...to Judith Gap, Montana [mostly photographs]

[Daniel Kalal]

 
Judith Gap is between two mountains in central Montana: the Little Belt  Mountains and the Big Snowy Mountains.  It is the natural north-south  route that has been used for centuries, perhaps most famously by Chief  Joseph and his bands of Nez Perce during the Nez Perce War of 1877.
 
Montana-191 is the highway over the gap; it's a road I've not ever  ridden.  That's my goal for this trip.  The rest of this seemingly  random route was just avoiding rain (as best I could), although I did manage  to hit a few more stretches of roads that were new to me (especially in North  Dakota).
 

 
Kansas
 
Nickerson, Kansas.  It's an unfortunate thing that many of the  small-town cafes in the Great Plains are either going out-of-business, currently  out-of-business, or just opening up for yet another try at it.  I caught  the Sunshine cafe for breakfast on a day that it was open for business.
 
 
 
This is post-rock country.  You don't need much imagination to know how  treeless this area once was.  You want fence posts?  Then, cut them  out of the ground.
 
 
 
I'd be riding in a strong forty mph tailwind that would switch round to a  strong forty mph headwind within just ten miles.  Crazy weather.   Later that night I'd hear that the storm you see (below) contained a few  tornadoes as well as golf ball size hail.  I avoided anything that serious.
 

 
Nebraska
 
This time of year, you've got to expect anything.  It's pretty cold;  in staying in the high thirty degrees all morning.
 

 
Add a little rain...
 

 
I do like the panhandle region of Nebraska.  Except for the map, you'd  figure that you were in Wyoming.  Even the time zone is Wyoming time (not  Omaha time).  I'd even suppose that the locals cheer on the Wyoming Cowboys  over the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
 

 
I'd be leaning over because of the strong side-wind while the clouds are  moving in a different direction.  Strange.
 

 
A little bit of sun is welcome.
 

 
Wyoming
 

 
Lusk, Wyoming water tower (built 1886).  There are not many existing  wood water towers that have not been dismantled.  This one looks in fine  shape.  Evidently, the tank is made from Redwood.
 

 
Keep an eye for Pronghorns.
 

 
 
 
If you've ever ridden through coal-country in West Virginia, you'll wonder  why they even bother when compared to the vast operations in the Wyoming Thunder  Basin.
 
 
 
Montana
 

 

 
Broadus, Montana.  I guess I'm just unlucky, but every time I've been  through Broadus, I've had to ride several miles of road-construction dirt.   No matter; it's smooth enough.   The wait at the light is about thirty  minutes.
 
 
 

 

 
Colstrip, Montana.  This my look like a large operation, but compared to  the Wyoming mines, it's pretty small.
 

 
The tracks into Colstrip don't look much used.  Perhaps most all the  mined coal is consumed by the power station.
 

 
Forsyth, Montana.
 

 
Fine dining (as it says) at the Joseph Cafe.
 
 
 
Vananda school (built 1920).  These remote towns live and die with the  railroad.  The railroad has long pulled up the tracks, so the town is gone  as well.  It's likely that the land didn't turn out to be so bountiful as  was first advertised, either.
 

 
You don't need to worry much about traffic in this part of Montana; but,  you'd best keep your tank filled when you have the opportunity.  The small  towns might have fuel, but you shouldn't count on the station being open.
 

 

 

 
Roundup, Montana.
 

 
Harlowton, Montana.
 

 
   
 
 
 
Harlowton once had a roundhouse and was the center of railroading in this  part of Montana.  I believe the high school team is called the  “engineers.”  But, there are no trains.
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
Morning at the Harlowton cafe.  This is where I'll turn north towards  Judith Gap.
 
 
Looking south to the Beartooth Mountains.  I  don't expect the  self-named pass is open yet.
 

 
That's the Little Belt Mountains (on the left) and the Big Snowy Mountains (on the  right).  This is Judith Gap, straight through the middle.
 

 
Judith Gap, Montana.  There is rail traffic through the gap.
 

 
Lewistown, Montana.
 

 
 
 
Lewistown Cemetery.  My great-grandmother, Antonette (Benda) Kalal was  born in Radětice, Bohemia in 1856.  She emigrated to Chicago and then moved  (with her children) to Roy Montana, which is not far from here.
 

[Daniel Kalal]

It's a large cemetery, and I was not optimistic about finding the marker;  but, I walked right to it within five minutes of starting my search.   John Martin is one of her sons.
 
 
 
Roy, Montana.  It was never large, but it was once much more than this.
 

 
   
 
   
 
'R' is for Roy.
 

 
My grandfather (one of Antonnette's sons) was a founding member of the  American Legion Post of Roy (which was once named for him), but these days  it's just the Legion Bar, without any connection to what it once was.
 
   
 
Looking south towards the last peak of the Snowy Mountains.  Roy is just  to the right (out of the photograph).
 

 
The Missouri River. The water is very high.
 

 
The Little Rocky Mountains, riding north.
 

 
The Bearpaw Mountains.  We're not far from the end of the Nez Perce trek  towards Canada and freedom.  Most would never make it across the border.
 

 
Looking north over the Milk River valley.
 

 
The Bearpaw Battlefield.  The Nez Perce were only forty miles from  Canada, but after so many escapes from the army, they were engaged in a siege  battle that they could not win.
 

 
The map (on a display board) shows their long walk from Oregon,  Washington and Idaho to this spot, just south of Canada.
 
 
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told  me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are  killed; Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all  dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is  dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing  to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no  blankets, no food. No one knows where they are perhaps freezing to death. I  want to have time to look for my children, to see how many I can find. Maybe  I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart  is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more  forever.

-- Hinmatóowyalahtq̓it (Chief Joseph)
 

 
The stone (third photo below) marks where one of the Nez Perce leaders  fell.  You'll see little trinkets and mementos at other such markers  (as is the case at all Indian battlefields I've been to).
 
   
 
This land must be as close to what it once was as could be expected.   The nearest town is Chinook, twenty miles to the north.  The road to the  south soon turns to dirt, so you won't hear any traffic.  All I heard were  the many birds.
 

 
Chinook, Montana.
 

 
The Chinook SugarBeeters.  Are they the “fighting” SugarBeeters?   I don't know that sugar beets are even grown around here, anymore.
 
 
 
   
 
   
 
 
 

 

 
Poplar, Montana.  Following the “highline” and the route of the Milk  River.
 

 

 
Culbertson, Montana.
 

 

 
Fairview, Montana.
 

 
 
 
North Dakota
 
Prairie potholes.  Thousands of them.
 
   
The Prairie Pothole Region is an area of the  northern Great Plains and midgrass and tallgrass prairies that contains  thousands of shallow wetlands known as potholes. These potholes are the  result of glacier activity in the Wisconsin glaciation, which ended about  10,000 years ago. The decaying ice sheet left behind depressions formed by  the uneven deposition of till in ground moraines. These depressions are  called potholes, glacial potholes, kettles, or kettle lakes. They fill with  water in the spring, creating wetlands which range in duration from  temporary to semipermanent.

The region covers an area of about  276,000 sq mi, including parts of three Canadian provinces (Saskatchewan,  Manitoba, and Alberta) and five U.S. states (Minnesota, Iowa, North and  South Dakota, and Montana).

--Wikipedia.org
 
In this satellite photograph, the road I'm on can be seen at the bottom.
 

 
Wing, North Dakota.
 

 
I've just come through this storm, and I'm still wet.
 

 
Linton, North Dakota.
 

 
 
 
Ashley, North Dakota.
 

 
   South Dakota
 
It's our duty.  If we do our bit to move rocks from the field to these  piles, the next generation will have it easier.  And, so forth...
 

 

 
Crossing the Missouri River.
 

 
That's Nebraska over there.
 

 
   Nebraska
 
Verdigre, Nebraska is one of several Bohemian towns from Texas to Montana.
 

 
 
 
I intended to have a kolache (koláč), but the woman behind the counter  said that she only made batches that are sold by the tray.  She said  the town just isn't big enough to support singles--and they're such a lot of  work to make.  So, I'll have this raspberry thing with my coffee.
 
   
 
Elgin, Nebraska.
 

 
Albion, Nebraska.
 

 
Sometimes i wonder if they're even trying to make a profit at these  little cafes.  You get an awful lot of really good food for not much.   The trick is always to ignore the menu and just order whatever is on the  chalk board that day.
 
   
 
Kansas
 

   
Perhaps the weather was not always the best, but for the most part it was  just fine.  It's good to have ridden through Judith Gap.

[oldbike54]

 Very moving Danial , thanks .

 Dusty

[zebraranger]

Great pics, beautiful area of the country. I've never done much riding out west, but have always wanted to. Once I retire, that will be the first on the list of long trips. Right now I'm pretty much restricted to what I can fit in on a weeks vacation.

[kingoffleece]

Again, wonderful.
Thank you.

[Vince in Milwaukee]

Next best thing to actually being there.  Great photos, as usual.  Thanks! 

[twowings]

Wonderful history lesson! So many forgotten or seldom-remembered stories...we're lucky to have you, Daniel...wish you made guided audio tour narrations for listening to while riding...thanks for posting! 

[Guzzistajohn]

Interesting Daniel. Thanks for sharing.

[Muzz]

Thanks Daniel. I found Chief Josephs recitation very thought provoking.

Your great grandmother lived to a ripe old age for those times. No doubt very moving for you.

[Lannis]

Thanks again for the effort it took to stop and take all those pictures.  Very evocative ....

What do you do when you see a storm that likely has bad stuff in it (hail, tornadoes, etc), and there's no shelter in 50 miles, no road going in another direction, and nothing to do but go right under it?

Stop and hunker down?   Keep riding through it? .....

Lannis

[fubar guzzi]

 :bow:I agree with twowings +thank you

[Diploman]

As usual, an insightfully narrated travelog, beautifully photographed, and flavored with pertinent historical, cultural, geological, military, ethnological, architectural, genealogical and culinary observations of places visited.  The Renaissance Traveller.

Merci, Daniel.

[Moto]

Thanks once again! I've ridden through Montana a good deal, and some of those towns. But not up that valley. Your extra effort to share is really appreciated.

Moto

[Daniel Kalal]

What do you do when you...

The answer isn't very clever; it has happened just a few times to me.  But, all you can do is park the bike and then just take it.   I've been grateful to have a helmet and a full Aerostich roadcrafter suit while being pummeled with large hail.  Usually, you can find some sort of shelter, but when there's nothing, and turning around is no better, then you are out of options and there's nothing to be done than to just take it as it comes (keeping off the roadway for the car rivers that can't see  anything, either)


For a contemporary historic context on the Bearpaw battle, I looked up the New York Times for the dates just after the battle.  This editorial is clear enough.  My screen-grab captured the beginning and end of the column:

[Moto]

The complete text of that article gives a full account of the injustice of our government in dealing with the non-treaty Nez Perce. Thanks for the pointer to it. Well worth reading.

The publication date was Nov. 18, 1877.

Moto

[SmithSwede]

Thanks as always.  Now I want to go there.   

[Johncolleary]

Awesome!!
Thanks

[leroysch]

Thank you for taking the time/effort to post the pics and the narrative. Next to actually being on the road, it was a nice escape....

[Devildog]

I love your travel pics and commentary, especially on the roads less traveled. Well done.

[Spuddy]

A genuine and heartfelt thank you, Daniel. We appreciate the time and effort of documenting your trails with us and explaining the context of those journeys.

Spud 

[Ncdan]

Thanks a bunch for the great pictures as itbthgs on my heart. I was out there 4 years ago with my wife and two good friends. It�s the most beautiful landscape I�ve ever seen in my life. I hope I get to go back some day.

[Roebling3]

Beautifully done. Your mind sharing the past in pictures for us all to remember.
A land more at peace with itself. Will we ever learn anything from history?
Thank you for being so generous, Daniel.  Good fortune,  R3~ 

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Daniel, as always.. Great thread, thank you for the effort to record & relay your trips.

I do think the Hutterite colonies are still producing sugarbeets up in that neck of the woods.. they grow all sorts of commodity crops on an incredible scale

I was so sad to see the far point of your travels took you so tantalizingly close to my two very most favorite Montana sites!!! AHHHH

Please promise that if you revisit that area, you will look for the Ulm Pishkun Buffalo Jump (First People's Buffalo Jump State Park) AND one of the most amazing things I've ever seen... the Shonkin Sag, an ancient dry waterfall surrounded by incredible rock formations

Both are quintessential Montana places, beautiful, uncrowded, and are ancient beautiful history sitting unassumingly by the roadside.

Ulm Pishkun



Shonkin Sag

[Numbercruncher]

Nice to see a great trip report from a place not often reported on.  I love Alaska ADV trips but most have pictures of the exact same sights.  Your trip was a breath of fresh air.  Maybe larger photos next time . . .

NC

[Mike Crenshaw]

Another great photo journey; I love the way you entwine the history into your commentary.  But a question I've pondered for some time is what model Guzzi are you riding? I can never get a clear view of the bike (not that the bike is the star of the show, but a great means to an end).

[Daniel Kalal]

But a question I've pondered for some time is what model Guzzi are you riding?

2013 NTX Stelvio

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thanks again, Daniel. I nominate this as the best of another good lot of pictures..