My husband and I have a deal. He follows me into quilt shops and I let him take a dirt road. We wind up with days like last Saturday that I started describing in my quilt blog. These are days that we get to be uniquely us, days that bring us closer together, days to love.
After our hamburgers at the Avon Family Cafe, we traveled north toward Helmville, a speck of a town with a view of a long valley dominated by cattle and a view of the Swan Range of the Rocky Mountains. Somewhere in that mass of mountains the Continental Divide directs water to different oceans.
The dirt road we followed on Saturday led us out of Helmville to the Northwest, through some of the cattle ranches, with vista views of the Swan Range, intimate glimpses of the Blackfoot River, and a lens on raptors, songbirds, and a sandhill crane.
We’re awed by the diversity of life in a seemingly barren landscape and keep an eye out for potholes, small depressions filled in with water. The variety of life is astounding in these small areas. The typical mallards are here, but a swan drops in and coots scuttle around the edges. Springtime mating colors liven up the multiples of browns that serve as a backdrop and camouflage.
Over the years we’ve been privileged to see many animals and birds. We always laugh about the preponderance of “butts” we see! Sometimes animals just won’t cooperate and give us the front or side view. That was the case with this eagle who was trying to eat dinner on top of an electric pole.
Have you ever taken a back road? What was your experience? Leave a comment.
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