So...why do I stay in Montana, now that I'm retired?

Or, you might ask, as old Ohio associates do...what's it like out here?

This vid is 30 minutes of a rail-buff filming.  Yeah, boring to most people.  Including me.  It's always boring, a superficial review of what you dealt with for years.

But the spots, and the rail line...are all what I worked.  This was the line that runs from Helena through Missoula, to Sandpoint and then into Spokane.  The video guy focused on Missoula through Thompson Falls.

What he saw, I saw every day at work.  Look, not at the train, but at the river (Clark Fork) and the mountains, and the prairie interspaced with timber stands.

Honestly...were it not for the cold wet of winter, and my own age-related health issues, there's no place I'd rather be.  Maybe the Adirondacks, if New York weren't going completely insane...but I'm suited here.

Gorgeous.

How very pleasant.

Absolutely stunning. Nature in all her glory.

It is that.

From Thompson Falls to Noxon, it's breathtaking. Sandpoint, too, is beautiful...although the area is growing like Topsy, no planning. Really, uglifying itself.

Oh, if this were a somewhat earlier time...say, twenty years ago...and I could afford a small spread in the country...and a horse...

The fall air is really bracing. I had a reminder - I'm getting around by murdersickle, even though it's cold, because I'm selling the truck I bought a few months ago. POS Ford...do not, repeat NOT buy a newer Ford pickup! THEY. ARE. GARBAGE.

I got this one a new home, and most of my money back...downside is, now I have only one motorcycle. Upside of that is, it's had me out in the bracing fall air. Reminding me of why I like this time of year, and this place.

When I was up to Elkhorn (ghost town) a few months ago...both my cameras quit. I may make the trek again, this time intent on asking locals, where I might just hide out in a camper.

I'll try, again, to take pictures, if I do.