Montana Saga
Day 9
Alan writes:
I think I’m becoming a mountain man. Now that I think about it, it’s almost
impossible not to be since every day we drive through, toward, up or down
mountains. What a cool state! Today as Mimi scoured the landscape for
wildlife, I looked at small towns and hamlets we passed on our journey from
Coeur D’Alene to Missoula. Some
were pretty and new and upscale like downtown Coeur D’Alene; others had
achieved some degree of sadness and dilapidation from years of use and
neglect. Thinking about all this
as we drove inspired me to come up with a rating scale for houses and towns so
that in future encounters I’ll have succinct way of communicating what we
saw. PRISTINE (brand new; without
blemish); ESTABLISHED (no lon-ger brand new but still attractive-
what we all think of our houses);
LIVED IN (some visible wear but still functional and enjoyable- what
most of us actually live in); ELEGANTLY SHABBY (for South Carolinians think
Pawley’s Island- you have the money and time to fix it up but just like it that
way); JUST PLAIN SHABBY (you lack the money and time and, even if you had it,
just don’t care); WORN OUT (can be
lived in but you ask people who drive you home to let you off at the next block-
you need the air); DILAPIDATED (probably shouldn’t be lived in- only of
interest to historians); CRUMBLING RUIN (can’t be lived in; can barely be
found- only of interest to archeologists). I know it appears that I had too much time on my hands today
but this all came to my OCD mind fairly automatically.
On a more specific note, today as we came within striking
distance of the city of Missoula, our end-of-day destination, we took a side
trail in Missoula county called Nemote Creek Road. It turned from a kind of macadam surface to gravel to two
tracks of dirt with weeds in the center as we ascended past three beautiful
ranches and their accompanying outbuildings, meadows and livestock- all this in search of wildlife for
Mimi. If she’s at the beach, it’s
dolphins; if in Montana it’s all manner of creatures. As we headed back down from the heights she commented that
the day would end poorly if we did not see at least one mountain lion, moose,
elk, lynx and another bear. We did
not encounter any of these but did see the represent-atives of two or three
deer families that Mimi recorded with her trusty camera.
Possibly my favorite day! A woman of
adventure who likes the
risk of an uncertain, possibly dangerous, gravel drive.
The sign read,
“Stark
Mtn. Lookout 15 mi.” … but at about the ½ way point up that remote drive when
the road became dangerously narrow and extremely high up the mountain side with
no guard rail OR room for error, Alan found a little turn-around spot that
looked too tempting to ignore. We did pile out and look through the binoculars
and take a few pictures before heading back down the mountain. We were
definitely rewarded at the bottom with a family of deer and a precious fawn
curled up in the broomstraw.
