Montana Traffic Jam

When we were in Washington, D.C., in March, I took pictures of the traffic.

My kids have never witnessed real traffic. They think paved roads are a novelty. I wanted to show them a typical city street.

In Montana this time of year, we have traffic problems of another sort.

This time of year, it is not uncommon to meet along the road a herd of cows moving to the next pasture or a tractor moving to the next field. Since I have a carload of kids to deal with, I usually have the job of flagger for these excursions. This job entails driving in front of the slow moving traffic (be it cattle or machinery), flashing the hazard lights, and hanging out the window and flailing my arms if any oncoming traffic looks as if it isn't taking my warnings seriously.


To begin the trip, I find a perch at the top of a hill where I can see both oncoming traffic and the machinery that I'm supposed to be leading. In this case, it is my husband in the tractor pulling the air seeder behind him.


I liked the rearview mirror shot so well that I decided to try another one.


And another one.


But when the tractor begins to catch up to me, I have to stop taking pictures and get ahead of him again. I wouldn't want to be shirking my duty.


Fortunately, we met no oncoming traffic on this trip.


That left me plenty of time to gaze out the window and take pictures.


This is an area several miles north of our home called the Missouri River Breaks. It is a harsh country that is inhabited by bighorn sheep, mountain lions, deer, and a few other species, including a handful of very hardy humans.


There's a lot of nothing out there.


Across the river valley, you can see strips of farmground in the distance.

Farmers are very careful to stay awake when they are farming these fields. It's a long, long drop to the bottom.

Even if you're not driving in an area quite this rugged, please be careful and watch out for farm equipment this time of year. Moving from field to field can be a difficult task out here in the middle of nowhere; I can't imagine attempting it in the middle of traffic.