My Journey

Ace.....yea, that thought definitely crossed my mind. The other thing that crossed my mind was that I did much dumber ******** when my two sons were growing up. I remember once when my oldest son (then maybe 13) said "why are you always putting our lives in danger ?" (maybe not exact words but certainly close enough).....

Arjan, Sierra Valley & mekcanix.....I was looking back on my last post and I noticed something that I had written....."Well, no man can say no in a situation like that so it was a risk that I had to take......".....and I realized that actually every man had told this guy no up until he met me. Now I wonder.....was it because the vegetation was so thick that nobody would risk the pinstripes on their rigs.....or was it because that's the direction our society is going and has gone ? For decades there's always been a spirit of helping one another, especially when traveling off road.....has that spirit begun to fade.....I wish not.....

sweatybandit....."big change".....it can be a curse and it can be good fortune as well.....it's been a good ride.....




And it was with great anticipation that I arrived in Gallatin Valley and headed directly for my friends hot shower.....it had now been 133 days since I'd had one.....and yep, it felt pretty darn good. Then it was time to see some old friends.....those familiar faces that I had referred to in my earlier post. First up was Bacon.....I was thrilled to see that Bacon had yet to end up on someones dinner table.....

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Tanner hooked up with his best buddy Junior.....they were almost inseparable.....

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Nothing much seemed to have changed across the road.....

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But the reality was that things had changed drastically for my buddy that lived across the road.....

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My buddys wife of over 40 years was put into assisted living and he told me that he now sits outside her window most days and talks with her by cellphone.....due to coronavirus fears. We had some nice talks during my stay.....here's a few pictures of my buddy doing his Instagram pose. For all of you that think I post too many dog photos.....this could be the alternative.....

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We set up camp in the back.....the house that I had worked on so hard these past summers was now occupied by my friends children.....

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.....we were welcomed with open arms.....

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Arjan.....indeed.....

tgil.....I got your back.....



After a few days the kids asked if I'd be willing to take care of the place while they were out of town and so it was that I'd spend two weeks camped on the backside of the property.....

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I was responsible for all of the animals.....sometimes the kids would return and drop their dogs off but mostly it was chickens, ducks and cats.....

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Eggs were plentiful.....

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Tanner did well with the farm animals.....they all survived our stay.....

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I stayed busy with the mower.....the spring rains in Montana were plentiful during that period and maintaining the grass was an eternal chore.....

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Muscles that I hadn't worked for months were being reactivated.....and it felt really good.....

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We were tired every evening and I'm thinking that the best sleep a man gets is after working a hard day in the fields.....

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Some days we drove into downtown Bozeman and walked the city streets. It's always good to be back to the familiar places.....there's something to having roots that makes a man feel good. We took a drive by my old house.....I was content with my landscaping work.....

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Arjan

Fossil Overlander
Once the Golden know what animals belong to the household, they usu. leave them alone.

Ours will not look at the chickens etc. we have running around here. The cats will ignore them, too.

Nice house !
 

longhorn1

Observer
tgil.....I'm assuming you left out a word maybe.....



Now at this point in my travels I had a real struggle on my hands.....I longed for familiar faces, familiar places.....and a nice hot shower. It had been months now since I had a hot shower, and I knew that a hot shower was not more than a half days drive away. But I also had a longing for the forest and when I awoke the next morning I decided that I would stay for one more night.....these things that I craved could wait for one more day.....

It was early in the evening.....Tanner & I were walking along a forest service road.....and I was approached by a young man asking me if I owned the Jeep parked with the truck camper. When I replied that I did own that rig he asked if I could help him.....he told me that he had got stuck on one of the more remote forest service roads and nobody would help him.....

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I explained to him that my Jeep had electrical problems and that I would be reluctant to take it out since it just was not dependable at this time. He damn near begged me and then he finally told me that he had a young baby and that he had run out of options.....soon it would get cold.....

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Well, no man can say no in a situation like that so it was a risk that I had to take......

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He had tried to turn around and got his frame stuck on the bank along the side of the road. Without four wheel drive, and with the single wheel that provided traction off the ground, he was going nowhere.....

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For nearly an hour I tugged on that vehicle while he pushed with all his might. The wife and mother in law made it clear that they had told him not to go down that road.....

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But we were persistent cause really what choice did we have.....and eventually we got him out.....

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.....and then we all made our way back to the main road.....

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.....and that baby.....well, I'm guessing that baby has a lot of adventures coming her way.....and the Jeep.....it did not fail me that day. Late that evening while out hiking Tanner & I crossed paths with a momma moose and her young calf.....that's always a bonus in the forest.....I was so very thankful to have stayed in the forest for one additional day.....

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Awesome job. They would have been in deep trouble
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
I'm happy to offer a bit more info about Anaconda, Montana. While there are notable and once very productive mines around Anaconda, the town was built around a huge smelter built to smelt the copper ores from Butte, about 30 miles distant. Copper baron Marcus Daley built the railroad in 1894 out of frustration with the rates he was being charged to ship on the Northern Pacific. The line from Butte to the smelter was exceptionally heavy duty due to the tonnage it was designed to haul. In 1913, Daley electrified the railroad, shedding +40 steam engines in favor of 27 electric engines, of which the one pictured may be one of, although the history websites say the sole surviving electric engine is on display at the big mining museum in Butte. Whatever the case, the railroad was the first in the US to be electrified. The smelter in Anaconda operated from the 1880s until permanently closed in 1980. The 585' tall smokestack is tall and big enough to fit the Washington Monument inside of it and is the tallest freestanding masonry structure in the world. Thousands of men worked in the smelter operations and on the related railroad assets, establishing a vibrant little city for much of the 20th century.

Foy
1913 there was a electric train line from Oakland CA to Sacramento CA. The last train to run that line was 1957. One is still run on a short spur line out of a small museum in the delta today.

One of the very first town’s in the US to be fully electric was Bodie CA. The power came from a hydro setup 26 miles away on Green Creek Eastern Sierras.

The old mining history is interesting especially with early adoption of electricity.
 

ITTOG

Well-known member
Sounds like an awesome time and completely agree on sleeping after hard work. I wish I knew someone with a small ranch that I could take care of. I have thought about finding one after I retire from my desk job.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk
 
Arjan.....yes, I agree.....it is a nice house but it was not the right house for me. Too big, too modern, too cold.....I miss not having a home but I do not miss not having that home.....

JD.....yes, it could have turned out much worse for that family but fortunately that story had a nice ending. You once mentioned a place that I should see in Montana.....where was that ?

calicamper.....thanks for chiming in.....always appreciated.....

ITTOG.....it's amazing how much fun it can be since it's such a change of lifestyle from living life on the road.....

Ron Mexico.....as requested.....



I had mentioned in a previous post that my friends kids would show up occasionally.....they might stay a night, and then they'd be gone the following morning.....

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Sometimes they would leave their dogs with me.....and sometimes they would take their dogs along.....

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One night they had a cookout in the backyard.....which I was given an invitation to attend.....now we live in an age of coronavirus and I'm one that believes that this virus is for real.....

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I understand that some people think it's a hoax, fake news, or that it will simply disappear.....

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So I decided not to attend their backyard cookout.....cause honestly I think it was a bad idea.....

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I'm not sure if people wore masks or practiced social distancing cause I was as far away as I possibly could be.....

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The funny thing about this cookout was that everyone brought at least one dog along. I've got to tell you.....I did love that part of their little get together.....

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At one point I'd guess that there were maybe 15 to 20 dogs running around on that property.....

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Coronavirus has not been near the issue here in Montana as it has been in other parts of the country as Montana has just recorded its one thousandth case just a few days ago. But I still think its best to be prudent.....and I'll continue to live my life with great care. I don't want to get it.....and I don't want to give it either.....and honestly.....I'd rather hang out with dogs anyhow.....

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Riversdad

Active member
Jerry, I haven't seen my best friend since this started because he refuses to take this seriously and wear a mask. His daughter, who lives with him and his wife just got infected at a party, so I'm sure both him and his wife will get sick as well. He still thinks it's no big deal because he's sure he'll live through it. You can't fix stupid so just keep doing what you're doing and take of you and Tanner.
 

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