Day 20 - Kalispell to Browning, Montana - 100 Miles

I was about to begin the blog this evening when I happened to look up just in time to see a horse and rider galloping past my window some thirty yards away. The picture the rider presented, forming as she did a late afternoon silhouette against the peaks of the snow-capped continental divide several dozen miles off to the west, was so startling, that I pushed the laptop away, grabbed my camera, and headed for the door.

By the time I reached the nearby field where the rider had so recently passed, she and two friends on foot had stopped to chat south of where I stood. But as I waited patiently in hopes that the young rider would resume her ride, I saw she and her girlfriends look my way and perhaps remark that I was standing there.

Soon, the horsewoman nudged her mount into action, and once more galloped in my direction. I knew I couldn't shoot into the sun without turning the horse and rider into a silhouette, so I decided to work with the conditions I had. I focused on infinity, then froze the exposure settings while pointing the lens at the sun. That way I'd be sure to get a silhouette that was dark.

Having had minimum experience in creating silhouettes on the fly, I ended up ruining more than I shot correctly. But I did manage to capture a couple that I like. After I had asked the rider to gallop past two or three times, I told her thanks and she and the horse trotted over to see what I was about.

When she approached, I could see that she was probably about 14 years old, and Native American. "What's your name," I asked her when she had reined up in front of me.

"Roxie," she said.

"Pretty name," I said. "The movie Roxanne is one of my favorites. Is your full name Roxanne?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Just Roxie," she said. Then she asked, "Do you print your pictures?"

"Sorry," I said. "I didn't bring a printer with me. But if you have an email I can mail a photo to you."

Further discussion revealed Roxie doesn't have a computer and didn't seem to know about email. But she was just the most soft-spoken, polite, and happy young girl I've met in quite a long time."

Our main goal today was to see the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning, Montana, the town where we've parked the RV tonight. The town has a small RV park on the western edge of town which has turned out to be one of the nicest, most peaceful parks we've happened upon since we left Nevada. There aren't many spaces, only about 10, but the view of the mountains to the west is completely unobstructed, except by miles and miles of rolling prairie.

Our visit to the Museum was a little bit of a letdown since we allowed ourselves to expect something spectacular. In truth, the part of the museum devoted to the plains Indian artistry WAS very nice. Everything from bead work to leather work, and from weaponry to basketry was outstanding. Some of the best Indian handiwork I have EVER seen in my life could be found at the Museum of the Plains Indian. However, there were no photographs allowed, which makes it very hard for your humble scrivener to acquaint you with all that we have seen.

There were a million descriptive cards to read, covering each and every artifact. You cannot absorb all the material, and even if you concentrate on the aspect of the collection that you especially like, it still is impossible to memorize all the data. A notebook might have been helpful, but without accompanying photos, the recorded data would have been largely useless.

So, not to be permanently deterred, after leaving the museum we stopped by the nearby Indian trading post, and I picked up a copy of "The Book of Indian Crafts and Indian Lore." Not sure if it will answer all my questions -- or yours -- but I hope to learn a bit more about what I saw today.

The Museum was our only "field trip" today, as most of Route 2 between Kalispell and Browning is made up of the ubiquitous dense forest, rampaging rivers, and lonely two-lane highway. We really didn't see much to coax us off the road to shoot photos. And when we did see something like an abandoned, rusty automobile, or a tumbled down dwelling, there was no room on the shoulder to pull over.

But the high point of the drive for me today was our lunch stop. At noon we parked the rig on a V-shaped plateau of land that fronts on the confluence of Bear Creek, and the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, a convenient patch of land that just happened to present itself when I was looking for a place to stop for lunch.

I found our location to be especially picturesque for the white-capped ferocity of the two rivers as they plunged headlong into each other, and for the subtle beauty of the great quantity of river rocks that could be found all along the banks in an incredible diversity of colors, textures, and complexities.

Since, in addition to photographs, I'm always interested in river rocks, I took the opportunity while Concetta got started on lunch, to roam throughout our rest-stop reserve, gathering up favorite rocks when I found ones that took my eye. There were so many to appreciate, I probably could have spent the rest of the day right there searching for one-of-a-kind rocks to add to my collection.

I'm not altogether certain, but I think a portion of the riverbank rocks had been hauled in from some other location to stabilize the banks. Those rocks were obviously sedimentary in nature, and looked to me like shale or sandstone. Others along the riverbank were obviously (at least to me) igneous and had once upon a time come from the mouth of some lava-spewing volcano. The whole place looked to me like a geologist's favorite playground. I would have loved to have such a geologic expert around to tell me what all the rock examples were that I had picked up.

Anyway, so that's it for now. Tomorrow perhaps we'll be off to explore the Lewis and Clark Trail which heads east from here. Or, perhaps, some other idea will present itself. So until then, We wish you exciting destinations and memorable travels from the Davises, the Happy Wanderers.