23-May-2002 -- I departed 45°N 105°W yesterday evening and drove to Broadus, Montana last night and stayed in a hotel. According to the matches in the hotel room, Broadus is "The Wavingest Town in the West". I slept late, but after yesterday’s attempts, I needed it. When I finally got motivated, I packed up the truck, drove across the street (Highway 212) and had a huge breakfast at Chuck’s Fast Food. The owner, Chuck Miller, makes some of the best tasting cappuccino I’ve ever had and can whip up a mighty good breakfast. I shot the breeze with him and some of the patrons there about what I was doing and the gumbo mud I had gotten stuck in yesterday. The mud was stuck in my wheels and it made my truck shake violently. There was no car wash in town, so I had to drive it like that.

It was 34° F (1° C) and snowing lightly with rain in the forecast. I was pretty bummed out about it and just about ready to abort the remainder of the trip, but Chuck encouraged me to carry on. This confluence was north of Broadus and he said they hadn’t had much rain in the north so it wouldn’t take long for the ground to absorb it. Chuck is a super nice guy, so drop in for coffee and tell him I said hello if you ever find yourself in Broadus.

I left town and headed north on East Powder River Road. It’s a shale road and, despite the weather, it was in good shape. The landscape along the Powder River is breathtaking. I saw more antelope along the way. They are everywhere out here and I don’t think I could ever tire of seeing them. They’re beautiful animals.

Somewhere along the way the snow stopped and I made it to the confluence with no major problems. I only had to go through one cattle gap, drive through a dry creek bed and a half-mile (0.8 km) of pastureland. Compared to the last several confluences I had attempted, it was a piece of cake. I needed an easy one. I have reached 8 out of 10 confluences on this trip so far and have 13 more to go. I completely skipped one that was on my plan (45°N 104°W) because of bad weather.

I left this confluence and headed toward the next location, 47°N 106°W.

Danny Strickland
www.artgaga.com

Coordinator's Note: This visit is incomplete as it doesn't meet the photo requirements.