Because of the issues with my truck, I wasn't going to be going anywhere for a few days. My buddy Chris Rausch was kind enough to throw me the keys to his truck while he was at work every day, so I could be mobile. On Wednesday, I spent most of my time blogging about Tuesday and driving into Missoula, but Thursday was a photo day for me. Now, anyone who visits here even occasionally knows that I'll sometimes include a photo of my truck. Well, since she's having open heart surgery, I thought I'd include a picture of Chris' truck:
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Chris' Ford F-350 Super Duty.
Because it's Montana, that's why.. |
I'd decided to stay local, more or less. Chris told me about some cool areas to shoot on the other side of the Bitterroot River, so I packed up the gear into the truck and made my way to the east a bit.
Montana's a bit different than other places I've shot, but I suppose that's something I'll experience daily on this trip. There are enough rivers, lakes, creeks and old barns to keep a photographer busy for weeks. If I had to break down anywhere, I'm glad it was here:
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| Montana is called "Big Sky Country" for a reason... |
My first stop was right along the Bitterroot River. Rivers are always good. I stopped at a "fishing access" area to get right up on the water:
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| The Bitterroot River... |
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| A small pond near the Bitterroot River in Florence.. |
I shot for a bit, then climbed back into the truck and continued down the Eastside Highway, which runs parallel to the Bitterroot. This is where the photo ops began to present themselves, and took advantage of them:
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| What's not to like about an old barn? |
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A barn, with the Bitterroot Mountains in the background. Lewis & Clark
described the Bitterroots as the most difficult part of their journey... |
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| An old stable which has clearly seen better days... |
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| A horse giving me the stink-eye... |
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| A stream located within the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge... |
In the town of Stevensville, I found an antique shop which had honest-to-goodness antiques. There was some
really cool stuff at the Creamery Antique Mall:
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| This little Indian motorcycle was sitting outside for only 2,200.00... |
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| This Harley-Davidson Sprint was $5,000.00... |
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| Not sure what this is, but it sure is old... |
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This was a cool little kitchen set, not too unlike the one we had when I was growing up in Hauppauge, New York.
But this one was $1,200.00... |
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These skateboards weren't antiques, but they were pretty cool.
The one on the right was 6' long and was priced at $600.00... |
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| A spare $1,100.00 and this unrestored baby would've been all mine... |
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| Well, this IS Montana... |
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| A cool old license plate collection... |
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| Right out in the middle of nowhere... |
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| I'm pretty sure this used to be a restaurant. And a train... |
After spending the better part of the afternoon shooting, I figured it'd be a good idea to get some food in me, so I made my way back over tho the Bum Steer, where Chris has a fresh batch of pulled pork just waiting for someone to pay attention to it. It was ridiculously good:
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| Fresh pulled pork... |
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| My buddy Chris Rausch on the right, with his son Matt... |
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| The Bum Steer in Florence, Montana... |
And for those wondering, this is where I've spent the last four and a half days. There are worse places to be:
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| The Rausch Estate. An honest to goodness log cabin... |
The day ended well. All I could do was wait for the shop to get the transmission for my truck, and get me on the road.
And that day will be Saturday...
Fantastic....thanks for bringing me to places I'll probably never get to. Safe travels, my friend.
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