On The Road w/ KC ~ August 6 - ?

[kcowyo]

Greetings from Missoula, Montana!

Due some recent choices that I've made and some choices that were made for me, I have decided to take a sabbatical of sorts and hit the road for awhile. I have no definite plans or timeframe, just the notion to go and see some new areas, places and faces.

While most expeditions will be well planned in advance with a defined goal in mind, my trip has had to be quickly realized or lost and my only real goal is to make the most of the experience. Time will truly tell what this journey is about and what I take from it.

I believe it's a responsibility to share a blessing and since this clearly is a blessing, I want to share some of my impressions and experiences with people here who enjoy the simple pleasures the road offers. I hope you all enjoy what is to follow and I hope I'll be able to update fairly often. The internet has made a small world even smaller.


OK - First week

• Left my home in Lander, WY on Sunday August 6th
• Raced through Yellowstone National Park with the speed and disrespect usually reserved only for the 2AM Booty Call
• Passed two cute hitchhikers and was miles down the road before I realized what I had (hadn't) done....
• Visited Ennis, Montana where they made the Steven Segal movie, "The Patriot." The town is much cooler than the movie
• Montana means one thing to me - rivers. Best campsite of the week, on the historic Madison River in SW Montana
• Drove hundreds of miles over SW MT trails and backroads around Ennis, Dillion, Wisdom and the Painted Rocks Resevoir
• Randomly met up with the owner of a small website for Four Wheel Camper owners, (WanderTheWest.com) on a brief trip into Idaho near the Salmon River. I visit his board and have communicated with him but we had no plans to meet up on this trip. Two FWC geeks chatting on the side of the road for half an hour, too funny
• Lots of spooky burned areas in SW MT, and some rain that tried to catch me but hasn't yet
• Spotted wildlife includes 3 Golden Eagles, 2 baby Bighorn Sheep in the road, several cow elk and deer and perhaps a peacock, I'm still trying to verify that one.

More to follow. Pics of where I've been so far -

 

[Ursidae69]

You are living the dream dood, living the dream! :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

 

[flywgn]

Keep up the 'updates', kc, and don't forget that we now live a stone's throw from Hwy 93.

Ever since riding with SS (when he was married to Kelly) we've avoided ALL of his movies. Having fished the Madison a bunch of times, we know Ennis.

We know the Madison even better. There are several good camping spots right on the River. If you're heading north, there are also good places on the Clark Fork and the Blackfoot.

Have a great time!....and 'we'll leave a light on for ya'

Allen

 

[seth_js]

Hell fawk'n yeah man! That's so **************. I'm so jealous. Please keep the updates and pictures coming.

[*]Raced through Yellowstone National Park with the speed and disrespect usually reserved only for the 2AM Booty Call
[*]Passed two cute hitchhikers and was miles down the road before I realized what I had (hadn't) done....

:xxrotflma

 

[bigreen505]

K.C.,

Thanks for sharing your journey with us, may spirit be your guide.:wavey: :sombrero:

Oh, and this is one hell of a great picture!

 

[Scott Brady]

The sun rays are awesome. That is my most favorite of natural occurrences. Very spiritual...

Thanks so much for the updates amigo!

 

[18seeds]

I want to live your life. My first step is to subscribe to this thread.

 

[datrupr]

KC, that is too cool man. I love reading your posts, and now I have a new one to subscribe to. Keep us posted with your great travel tales and awesome photographs.

 

[oly884]

KC, beautyful pics!

Glad to see you're enjoying MT as much as I do. My camper gets here on the 30th WOOO, so labor day weekend I'm heading out and about!

 

[blupaddler]

KC.

Beautiful photos (I may have to "borrow" one with your permission)
Wonderful stories
Awesome journey

 

[Nullifier]

Nice KC!! wish I was there too.

 

[kcowyo]

KC, that is too cool man. I love reading your posts, and now I have a new one to subscribe to. Keep us posted with your great travel tales and awesome photographs.

You should probably be here with me. I have room and we could compare notes.....:friday:


Thanks everyone for the compliments so far. Sorry Nullifier that you had to abort the mission. I know you've been looking forward to it and working for it for so long. Would've been nice to catch up.

Robb feel free to grab any pics you like, that's why I put 'em up. Wouldn't be right to be having all of this fun without sharing.

 

[kcowyo]

Greetings from West Glacier, Montana!

A couple of things to briefly mention for clarification. While the majority of this trip has no set itinerary or schedule, I did have two places in particular that I wanted to visit, Glacier National Park in NW Montana and the central Idaho area. I'm heading to GNP because my previous attempts to see the park in the fall were snowed out. I'm hoping by going in the summer, the weather will work with me even if I have to battle the crowds.

I had alloted a week to make the ten hour trip from my home to GNP via the many backroads that straddle the MT & ID border and it actually has taken 8 days. I stalled at the beautiful Hungry Horse Resevoir, just outside GNP over the weekend hoping the crowds would be less during the week. We'll find out tomorrow if it was worth it. The backroads through Rock Creek near Missoula, Seely Lake and the Flathead Indian Reservation and into the famous Bob Marshall Wilderness have been tremendous and easy to navigate with only maps and a decent sense of direction. The next several days should be spent in and around GNP, with pics and impressions to follow.

And regarding the title to this thread, if it seems familiar, good. I have blatantly ripped it off from my favorite travelling storyteller and fellow NC native, the late Charles Kuralt. It would be impossible and overly sentimental (like MarkF'nStephens overly sentimental) to convey how much I, as a child of the pre-cable era, enjoyed Kuralt's stories from the road. What a great set of pipes too. It is also a tribute to Kuralt, as he often proclaimed Montana his favorite state and a natural treasure. Maybe that's just because it's where he stashed his secret mistress all those years.

More impressions from the road.....

Part II -

• Spent Friday, 8/11 in Missoula, MT with a friend at a downtown food, music and microbrew festival. Multiple Double Whiskey Sours make for a poor nightcap following a day of sampling Micro Brews....
• Spent Saturday 8/12 swearing off Double Whiskey Sours
• It's hard to imagine any devout athiests living in Montana. If there are, surely they must have several doubts about their beliefs when they look at the mountains and rivers around them
• Had to deal with several dead trees fallen across the trail. Many of the areas I've passed through have burned in recent years. Strong winds earlier this week felled many and I've been first to come across many of them
• The Hungry Horse Resevoir, located directly south of the west gate to GNP is as beautiful a lake as I've seen. I spent 2 days driving the entire 100 mile loop around the lake. The second day I travelled only 40 total miles before finding another campsite that I couldn't refuse. I even took a super quick dip in its emerald waters
• If I put a dollar in a swear jar everytime I said "Dammit!" after hitting a pothole on the 100 mile loop around the HHR, by the end of the loop I'd have had enough money to pay to pave the whole thing. Dammit!
• The truck and camper are performing very well. I have 3 screws in the camper that shake loose after time on washboard roads. I have far more loose screws in my own head, so I tend not to worry about these too much
• You could make a lot of money in Montana, if you sold Subaru Outback Wagons or fly fishing vests
• Sometimes the map is right, the locals are right but the darn trail is closed anyway. I came across a few locked gates this weekend and no GPS, Supercharger, or Fridge can overcome that
• MarkF'nStephens is right. Moosedrool is a fine local brew to sip on the riverbanks. Wish I could figure out how to send him some
• XM Radio subscribers take note - channel 27 is called Cinemagic, featuring the orchestral pieces of some great movies. I listened for hours one afternoon to the music of Legends of the Fall, Field of Dreams, Forrest Gump, Dances with Wolves and A River Runs Through It. Really made for excellent driving music. The anxious music of War of the Worlds, really added to an afternoon's frantic search for fuel
• For nearly 20 years I have completely avoided hot dogs. Can't and won't eat them, no matter what. For some inexplicable reason over the last week, I have been craving corn dogs. Everytime I stop to fuel up and they have a little heated display cabinet on the counter, loaded with burritos, churros, etc. I have been compelled to buy two corn dogs. I bet I've eaten a dozen of them in the last few days.....?
• I should've gotten a fridge before this trip
• You can't win an argument with someone when they are not around and it's only in your head. Willie says, ".... and I know just what I'd change if went back in time somehow, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. I'm forgiving everything that forgiveness will allow and there's nothing I can do about it now."
• Trust in Willie

More pics of things I've seen -

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Your photos are always awesome, KC!

 

[BajaTaco]

Subscribed to this thread.

This last post of yours definitely got some audible laughs here K.C. it's hard to express stuff in words sometimes... but you are doing a fine job.:bowdown:

And this... I'm speechless...