Not so much a trip report as a weather report.
There’s weather approaching from the northwest (hello canada, hello snow) and I’m heading, um, northwest. Somewhere the snow and I are going to meet. I was just hoping to pick the spot.
I chose Billings, MT.
So off I went.
I did stop in Malta, briefly. There was a classic rail depot that’s still in use.
![dsc_3659 passenger rail service lives on](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dsc_3659-400x229.jpg)
And of course the grain elevator.
![maltaelev i haven't deciphered the sign yet](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/maltaelev-400x265.jpg)
It started raining about then. Nasty, cold, Seattle in November rain. Long straight roads with few other vehicles. Kind of a zen thing — I go up the rise, I go down the rise, I go straight across the valley, I go up the rise, I go down the rise…
At one point I looked up in the sky and saw a helicopter. A big helicopter. It was green and gold and it was flying low. WTF. Not state police and not life flight. No TV logos. Just big, and looking like it wanted a place to land. Really lousy weather to be flying in.
This is what the sky looked like. When it wasn’t raining.
![lowclouds low clearance ahead](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/lowclouds-400x125.jpg)
At Billings I stopped and called home for recon help. It looked likely that I could make Livingstone before it started to snow/get dark. Jim sweetly made me a hotel reservation. I grabbed a starbucks and headed west again.
About 10 miles outside of Livingston the rain turned to snow.
![snowing yup, snow in june](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/snowing-400x266.jpg)
Even the locals are a bit nonplussed.
OTOH My life isn’t as bad as the guy I just met in hotel hallway. Remember what I said about a big green and gold helicopter? They just bought it and are trying to fly it to the coast. Maybe they should rent a truck?
Random Stuff:
If wishes were wings I could fly to the moon.
The music to day was unremarkable. Except, maybe, a couple of Patsy Cline tunes.
Today’s Route:
View It’s a Big Dam Country — Day 24 in a larger map
Lovely to have spouses find advance hotel reservations, isn’t it? Is snow in June really that unusual in Montana? FWIW, it’s cool and damp here today, too. 🙂