Misguided Wanderings in America by John Lee Kirn

Author:John Lee Kirn [John Lee Kirn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: na
Publisher: John Lee Kirn
Published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

MONTANA

A decision had to be made. I have a large 22x28 map on the wall back by the bed and on it I mark all the roads I have traveled. Montana is a large state and the map showed a lot of land yet to be explored in the eastern half of the state. Years ago Sinbad and I drove Highway 2 eastward from Idaho to the middle of Montana. Highway 2 is the northern most improved road in the state near the Canadian border. I could finish that route heading west from the eastern border at North Dakota, a stone’s throw from Fort Buford. This would follow along the Missouri River, what I had been trying to do more or less since leaving the South, until we neared Glasgow a hundred miles later. There the Missouri was obliterated by the Fort Peck Dam burying it deep beneath Fort Peck Lake. Not all that appealing. The second option would be following Highway 200, a small back road of a highway south of the river and Highway 2. This would be two hundred fifty miles of nothingness through the heart of Montana. There are a half a dozen small towns along the route with no place to stay. Many times on small highways like that pulling off to the side of the road is not even an option for there is ‘no side of the road’. The last recourse would be traveling southwest on Interstate 94. Interstates are not my favorite method of travel. They do make for easy driving though (people can pass us with ease) and up here in the vast prairie of nothing Montana interstate travel would be acceptable−a lot different than interstates elsewhere in the county. Plus there were many more small towns along the way to visit, some offering places to stay. I could always jump off onto frontage roads that paralleled the interstate when they became available. An added feature was this route followed the course of the Yellowstone River so it had that going for it. I could give up the Missouri for the Yellowstone just fine. So that is what I decided to go with.

The morning we left Fort Buford I had bad intestinal cramps once again−gut-wrenching spasms of extreme pain while things were moving around down there. I thought I was over this but something else seemed to have manifested itself. Needless to say this put me in a morbid mood thinking the end was near; I’m gonna die, my usual reaction when things go awry within me.

I stopped at Fort Union only a few miles away from Fort Buford. In fact back in the day the two could see each other. How they differed was Fort Union was a company owned trading post whereas Fort Buford was a military post. I had the fortunate good timing to arrive at the same time as a large obnoxiously annoying family did. The father was loud-talking on his phone most of the time. I spent most of my time avoiding the lot while touring the fort.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.