Extreme Country: Traversing Montana

Day 3, DeDakis Loop: we shoulda topped off the gas tank

July 17, 2024

For the next day we’d traverse big-time cattle ranching country through Montana and into North Dakota. It’s country that’s blazing hot in the summer and frigid in the winter. Country that demands its residents be tough men and women, tougher than my ancestors (who homesteaded and then left Miles City for the Missoula banana belt) had been. As we drove through I wondered where the ground was where they had staked their claim and what led them to pull it up and leave.

To get to Miles City we drove for hours through the plains, admiring the cottonwood-covered riparian areas along the Yellowstone River and the craggy, rocky landscape beyond. Though there were verdant valleys and expansive ranches, water was scarcer as we shadowed the Yellowstone with its craggy buttes alongside. The green riparian areas it didn’t extend far from the river. It’s a landscape of extremes.

The 276 miles we had to drive to get to 99 Morning Star in Miles City weren’t unpleasant though it took us 4 1/2 hours. This was more than partially due to the fact that we were listening to my friend John DeDakis’ books on Audible. His are murder mysteries focusing on a female journalist named Lark Chadwick and Lark held our attention the entire journey (and in so doing earned John the Our DeDakis Loop designation).

The drive taught us a very valuable lesson: when you see a gas station, don’t put filling up off for the next town. The next town may not have a gas station and the one after that may be a lot further than you should entertain. Almost out of gas, we finally found a station in Custer (yes, that Custer near where the Battle of Little Big Horn was fought). Had we more time, there were a million places we would have stopped, but we were on a schedule. Do you think we’ll ever break free of that one?

We’d gotten a late start from watching the reining that morning (worth it!) so didn’t get to Miles City and the Tongue River Winery until just before dark. It’s also a Harvest Host site so instead of setting up we went right into the winery to “do our duty”.

Tongue River’s owners, former United Church of Christ pastor Bob and his wife Marilyn, launched Tongue River Winery in 2010 using Montana fruit and grapes that grow (or can) in Montana only.

The winery is nestled into a neighborhood along the river. We parked on cut grass, in a pull through area, and while there was one other camper, a van that was in and out before us, apparently, they were on a schedule too. They didn’t even wave. Verizon has a 5G signal there. That was a plus since were were again dry camping.

I was looking forward to meeting Bob, who’s quoted as saying, “Having an idea isn’t enough. You need passion to carry it through…” Unfortunately, he and Marilyn were in Billings at a doctor’s appointment, and I missed him, but I think he would have been a good interview for the podcast. Maybe next time.

Instead, we met Bob and Marilyn’s neighbor Kathy. Kathy has a generous pour and allowed us to try anything we were interested in (and would have let us try more). Because of the climate, the grape varietals there were nothing we’d ever heard of or tried. We ended up buying three bottles of fruit wines – pear, cherry, and something else. The pear was great with a nice shrimp salad back in the trailer.

Another thumbs up!