Idaho Falls

A beautiful morning, a meadowlark singing.  On the road again. We saw two magpies, handsome in their black and white, and I saw a tall sandhill crane with that bright red patch on its head. We followed the Yellowstone upstream to Billings where we crossed it for the last time as it sped down the hills from south of us. It’s a beautiful, long river. It must have been such a central resource to the first people who lived here – transportation, drinking water, food. We have moved so far from our awareness of our dependence on the resources of the land.  We trade money for food in packages, scarcely aware of the earth it came from, the people who planted, raised and harvested it, the people who packaged and transported it. One reason I love living in farming country and traveling through it is the feeling of connection between my needs and the natural resources that meet them. This planet is all we have.  Everything we use comes from it somehow.  But the systems we live in are so complex that it’s easy to lose sight of that simple reality.

After Billings we are never out of sight of some mountain range or other, The Bear Mountains, The Crazy Mountains, and others whose names I’ve already forgotten.  It’s a pretty ride from Billings to Bozeman. In Bozeman Google Maps takes us through an odd route (probably to avoid a lot of traffic lights going through downtown) which includes a closed road, but we find our way through and pick up Rt. 191 and the Gallatin River.  This is stunningly beautiful country. The Gallatin is shallow and fast, attracting white water rafters and fishermen. (Peter, if you haven’t fished this beautiful river yet, you might want to add it to your list.) The road and the river are in and out of National Forests and the northwest corner of Yellowstone Park. These beautiful lands belong to us, forested mountains, clear rivers, places to fish and hike and camp.  But then, Bears Ears used to belong to us too. I wonder if Trump will try to sell Yellowstone to the highest bidder, or put up a casino on the Gallatin. Still, today this land is ours, and we enjoy the drive enormously.

We’re in a nice park right on the Snake River.  Did laundry and had a lovely swim in the pool at the end of a hot day.  Now it’s time for Charlie’s last walk of the evening. Tomorrow we have just a morning’s drive to Hagerman where we’ll visit Jay’s brother, Skip, the only other Democrat in the family.