Snow on the Mountains

Tonight we are just east of Bozeman, making our way to Billings. We deliver just south of town in the morning and then take the truck to the shop. Because of the holiday weekend, Malcolm told our broker we'll just stay home till Tuesday, seeing as how many places close and we'd chance sitting around out on the road anyway.

I ran across these when I was loading tonight's pictures. This was at Winnemucca, NV about two weeks ago, where we loaded wheat. It was very dry and dusty.

I think with the breakdown, I forgot to post them, so I'll just put them up now.

And please excuse the bug splatter. As I've said before, it's just part of the package this time of year in my photographs.

We won't be dealing with the bug splatters too much longer up here in the northern country. As I was coming across Nevada last night on I-80 the temperature went down as low as 41. I was thrilled. I actually had the floor heater cranked up. Paris was in heaven. She wasted no time re-inhabiting her winter co-pilot seat...in the floor of the passenger side, soaking in the heat.

Today we loaded fertilizer in Conda, ID which is in the southeastern part of the state. Its beautiful out there!

I LOVE that picture!

Despite the beauty of the day, it was kind of touch and go for a while. The truck was VERY out of kilter. We were worried we weren't going to make it.

But even with the truck issues, I couldn't help but enjoy the beautiful fall weather, and being back in the northwest. And as an added treat, the MTDOT re-opened US191 to trucks after having closed it to us for almost two years during construction. This means that we can once again drive up the western edge of Yellowstone! And as luck would have it (for you) Malcolm woke up and took over driving just as I was getting to the really good part! So I was able to take a few pictures.

Its been overcast all evening and up in the mountains the temperature dropped as low as 49. On came the floor heater again and Paris wasted no time claiming her spot.

The western side of the park is where that big fire took place back in the 1980's. It still hasn't even begun to recover! It's clearly evident that there was a bad fire here years ago.

Despite that, its still beautiful! I love driving this road.

 

I kept my eyes peeled for wildlife, but didn't see any. In the winter its common to see tons of elk and deer, and even have to wait for them to get off the road. And we've had to wait on buffalo a time or two as well. I imagine we'll see more of these animals in the weeks to come. Despite the lack of wildlife, I did see one exciting thing. Take a close look...

You might need to click to enlarge the picture and check out that peak. I was working at getting a decent picture of these high mountains for evidence, when we rounded a corner and I found a better specimen.

There is snow on the mountains in Montana!