Labor day? How can that be?

Summer’s toast.  While I hate the heat, I do enjoy the laid back season. Traffic is lighter (altho it’s not a huge problem any time of the year), I love grilling fresh veggies and chicken. Sitting outside reading the paper and watching my ducks is truly my favorite place/thing to do.

I’ve written a ton of blogs in my head after each adventure or life issue. I don’t know what it is that keeps me from putting it on paper. (e-paper that is). I guess I’ve always been a person who seems gregarious and talkative but keeps most inner thoughts and pain guarded. Or maybe I’m just a plain-assed busy woman.

But, enough of that.

My hubby and I weren’t able to go to Sturgis bike rally this year, so we took a trip to Fort Peck Montana. I’ve wanted to do this trip for years and the perfect opportunity came up.  Fort Peck is a tiny little town a step away from the Canadian border and just this side of Nort Dakota.  (about 300 miles altho we did discover a small shortcut).  the town hosts a live theater and produce about 5 shows a year. The cast is professionals that come from all over the country.  The play we saw was “Jesus Christ Superstar” and it was suberb (but I get ahead of myself)

We intended to be on the road by 6:30 in order to get to FP before the worst of the heat, it was forcast to be in the 90s.  So, we leathered up and threw the travel bag on the fender and headed out. Only to go nowhere.  Something was wrong with the clutch and the bike was not going anywhere.  Now, I never panic about the bike–in the 20+ years we’ve been riding, I’ve seen my hubby take apart and repair every piece of that mean machine.  Yup, we’ve been at the side of the road, but in all honesty, someone always helps. We’ve never been stranded for long. Usually hubby is able to fix whatever the problem is, so believe me when I say I wasn’t worried.

I took the dog for a walk as hubby pushed the bike back into the garage. By the time I got back, he was idleing in the driveway.  I patted the dog and hopped on. I felt great! We discovered later that because we had been delayed 40 mins we missed a drenching rain storm!  How nice.  We rode in the clean fresh post-rain smell. Yum. That and pine trees are my favorite.

We stopped at a small cafe in Grass Range and had breakfast. It tasted wonderful as I was really hungry from my walk.  I rarely get hungry just riding ’cause it isn’t much exercise to just hang on and sit tight.  Those crispy hashbrowns were fabulous, plus the waitress and patrons were nice and chatty. I love listening to old farmers talk.  They all have the same old B.S. and hearty laughter. Guess that just my Iowa roots showing.

It was pleasant to discover a new rest stop about 1/2 way.  We had a butt-break and read the historical signs and stretched our legs a little.  Eastern Montana to me has it’s own beauty. It doesn’t have the grandeur of the Rockies of course, but it has the rolling hay fields with big round bales as far as you can see. The landscape is part badland, part sculpture. We crossed the Missouri Breaks for the last 50 miles and they are just amazing in their design and colors. One outcropping looked just like a row of HUGE piano keys. Couldn’t tell what note was being played, but it was beautiful. Oh and I saw a big gray wolf –way cool.

Fort Peck dam. Cool. The world’s largest man-made dirt filled dam. It’s huge.  It’s so big and long that you don’t even realize you are crossing the dam-it just seems like part of the road. and Ft. Peck lake, oh my. It’s breathtaking. It’s huge and so aqua.

We stayed at FP Hotel. I love this hotel. It’s old-1933 and it’s real wood and no fuss. We got the theatre package. $135 for room, dinner and tickets for 2.  I had requested a room with ac and that was smart!  The rooms on the 2nd floor either don’t have a bathroom or share one and some don’t have ac.  When it’s 95, I need AC.  The rooms have no TV, phone or radio.  (We had to make our own entertainment-no problemo).   Later, we sat on the front porch in a rocker with our Jack & pepsi.  Sublime.

The dining room has a very impressive menu. We could order anything we wanted. I had the walleye with twice baked potato and garlic toast. Hubby had 16 oz ribeye.  We both had brownie/ice cream for dessert. (Did I mention that we eat a lot on the bike trips?)  We opted to walk the 4 blocks to the theatre. (yay for us).

The show was just outstanding. I had never seen any version of JCS even though it was a big deal in the 70s. I had heard some of the music and knew it was about Jesus (Duh), but other than that I had no expectations. Hubby had seen all versions and couldn’t wait.  He was drug to the movie while a catholic school boy so it surprised me that he had a positive attitude about the show.

What struck me the most about the show was how it portrayed the human side of Jesus. Something rarely seen in the bible stories. He’s never shown to have typical feelings of doubt or impatience or even fear. It made me love Him even more than I already do.

Our ride home was just as fun as the ride up. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and this trip was noted as a definite “do again”.

Hope your summer vacation was as notable.

Peace and love, Annimal