Welcome to Montana?

A snow storm in late May. I was looking north from I-90 between Billings and Livingston.

This photo was taken a few days later. These are the Crazy Mountains...honest, that's their name!

Another photo of the Crazy Mountains. 

I was on Hiway 89, headed south out of Clyde Park. I'm pretty sure these are the Absaroka Mountains. 

You know, I've lived in tornado alley practically all my life but had to go to Montana to experience one of the worst storms I've ever been in. After leaving South Dakota, I took I-90 West thru Wyoming and then into Montana. Shortly afterwards, and I'm talking less than an hour after crossing the Montana line, I noticed two storms that appeared to be headed my direction. At that point, I-90 runs pretty much north and south and one of the storms was directly to the west and the other was to the northwest. I could see the green skies in both storms and I knew what that meant....hail....or maybe I should say HAIL!!! When I heard that first "ping" on my truck, I got that sick feeling inside and knew I was in for it. Soon after the first ping, I heard another ping, then another and another. After that, the pings turned into bangs, then more bangs and then too many bangs to count. To be honest with you, I don't know how large the hailstones were. I don't know if I was totally focused on driving or if I closed my eyes but I did not see the hailstones. I do remember seeing an overpass some distance ahead of me and all I could think of was making it to that point. I finally made it to the overpass and tried to hide as much of my truck and trailer as possible underneath it. Once the hail stopped, the interstate was completely covered with hailstones. I felt it was safe to continue so I started driving again and soon regretted it. I don't know for certain but I think there may have been a tornado, or at least the beginnings of one, in the storm. The winds were intense and were blowing west to east but soon afterwards they reversed and were blowing east to west. The low clouds were whipping across the interstate ahead of me. This time I know for sure that my eyes were wide open...or should I say WIDE OPEN!!! I was driving and at the same time looking upwards into the swirling clouds above me. It was hard for me to concentrate due to all the screaming going on in the truck until I realized I was the only one in the truck so the screaming stopped. I don't know how far I drove in those conditions. It seemed like forever but probably was only 5 or 10 minutes. When I finally made it through the storm, I found the first rest stop and pulled in so I could breath for a few minutes. I got out and looked at the damage on my truck which was pretty extensive but I didn't see a lot of damage to my fifth-wheel....but only because I didn't climb up on top of it.

After driving another hour or two, I decided to stop at a Walmart parking lot to spend the night. That's  when I climbed up on top of my fifth-wheel and discovered the rest of the damage. My trailer suffered a broken skylight, broken vent cover, the awning was torn in five places (even though it was rolled up), broken running light, chipped fiberglass propane door and one dent in the metal trim that runs around the lower part of the trailer. As for my truck, it had two cracks in the windshield, a busted fog light, busted bug shield (on the front of the hood) and huge dents in the hood, cab and on the passenger side of the truck. The hail even bent up my front license plate. I knew I had to temporarily repair the items on top of the trailer that would leak if the rain continued so I got right to work. I found out one thing...if you'll climb up on your trailer in a Walmart parking lot, carrying duct tape and large plastic bags, people will drive by and look at you!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Until next time!

The Badlands!

The Badlands. I don't know about you, but I think this shot would make a great jigsaw puzzle!

This was late in the day. The cloud shadow added a lot to this photo, making it easier to distinguish foreground from background. 

This is one of my favorite shots. It was taken on the western side of the park in early morning light.  There is more color at this location than in most other areas of the park. 

I like the dark greens silhouetted against the lighter ochre and terra rosa in the background. 

Finally, I'm back on the road. I spent the winter in southern Georgia where the weather was very mild, only dropping below freezing a couple of times. My original plan was to spend the summer in the northeastern states but an opportunity has come up that brought me back to the northwest. I'll tell you more about that if and when it happens.

Since I made this same journey last year, I decided to take a different route and check out some new landscapes. I've wanted to see the Badlands in South Dakota for a long time and decided this was as good a time as any. I camped in Wall, S.D. which is only 8 or 10 miles from the western entrance into the Badlands. I spent one full day in the park, traveling from west to east and then back again, taking photos along the way. The park was smaller than I expected so I decided one day was enough and it was time to be on my way. I hope you enjoy the photos of this most unusual place.

Until next time.

Georgia on my mind!

This is the beach at Jekyll Island.

There are lots of marshy areas around. This particular marsh is near Jekyll Island.

This old fire pit is near the house shown below. I didn't stick around to see what was for supper. 

This spooky old house is near Shellmans Bluff. 

Hello! It's been ages since I've updated my blog and I apologize for that. I'll try to do better in the future.
I'm currently in Kingsland, Georgia and probably will be for a couple more months. Kingsland is in the very, very southeastern part of the state. If I traveled south only one more mile, I'd be in Florida, and, if I flew with the crows about 6 or 8 miles to the east, I'd be in the Atlantic Ocean. Although I'm not finding an over abundance of paintable subjects here, this area has turned out to be a very comfortable place to spend the winter.  While my friends back in Tulsa, Oklahoma were skating their cars around on the ice in temperatures near zero, I was having my evening coffee outside, wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Now when those "polar vortexes" were wreaking havoc all over the country, we dropped below freezing several different times so I didn't escape winter altogether, but for the most part, this has been the easiest winter for me in many decades.

I'm going to attach just a few photos of this area. I haven't done a lot of exploring but I have tried to hit a few of the best areas along the coast. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to go out exploring in the next few weeks. If I find anything interesting, I'll tell you all about it, right here.

Until next time!