It's one of THOSE things.....

 ....that you just have to want to do . They're usually not for everybody and quite often you end up wondering why you're doing what you're doing...know what I mean ? Well,  Wisdom Montana is one of those things. You don't get there by accident and you know you've been there if the front of your ride looks like this.

I thought I knew Mosquito's , after all if you spend a lifetime in Alaska you get used to them...But, these guys are little stealthy no swatter S.O.B.s that seem to thrive on deet . And on the morning when the temp was a cool 42 degrees the seem like it and start their day as early as we do....Then there's Ticks....my god, I'd rather deal with a brown near than a wood tick . I felt something crawling across my thigh and looked down to see the weirdest , scratchiest bug I've ever seen / felt . I hit the brakes and swerved to a stop so I could grab him get him out of the car, he tried to burrow into my hand....ah jeez Louise, so much for my machismo.

So you go through that and some of the most remote and gorgeous country on the planet just so you can do an 8:00 a.m. soak in the soothing waters of Jackson Hot Springs and take silly pictures like this early morning O face.

  

And of course we absolutely love this place , The Lodge at Jackson Hot Springs is perfect. They have a bit of an unusual business model and I like that knowing that people like us enjoyed the freedom of running your own business any old way you'd like. The cabins are spartan, no TV, no internet and no Gidiens bible in the drawer but they're clean and comfortable . Of course the business strategy is to get you into the Lodge and drop some lettuce which is just fine with me. The staff is Chuckly, the food is fantastic, my running buddy who is the consummate carnivore had Prime Rib that fed her for 2 days . I miss my fish so I had that with about the most perfectly cooked crunchy french fries I've ever had.

Like every morning we did our walk . Grave yard with plenty of space left on one side of town and a steaming hot creek on the other side of town where when Lewis Clark found it rather than taking a bath they cooked their meat. Feel free to walk down the middle of the road when you get there, it feels great to kinda stretch the normals in our lives sometimes.

So we drive through town to see how our people live. We had noticed a sign on the road for a Mexican restaurant which I'm sure the people of Wisdom were happy to see land in their little town and we found it in a garage....perfect on those warm summer evenings you can role the door open and watch the stunning landscape and ...oooops... I forgot about the bugs....bad idea Jeff.

So we followed the Big Hole River downstream to almost Butte . It's a gorgeous river that is troubled by growth, like everywhere I guess. Water draw down for irrigation - algae growth - diminishing fish counts - and too many @#$%! guides to name a few of the problems. so having been through a bit of that kinda thing we stopped at one of the  many access points and did a video of a new song....Now don't start thinking that I'm Joe cause I'm not...but like everything I've done in my life I'm learning from the folks that do things well, like Joe .

Hope you're all enjoying the Blog, Mile 14 . I know it's kind of evolved into a personal journal . I toyed with the idea of redoing my title page and making the blog more relevant...then the left side of my brain took over and said...nah,,,,all that is what got ya to where ya are and some things ya just gotta wanna do so just let it flow Jeff, let it flow .

50 years !

 That's how long it took me to get here.

That would be the Sleeping Giant you see in the Beartooth mountains that are part of the Rockies that surround this gorgeous part of the planet earth. Everyone that's ever been to Helena Mt. would tell you the Giant is the centerpiece of this setting. 

The Beartooth Ranch is 1,000 acres that includes the Giant and has been in the Synness family for going on 200 years. So for 50 years we've heard about the Giant from people in town and of course my friend for life Curt Synness who as life goes is now the gatekeeper of the families ranch. Curt had a young couple contact him for permission to climb the mountain to celebrate a birthday and called to see if me and MPeasy would like to come along as he guided them to the trail head....

It was threatening rain and blowing 15 to 20 knots I'd guess when we met Nate and Camy  at the first of several gates. A couple were barb wire posts gates and a couple were these ingenious counterweighted swinging gate like this one Curt is opening.

We gained serious elevation as we crossed from ranch to ranch and finally pulled up to a beautiful meadow surrounded by the original cabins and the shadow of the giant. Here's a pic of the crew . Curt on the left.

Curt gave the 4 of us a cool history lesson of his grandparents and great grandparents. The history of the homestead and the hardships and joys that all went together through the years . We then walked a mile or so up to the marked trailhead that would take the young people to the nose, us ahhhh.....older folks... decided we'd just kinda call that part of the hike good enough.....here's the crew and Camy on the nose eating her birthday cake....well played mam.

That would be the Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri river below pretty much in the area of Mann Gulch which is Famous for the smoke jumper tragedy years ago, this stretch of river is the prettiest place to boat that I've ever experienced, discovered and named by Lewis and Clark of course. You can see the elevation and with the wind howling and scattered rain and hail Nate and Camy summited the nose AND the chest of the Giant in 6 and 1/2 hours....And us, well we beat feet over to Curt's cabin for a civilized viewing of the wide expanses of Montana. 

They got that board nailed from the front deck out to tree they topped with about a forty foot drop down. That's about as far as I wanted to go out on it...guess I'm finally run out of stupid .

If I were one of these guys, this is the place I'd be.

and my favorite sign of the day was this one....you know how I love signs.

So,a very special day for me and MPeasy. A special day for our enduring friendship, so thanks Curt. and speaking of friendships have a lookie see at that counter. When I started Mile 14 I thought my first 10,000 reads were impressive and I was humbled and excited for that....well, here we are at 1/2 a million....that's a lot of smiles....THANK YOU to all my friends....How's about a song ?

Keep an eye out for a new Mile 14, I got a really cool song that's coming next.

Mining

 ' I've been to Hollywood, I've been to Redwood, 

I've been a Miner for a Heart of Gold '.....sorry Neil....

Yup, I've mined for songs, fish , of course $$$ and always new stuff, things we haven't seen or done . And that's how we ended up in Walkerville Montana. I guess you could call it a part of Butte or maybe even the Father of Butte but's just a cool history laden place.

The sign itself just a short drive up a steep hill from downtown Butte is unique. The sign looks to weigh a ton being made of 1 inch plate and looks to be hand cut with a an acetylene torch by hands that know work. I got the feeling  nothing's ever been easy for these mine people, ever .

Having spent 45 years in Soldotna Alaska where the history is rooted in Russian fur traders and Kenaitze Indians the industrial History of Montana is fascinating to me. As for modern History, we were fortunate enough to buy one of the first 'nice ' homes in the city and it's only 65 years old now....well around these parts that was a day ago.  These places all date back at least a hundred years. some 150 years. And it's all still standing, hanging on, bearing witness to the past in the town of Walkerville. The first thing you notice and can't miss are the Draw Works that serviced the shaft mines. They're imposing and there's many . I asked a Butte guy if they aren't being used why'd they still have them all standing ? He said it was to hold up the Christmas lights.

 

The vibe is kinda ghostly. Most of the houses are full but the storefronts are waiting for revitalization which seems to be a common theme with industrial towns. Where the industry was once finding valuables it's now real estate and reclaiming the land. This pit is huge and has grass growing , overlooks  what they call Butte America.

I really like the idea of possibilities and I think the people in Walkerville do to. They're putting together an effort for a new grocery store, The church is gorgeous and check out the house right next door. If that doesn't show the the human spirit at work, well, I don't know what would.

It feels lonely to me, the liquor store is first , the second is who knows...maybe it's been several things. A store, a bar which I'd give the over under to or maybe a daycare or doctors office. I don't know but all of them are possibilities for new era Miner.

The one that seemed the strangest to me was the school. It looks like the bell rang and the kids and the teachers just left it the way it was and left. Maybe the desks are still set up, one maybe in the hall for that kid who was like I was....

Just drive uphill almost anywhere in Butte and I'd guess you'd get to Walkerville. It's worth the drive. Me and Mp are going to be checking on those folks. I'm impressed with them and their town.

The month of April here at Mile 14 southern bureau was long and cold...I know my Alaska friends eyes just rolled on that one. Maybe it's just me,  being a bit older might make ya cold, I don't know . But I get up at 0 dark thirty and mine me a few fish. I usually get the lake to myself for first light and 45 minutes or so then I share it with bird watchers and an occasional fish rat like myself.

People who know me know that I'm not real fond of Park Rangers . They act like it's their park and not 'our' park and they seem to assume that everybody's out to ruin their park or especially make them work . Just imagine how I'd feel if I were one of these out of staters they're always griping about.

New song coming soon ! And I'll tell ya about our hunt for the coolest new project of ours.....Montana Megaliths...are they built or are they not, are they random rocks or built to portray something we don't understand yet ?....and they're all over the place right here. Montana 

Arod Lakes ?

 That's the best part of the story but it all starts with our usual ' go find the coldest most uncomfortable place in our part of Montana ' and go there for sun up to see the scenes. They don't call it Freeze Out Lake for nothing. And this year we hit it on the best date yet with 50,000 birds which is not really a lot but because of the unusual dry spell and low water Lakes all the birds were in one place,,,,our place. 

The beautiful alpenglow at sunrise . The birds are all on the distant lake but are so loud they seem closer. Some lift off and others don't. When they do fly some go northeast some southwest, there's a certain mystery to it all. As I fiddled to get one more jacket on a group of a thousand or so surprised us by flying directly over us. You could feel and hear their wings.

So, the coffee  gets cold, the birds are off to the fields to eat . MP and I are out for our first ever edition of back roads of Montana. The night before as were eating steak and burgers at John Henry's in Choteau Montana we chatted locals up who were full of advice being obvious to them we were visitors. This wonderfully humorous woman who had 20 years in Choteau told us all the low water was a real problem for the birders and the she told us of Arod Lakes Migratory bird preserve which was 'only' 30 miles away and being smaller but deeper was chock full of birds.....But...what she didn't tell us was this.

Arod Lakes is smack dab in the middle of page 49 of our All Roads of Montana atlas.These farm roads must all be on section lines as they're everywhere, wash board and NO people. In 30 miles of it we came across 0ne truck. You kinda zig zag your way to where you're going. We started out on road # 21 and ended up on road # 29....One good thing is that with this dry land extensive farming there is little terrain to be in the way and we had cell service the entire way which was good because without Google maps at work for us I'd have been a bit nervous....we'd pull up to one of the many intersections , it was only funny once when I asked MP if the road was clear her way. 

So we arrive.  There's nobody there. Nobody around . No farms in sight . We felt like we were the only ones that had ever been there except maybe for the guy who shot up the place. We found a vault toilet on the far side of the lake with a one lane muddy road to it that was on top of a worn our earthen damn that looked to be falling apart...MP reminded me that the car is a S.U.V. after all.....the lake area and a view on down the road.

I wasn't looking forward to returning the way we had come, my kidneys couldn't handle it. So we went into executive session and decided to ask Google to take us to Conrad instead of Choteau and Walla it came back with directions and only 15 miles of gravel....and along the way we saw the most interesting things...A pheasant ran across in front of us with his head down like pheasants do and low and behold the next farm we came to said 'Running Pheasant Ranch. And one of his neighbors was spreading the word.

We saw antelope before we even left home. The thousands of Geese and Swans . Then we heard and saw Sandhill cranes jillions of ducks. We quit counting the deer but we easily saw 2 to 300.

So, our first post Mexico adventure is in the books and Montana adventures await. They're kinda funny in this State. they don't like new people and they talk of ' Montana values ' I'm still chewing on that one and I'll let you know when I decide what that means . But if anybody ever grinds me about being new here I'm gonna tell em two things...my parents are buried at Fort Harrison Veterans Cemetery and I've been to Arod Lakes..." have you" ? 

New song to arrive soooooooon.

I Got Mexico

 

Well. Mexico has certainly been in the news lately and anymore news comes in all varieties. News used to mean exactly that,  it's 'new'....current, now, had not happened before. So good luck finding that if it's what you want or if you need interpretations and opinions and graphic pics that could or could not be real just Google Mexico news and off ya go. But if you want to go to the why's you've come to the right place from a guy with a musicians communication, a young mans heart and an old mans sense and of course an uncharted course.

Because of the importance of this blog post I 'm starting with a song instead of ending with a song like I normally do. Of this song Eddy Raven wrote when I was just a kid is really a song about two people and a place for me its a story of love really, for me it's a threesome, me , MP and Mexico....

While our friends and family N.O.B. ( north of the border ) have had record cold and snow, wind storms and floods we've had rain one day in 4 months. But boy did it ever rain. Well it stopped like we knew it would and Walla... a new sunset . I used to name them so this one could be the ' the sky window ' . Good from bad, a day stuck inside to an evening on a crowded terrace with friends and a ' sky window '.

As I'm power walking my way towards a smaller body one morning a guy who I've never met stops me and pointing to the sky says ' what do ya make of that '. I was speechless for a bit . I kinda had a sense  I was getting farmed for chem trail discussion or maybe even the old cloud seeding deal . But what I noticed wasn't the trails as much as the change of directions when I said ' maybe they changed their minds or forgot something '.  Bet I was closer to the truth than he was .

Our area has grown so much and generally people hate that. I don't know if it's the change of if maybe the 'old days ' really weren't all that good, I expect the later is true . We used to have to go into town for everything just like we used to go into to Kenai from Soldotna for 'everything '. But now we've got little tiendas to get your tamales and Barria.  We've got Pharmacies, lots of them.  We have the friendliest Oxxo store in Mexico where you can pay your utility bills, buy eggs and of course mucho frio Pacifico's. We love Oxxo. And with progress gave us our 3 mile long bike path that leads directly to the Coco's Fruteria with the the freshest of everything. The fresh coconut water is so good I can't describe it and the Star fruit is....well...I love the look.

Right about the time I wake up from my 'yoga nap ' on the terrace I watch these guys commute from work. They laugh a lot . They are pneumaticos as they use the inner tube to float the oysters . They paddle out return in a couple hours or so with at least 100 pounds of oysters a person.  I'm pretty sure everybody's gotta work in this big world, some of us found the cool others make and create the cool . This job , this job has gotta be way more difficult and stressful than it looks and ya know I've learned that looks are deceptive....people that are good at things make it look easy. Did I mention they laugh a lot ?  

We found the Marino Museum which celebrates Mazatlan's 350 year old history. Marino is a brand of coffee here and I ain't mentioning no names but somebody I'm in love with thought it would be the Coffee museum....which of course would have been cool as well...The building is the old naval fort where the French lost the battle for Mazatlan years ago. 

Us and Bill and Sharon Radke in front of the flying dolphins.

I saw some graffiti one time that said ' graffiti saved my life '. This is on a beautiful but derelict ocean front building that like the newly refurbished museum must have some real history but for now being a billboard is OK with me. Now some might think it's tacky, maybe even property damage . But, to me it says welcome to Mazatlan, no questions asked....and we love ya right back Mazatlan.