“I’m leaving on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again.” My traveling partner this trip is granddaughter #1, Maud. We are in the air as this scheduled post hits my blog. If you know Maud, it should not surprise you that it is possible that I might question my sanity about this arrangement. Stay tuned……
As we’re flying off to Montana, my mind takes me back several years ago. The year I graduated from high school, my sister and I took a trip across the country, camping along the way. We were gone for three months. It was definitely a trip of a lifetime. Our travels took us to our uncle’s house in the dry sagebrush hills of Eastern Montana. Aunt Frances had died a few years before, and Uncle Buster had remarried a Southern lady. Aunt Viola was a jewel and a good cook. I loved to walk into their house after a long drive and experience her southern charm and table loaded with food. We had some fun adventures with Uncle Buster. One of the adventures was a trip to Glacier National Park.
He had a small camper that he hooked up to his truck. Aunt Viola buzzed around getting food and other items together. We all piled in the truck and started up the road with our little house attached. Uncle Buster drove much better with Aunt Viola along. He even stayed on the road – most of the time!
We drove through the Missouri River Breaks, past Zortman and Malta. Passing through that area rekindled Uncle Buster’s memories. I grew up hearing stories about that rugged country. The family left Oklahoma the summer of 1914, went north and homesteaded near Sun Prairie Flats just south of Malta. Several of my relatives who died in the 1918 flu epidemic are buried there. Uncle Buster had worked for ranches. My granddad told about Old Stink who lived in a tent in front of a cave in the Little Rockies near Zortman. My granddad’s description was, “He was an old man, Indian and Frenchman. Strong. Strong smelling feller.”
We stopped to visit some cousins in Havre. That little town is the crown jewel of the area known as the Montana Hi-Line. That region encompasses what Montana is about – prairie, fields of wheat, cattle, mountains – all beneath the Big Sky. It was the original mainline of the Great Northern Railway. Part of that area is also dinosaur country. That was our route to Glacier National Park.
In the park we took the Going to the Sun Road. It was kind of scary at times. Remember that Uncle Buster was driving – the same Uncle Buster that shaved when he drove. He was also pulling a camper that would swing and sway as it danced in the wind on those high ridges. On some of those hairpin turns we’d almost meet ourselves. We missed many of the grand vistas because the mountains were smothered in clouds. That is the land where Maud and I are heading. I’m sure we will find great adventures, see grand sights and add to our memories. Stay tuned for more from Maud & Me!
June 2019
