoming overnight use. This facility, provided by the local Kiwanis club, provided clean restrooms and sheltered picnic tables. And they only asked for a donation to help with the upkeep. We are always pleasantly surprised when invited to stay at rest areas because there are so many which have huge signs dictating no camping. It was fairly quiet despite being right between the main road through town and the airport. There is a truck bypass which kept the road noise down and Lewistown is not big enough to warrant planes flying in and out overnight.
On Monday we wandered around Lewistown for a while, which is the geographic centre of Montana. There are some beautiful, old buildings in this town too. The stone work is absolutely eye-catching. It seems that Croatian migrants are responsible for much of the decorative work here. The Library and the Courthouse are particularly notable in this respect. We left Lewistown and headed north again seeking a ghost town named Kendall. It is actually owned by the Boy Scouts of America and they are supposedly preserving it. After a long dirt road and a wrong turn along something resembling a goat track, we finally found it. A few stone walls were in evidence and that was it. And up behind it, a mine that appeared to be recently reopened. We are not sure what the story is here, but if you are in this part of the country and think to drive in to Kendall to see a ghost town, our advice would be, don't bother!
We got back to the main road and continued on the loop to bring us back to Grass Range which is directly east of Lewistown and then on further south to Roundup. On the way we saw many more Pronghorns, and quite a few cattle. The countryside changed from rolling, slightly hilly plains to higher hills with rocky outcrops, and deeper gullies - and some pine forests. Somehow the Montana countryside never really gets boring as it is always changing, sometimes only in subtle ways and at other times quite blatantly in a short distance. The most blatant change is always from absolutely treeless to lots of trees. And on this particular drive we circled right around a range called Snowy Mountains, which were visible in the distance most of the time.
Just south of Roundup is a small town called Klein. We had photographed Langford on Vancouver Island, so now we made a stop to record Klein. Now when Juergen gives his name to someone, instead of spelling it he can say "Klein like Klein, Montana" (as if anybody will know it - LOL)!
By then it was getting late in the day and we had just 40 miles to cover to reach Billings. Our "Sunday Drive" had been a pleasant change from being in Billings, the weather had been lovely, and it had also taken us through another interesting part of this state. I reiterate what I said in the first Montana report - I really hadn't expected to like this state as much as I do. The people here are also the friendliest and most helpful we have come across in our travels so far. They are genuinely interested in what we are doing and, if they are in some service industry, they really want to know that are needs are being met. Ask anyone on the street for directions and they almost want to take you wherever it is you want to go - they certainly don't let you go until they are absolutely sure that you are clear about where to go. This is our No.1 state for hospitality so far!