13 Hours on 2 West

Yesterday I was lost in Montana.  OK, I wasn't lost, I was on 2 West.  It was one of those truly rare days when I actually had a destination.  I even had a reservation!  See, I've never been to Glacier National Park, and it is Labor Day Weekend and all...... well you get the idea.

I had never been on 2 West - so that was the plan.  It would take me all the way to Polson, MT where I had decided to stay.  I figured it would be about an 8 hour drive.  Nice easy day.  Wrong (but great!).  It was a terrific road or maybe I was just a shoot 'em up.  What ever it was - it took me 13 hours to get here which means maybe 4 or 5 hours shooting.  Believe me - that's a ton for the kind of nowhere specific area we're talking about.

First - here's a funny story.....  You gotta understand that I hadn't seen any wildlife worth mentioning on this whole trip so far.  I also miss the dog so I was totally fur-deprived.  About 9 in the morning I passed a sign about wildlife viewing area.  That usually means birds so I passed on it.  A mile or so later way off to the right I saw what looked like a huge herd of Pronghorn Antelope.  I took the first thing that sort of resembled a road to the right that I could find.  Trust me - if the farmer who owned that field had seen me he would have shot me. 

As I flew through the fields I wondered when I had last seen my long lens and tried to remember if it was set on stabilization or not.  I salivated over the great herd shots I was going to get, I could taste the excitement of the shoot.  Then I got there.  Yeah - you know what's coming.  It was another field of &^%$&^* hay bails.  The light was reflecting off the back of them and they were on angle and aw hell - they were hay bails!!!!

OK, stop laughing and check out this shot.  I think it might be my favorite so far.  I found it right after the great pronghorn fiasco.

That was the beginning of one of the best shooting days outside of a specific place or event that I've ever had.

Here are a couple more:

There were a bunch more - but these were may favorites.  I even managed a sunset!

It was a long but great day.

Oh yeah - and today, because I was so tired and didn't want to chance crouds, I took it easy and just went for a short ride near here.  Look what I found!!

And she had a friend!

Sometimes life is just good.