Driving in Montana

We have now left Montana and entered "big sky country". When driving in most states, I often find myself going a bit over the speed limit as the roads are built to handle faster driving. In Montana, I sometimes find the posted speed limit higher than I feel comfortable driving. Maybe it is just me getting more cautious in my old age.

One the reason to drive slow is there is a lot of open range in Montana, and cows are free to cross the road. Driving 70 or 80 mph when you might need to stop quickly to avoid hitting a cow is a risk. Fortunately, many of the roads are long and flat, so you will see the cows in plenty of time to stop. Also, the cows seem well trained to look both ways before crossing the road.

Cattle on the road in Montana

More cattle on the road in Montana

Betty took these pictures and at least a dozen more. I kept saying they are only cows. I want a picture of bison, bears, or wolves crossing the road. We have bison pictures, just not crossing the road. We have yet to see a bear. We saw what I think was a wolf run across the road, but Betty's camera was not turned on, and it happened so fast we didn't get a photo.

The other thing about Montana, cell service is mostly confined to the cities and small towns. Much of the driving we did was across miles and miles of beautiful rolling hills with the Rocky Mountains in the distance. It was a cell phone desert. Occasionally you would see a sign indicating there was a "cell phone turn out" where theoretically one could find a signal. We never stopped at one of these. Of course if my Prius broke down, I might have had to hike to one of these spots to try to reach AAA as we could go for long stretches without seeing a soul on the road.