Valley View to Brooks to Montana 8/14-19

Reaching the prairie, I felt inclined to push through to the ranch without dawdling.  One long day to Brooks,  a stockyards town I sensed, and another to the ranch.  I did find a wonderful shortcut, eliminating a wrong way salient on the interstate toward Great Falls.  Here is a vista of this fun way.

 Reached the ranch in a thunderstorm.  Just as Tom was talking to a guy who had been fishing on our property.  He had several fish on a stringer.  But he may have been legal as Tom did not see him out of the stream bed. 

At the ranch I got a call from Ken's brother Al.  He said he would be up the next day to pick up a horse trailer.  Should he bring a tent or was the bunk house free.  I told him they should use the other bedroom.  They arrived the next evening.  two grey guys my age dressed in coveralls and feed store caps.  I offered them food, no, something to drink, no, pillow cases, not necessary, and set out towels, not used.  The rhythm of their conversation was like I heard at grandfather Matthews.  But as I expected, they were not country Bumpkins.  Al is a plant scientist specializing in sunflowers. He has consulted all over the world,  a world of Fargos as he puts it.  Ron was a professor at U of Wyoming for more than 30 years.  His field (forgive me) forage crops.    I wish I had a picture of these two country gnome scientists sitting on the couch, but I was reluctant to ask.  I enjoyed their visit. 

Drove yesterday to Phillipsburg to fish with Russ and Robert.Robert is working here on a fire crew and knows the area well. Here we are next to a falls on a forest road.  The fishing was fast and enjoyable on a small creek.    

There were white moths everywhere at the first stream we fishedThe picture doesn't do the actual scene justice.  They were like snowflakes or something mythical.  I half expected a unicorn to step into the clearing.