Anyway, Cara left for Boston this morning. She had a layover in Denver, then got into Boston on time. She took back a bunch of the stuff we didn’t need, like coats and sweaters. For once, her and her luggage all arrived safely, on time, at the same place! I’m sure she’ll add more details to the blog as she sees fit.
After we dropped Cara off, Ollie and I headed out west in search of adventure. Actually, we went out in search of the Nickelodeon/Wurlitzer organ/Player piano museum in Nevada City. Virginia City used to be the capital of Montana while it was still a territory, and it was a gold rush town. The gold is gone, the capital is now Helena, but the tourists still come. It’s a bit of a tourist trap (along with the adjacent Nevada City), but it has some historical buildings, people in costume, and neat shops. As I mentioned, the music museum was enough to draw me 60 miles west. It wasn’t enough to draw Cara that far though, which is why it had to wait till she’d gone… but I’ll try convince her again next year.
On the way to the museum I stumbled across a "classic car lot". It was a collection of strange and interesting unrestored vehicles, many of which I couldn't recognize. They ranged in status from "nearly driveable" to "wreck". There were a lot of interesting potential projects!
The museum was a bit of a disappointment. I’d seen it 20 years ago, and it definitely didn’t live up to my expectations. They’ve sold off about half of the machines to pay the bills, so it was a lot emptier. Of the machines left, half were out of order. Of the ones still working, they were only half working. And of the half that still worked, they were only half in tune. So what is that—1/16 “good”? Oh well. Maybe the saddest sight was the somewhat rare Wurlitzer organ that was also a player organ. It wasn’t huge, but had a good assortment of bells, whistles and drums, in addition to the pipes and the player piano. Unfortunately there were so many wind leaks that while the piano played, the only sign of life from all the wind instruments was the mallet of the bass drum, waving limply… Next time they have a garage sale, I’d better go and rescue that instrument! 
After the museum, my curiosity wasn’t satiated so I decided to continue west to find a more authentic ghost town. The two labeled on the map were just small towns, so when I spotted a gravel road connecting Twin Bridges to I-15 on the map, I decided to try and take it. I was inspired by Robert Pirsig who waxed poetic about minor roads in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
I suppose the fact that it took 15 minutes and 4 times driving by to find the unmarked gravel road should have been a sign. As should have the unmarked junctions and the continually narrowing lanes. It gradually turned into a one way road, then into a two-rut trail across fields, forests, and desert. It was amazing, desolate, and beautiful. It took about two hours to go 15 miles, I think, but I did make numerous stops. I saw cactus and aloes in the desert. I saw abandoned mine shafts—some were holes in the ground with grates over top of them, and some were dug into the side of mountains, braced up with frames and boards. I went on a Cattle drive—half a dozen cattle had wandered into the “road”, and they decided they’d keep running in front of me, rather than stepping off to the side. After five minutes of a 5mph chase, apparently they found the trail they were looking for and took off for the hills. By then I had found my ghost town—or at least a ghost ranch. There was an assortment of wood frame and stone buildings, some containing junk, some just burned out shells.
This was about an hour into it, and this was the easy part. After all that civilization and hubbub, things got really empty. I’d run out of water, so I was both leery and happy when I found a horse trough. Fortunately it had a pipe bringing in a trickle of water, so I didn’t have to drink from the bacteria and algae laden trough with the dead bird in it. Although, after last week’s class, I might be able to identify some of the organisms under the microscope… Anyway, we received a wedding present of a portable water filter for this exact purpose as a wedding present from our friend Lesley, but Cara had stashed it safely away, and since she was on a plane and I had no cell reception, I had to take my chances. (So far no symptoms…)
The road also started getting rougher. The ruts got pretty deep, and the rocks in the center were big. I wish I had the jeep there, with its higher clearance, automatic transmission (makes it easier to go 5mph), and skid plates beneath (I’m afraid it might need some touch up paint underneath…). A tree had fallen across the road at one point, so I had to rip off branches until I could get by (fortunately it was a soft Aspen). Through the whole journey I kept wondering “does this road actually go anywhere, or will I have to back up the whole way?”
I don’t think you can understand the relief when I saw a truck coming from the other direction! And when I saw a family fishing in the creek that ran beside the road, I knew I must be close. Eventually I found pavement, and within minutes I was back on the freeway. I don’t exactly know WHERE I got back on the freeway, but it was somewhere around mile 95 on I-15. If anyone can trace my route on Google Maps I’ll be impressed—I tried but I couldn’t.
So that should be the end of an adventuresome day, but it wasn’t. On the way back home I stopped in Butte, just in time to catch the festival “Evel Knevel Days—Always the Last Week of July.” There was some music, street vendors, and the evening entertainment was a pair of motorcycle ramps 100 feet apart… I don’t know what they planned to leap in a single bound, but I didn’t feel like hanging around to see.
After a quick pizza dinner I headed back over the Great Divide towards home. I stopped for a while to talk with my family on the phone. Carolyn was sick with an infection and had to go to the emergency room. Madeleine was at home with Tony and my Mom. It was a scary time, and it made me wish I was home already. Your prayers for them are appreciated!
I finally got home around 10, tired, dirty, but happy. It was a good day.
PS—Ollie slept through it all.
2 comments:
Hey Alan! I love your adventurous gravel road drive between Twin Bridges to I-15, sounds like you took "the road less travelled" to a whole new level!!
-Harvie
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