Heading East

The point of today was to get close to North Dakota; the closest I could get (and not sleep in the car) was Miles City, about 100 miles west of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, tomorrow's first destination.

At Adam's suggestion, I took a relatively rural two-lane highway, US 12, to go see the Bair Family Museum -- past White Sulphur Springs and just beyond Checkerboard (really). The Bair family made its money during the gold rush when the patriarch sold a lot of ground-thawing devices to prospectors heading to Alaska. Then he took the profits to buy 56,000 acres and raise sheep (300,000 at one point) and to invest in oil and mining.

Charles Bair was friends with, among others, Charles M. Russell and Joseph Sharp (Western artists), Edward Curtis (Western photographer), and many of their paintings and photographs as well as letters and cards are displayed in the museum. Chief Plenty Coups (Crow Indian leader) was a good friend.

The family home is also open for tours and filled with interesting European and American furnishings from the early 20th century as well as a number of signed photographs, including every President from Hoover to Kennedy.

It's definitely worth seeing the Bair Family Museum, but the wise driver will then hightail it to the nearest big highway, not decide to go overland on route 12 to Miles City. Just one year ago this week (who knew?), much of route 12 was closed because of extreme flooding. This year, cleanup. There were four separate instances today when I had to wait for a pilot car to lead me and others through the road construction. The last 20 miles I drove were on gravel. I have to give Montana credit for doing a huge job of repairing and widening about 50 miles all at once, but it doesn't make for a relaxing drive.

I took this photo about 60 miles outside Helena to demonstrate what Big Sky means. You can see forever.

The energy boom in North Dakota has affected eastern Montana in a couple of ways. Montana is doing its own exploration for oil and natural gas, and from the number of trainloads of coal I saw today it's also a center for coal mining. But North Dakota is on a different level. I've been warned not to expect to stay overnight there because all the available rooms are occupied by oil and gas workers. One person staying here in Miles City is commuting 360 miles a day to and from his job in North Dakota.

So tomorrow will be goodby to Montana, hello and goodby to North Dakota, and hello to Custer National Forest in South Dakota. Checking off two of those five states not visited before. Looking forward to it.