Across Montana

As I continued on my homeward way after visiting my brother in OR during my March/April 2011 trip, I had one more stop to make to visit a very good friend of mine. Daryl and Joan are in the process of retiring and they too decided to move from CA and head to Montana. Their move has taken several years of planning and searching for the right place to settle. Right now they are in the final stages of finishing their "cabin" along the edge of the Rock Mountains of MT. I will be the first to admit that their cabin is a little different from my brother's cabin, but Daryl and Joan have plans of entertaining and mentoring which require a facility for that purpose. Besides, it's what they want, and they are able to do it. Nice place, guys!!

I really enjoyed taking my long morning walks around their property. The only warning I recieved was to watch out for bears....and I only had my .22 pistol with me on this trip, not my 9mm. But I learned that pepper spray is more effective anyway. Daryl told me that he has another cabin on their property as well so one morning I headed that way to check it out. Now that is my kind of cabin!! I think that it would be ideal for me...with a little fix-up of course:

My hosts took me on several tours of the area and hiking trails. The snow pack had been tremendous here as well so the streams were running at full speed and snow still covered many of the trails.

I love the mountains,especially after having lived in Colorado for a while. But I am accustomed to the rolling, wide open plains of ND now so all I can say is that the mountains are a great place to visit but I like where I am.