My Journey

Pacific Northwest yetti

Expedition Medic
When I was with DuPont in the Ag division, they would ask to meet the field guys and would hand pick who was allowed to help them. They knew every vehicle that drove around, and on the place. This one had cameras at the gate...the rumor was they had software that logged the plates and sent out a txt to their security guy to check on unknown vehicles.

Idk about that, but they had the technology to do it. And were pretty big on strangers and security.
 
tgil.....the television.....I sure do miss it (sometimes).....

Sierra Valley.....I was scanning Google Maps and noticed that these colonies are all over Montana. I hope to stop by another colony just for a comparison.....just curious.....

JD.....thanks.....new to a lot of us.....

PNWY.....I'm not sure I'm a believer. I read on Google that they typically have one phone for an entire colony. They've got a multi million dollar operation going on there but they seem like the keep it simple kind of people.....just my thoughts.....



I'd be hard pressed to find anything in particular to say nice about Martinsdale, Montana but I'll give it a try.....it's located in Montana.....and that's about all I got.....

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We parked in downtown Martinsdale, walked around for maybe 5 minutes, and then we walked right outside of town.....there was nothing to see here.....

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Now we walked down a dusty gravel road.....we crossed a small one lane bridge.....

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.....and then we met up with a curious herd of cattle.....

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Tanner didn't care much for their curiousousity and he let them know in no uncertain terms.....

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The herd moved on.....

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.....and we walked down to the shores of the Martinsdale Reservoir.....

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Now the reservoir was absolutely beautiful.....a flock of pelicans hung out on that little island.....

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Camping was allowed here but it was $18 per night if you didn't have a fishing license.....I did not have a fishing license as you may have guessed so eventually we walked back into town, hopped into the rig and returned to our free quiet little spot along the Musselshell River.....

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Foy

Explorer
Any sign of the soon-to-come Gordon Butte closed-cell wind-powered pumped storage electric power generation project southwest of Martinsdale?
 
Typically when I blog here I ALWAYS make it a point to acknowledge someone when they take the time to post here. People on the other side of this blog may not realize how important they are to whatever success the blog may have. I truly appreciate it when members have input, questions or opinions or like the post. Feedback really is important to me. That being said, my apologies go out to Chet6.7 and Sierra Valley.....I did not mean to ignore your input / comments.....just an oversight on my part.....


Chet6.7.....there's a second hand store a few blocks from where I'm currently camped and I spoke with the owner several days ago and she tells me that she has tons of used books priced at 10 cents each.....I'll be on the lookout for that book.....I love the writings of the author and as you say that book fits perfectly. Thanks for the heads up.....

Sierra Valley.....it is so beautiful here that it's almost hard to believe. It's a different kind of beautiful than so many places that I see.....I think it is it's expansiveness that really makes it what it is. I've never been to Mongolia but the wide open vastness of those lands that I've seen in pictures remind me of here. This, unfortunately, is probably as close as I'll ever get to Mongolia.....

Foy.....is that really a thing and if the answer is yes then my answer is no.....




So I've pretty much covered the entire surrounding areas of the Selkirk Fishing Access Lot so now a few posts on our life along the banks of the Musselshell River. We stayed here for 5 days so there was plenty of time to explore everything that needed exploring.....

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This fine grass that grew in the riverbed was not only beautiful but so wonderfully soft to the touch.....

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This grass.....it literally danced in the winds.....

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We hiked for quite some miles along the riverbanks.....

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Everyday we did this never tiring of seeing these things.....

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I mentioned before the inordinate amount of rabbits.....mosquitoes were the most abundant.....so many so that they were, that at most times it was nearly unbearable to hike along the river.....

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Followed by the rabbits in numbers were the black flies.....they too made up a large percentage of the insect life here and of course were quiet the nuisance. And then in numbers, there were the birds.....lots of birds of all colors, sizes and types.....

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This tiny yellow bird took up residence on my chrome truck grill & bumper. My guess is that he loved to look at his reflection in the chrome and I kid you not, my entire grill and bumper look like the bottom of a bird cage.....

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There were prairie dogs here too.....not as abundant as the rabbits were.....but still well represented none the less.....

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I learned fairly quickly that hiking above the banks of the river just a slight bit reduced the severity of the attacks by the mosquitoes & black flies.....they too are such an important part of nature.....so well balanced it all is.....

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Ace.....yes, I understand that comparison completely. What a great movie.....thanks for the kind words.....



During our walks we often found ourselves darting from the rivers banks to the higher elevations of the fields, then eventually returning back to the river banks.....the mosquitoes were relentless. I believe that it was on our second day camped here that I began to notice the hawks soaring overhead during our river walks. I felt it was a stroke of good luck when we stumbled onto their massive nest built way up high in the top of a tree.....

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Tanner and I would lay in the fields and watch the hawks soar overhead.....there were three of them.....two appeared to be a mated pair. The other appeared to be always alone.....

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Maybe it was on our third day camped here when Tanner and I were wandering around in the fields when we came across a dead hawks body.....it was not very far at all from the nest that I photographed.....

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Initially I thought maybe it was it was hit by a truck on the highway and had tried to make its way back to the nest. But then I noticed that the head had been removed and that struck me as odd. We continued to walk the area, thinking that the head (skull) would be nearby.....but this is what we found instead.....

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On the side of the beer can it reads "Brewed for the Outdoors".....

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Of course I don't know for sure what happened to the hawk.....but shotgun shells, beer cans and a dead hawk with no head.....I do know that it was sad to see the lone hawk high up in the tree.....

“A hawk kills because it is his nature; a man because it is his pleasure.” – Darkovan

Summer has come to Montana.....

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The rivers waters are starting to warm up.....

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Everyday Tanner and I would take a dip in the Musselshell River.....

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.....and we would now be able to stay in long enough to soak & enjoy the clear waters.....

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This was yet one more good place that we had discovered together.....it was certainly difficult to leave.....

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RonMexico.....thanks.....the water is certainly Tanners happy place.....



After 5 days of rest & exploring along the Musselshell River, we were finally back on Highway 12 driving eastward looking forward to seeing what may come next.....

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Harlowtown, Montana (population 1,100) would be the first stop of the day.....

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Harlowtown is built at the intersection of two of Montanas major secondary highways.....Highway 12 running east / west and Highway 191 running north / south.....

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We pulled over to have a look at Harlowtown and parked close to what might be called the "historic district" of Harlowtown since everything here seemed quiet old.....

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As we always do, we walked a multitude of the cities streets.....

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I walked these streets with this thought in my mind....."could I live here ?".....the answer was clearly no, I could never live in Harlowtown, Montana.....I did not love this town.....

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Ace Brown

Retired Ol’ Fart
Everything in that town seems to be some shade of brown. Well the last photo has a bit of red. I think I would be very bored there.


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Ace.....exactly.....



Montana is a red state.....Donald Trump won here in 2016 by more than 20 points.....

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The governor of Montana, Steve Bullock, is a Democrat.....and he has an approval rating of 75 %.....he will more than likely be elected to the U.S. Senate in the upcoming elections.....

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In Harlowtown, Montana I saw only Donald Trump reelection signs.....

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Sometimes politics make no sense to me.....this is XP.....and that's all I got to say about that.....

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Speaking of signs.....well, I absolutely love these old signs along the streets of Harlowtown, Montana.....

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We had lunch here.....passed through Harlowtown, Montana, turned left onto Highway 191, and headed north to and through the prairies of northern Montana.....

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longhorn1

Observer
So when I see Hwy. 191 show up, I'm thinking I would have Big Timber on my mind and like a magnet, I would be drawn to my family heritage. How I wish I was there. That visit will have to wait until 2021. Doing a little research on the Huterite Colonies, saw that 75% of the sect live in Canada.
 

Foy

Explorer
Seems like nearly every town in Montana has a Stockman's Bar or a Stockman's Cafe. I wonder how many there really are.

Looking forward to seeing where US 191 north took you. We'll use it just a bit, from the Missouri River to DY Junction, soon.

Foy
 

Ace Brown

Retired Ol’ Fart
I very recently drove a section of 191 from Dushesne to Price, UT through Ashley NF. May have been the best section of a 2000 mile drive from home and back. Once our Retired Ol’ Farts group was going to run 191 from border to border just to see what’s there. It never happened though. But over the years I probably have been on all of it a piece at a time. Does that last sentence remind you of that old Johny Cash song?


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