The Great Train Trip-part the Thirty-Seventh

I was going to say it was a glorious Spring day in the Rockies and for a bit it was but now it’s cloudy and windy. I guess that is expected here where weather must hang out- this is the country of extremes. Hot and cold seem to be a suggestion rather than a norm around here. I was also going to say that the tallest things , besides the mountains of course, was the grain elevators but not any longer, now it’s wind turbines and they march across the landscape like machines from Mars. Like in “War of the Worlds!“
Right now the land is benign, signs of planting and low grass growing but we all know come the opposite side of the seasons this is wild and terrible country that takes special people to survive it. Some say on both sides of the international border that the line dividing Canada and the US runs the wrong way. That the farmers and ranchers of both countries have more in common with each other and have the same out look, concerns and realize that neither Ottawa or Washington understands them or their problems. Out here it’s every one for themselves because no one except your neighbor can be of help.
Trees are a luxury, you can go for miles and not see one and then when you do it’s a suggestion of what a tree should be. There are not enough resources to lavish on trees. Maybe in some of the small towns there are a few but that is it, and there are not many of them.
Shelby Montana, short stop for stretch, moving around on solid ground and as one lady said using bathrooms that don’t move. Oh yes, and for those obligatory smokes! This place cannot all be bad since it has a Chinese restaurant! No Cowboys, at least none on the street. But then again if Shelby has Cowboys and this is Tuesday, they would be out wrangling the cows rather than running around in town hoorahing and having a fine old time getting their feathers wet! Now I can say I have not only seen Montana but stepped upon its earth and smelt its air.