August 11: Circle, Montana

My Day in Haiku

Crossed the Missouri
Long treeless hills and valleys
Wheat fields and hay bales.


     A good Haiku should need no further interpretation.  The poetry should speak for itself.  That would be a GOOD Haiku.  In this case, I shall deconstruct the poem like in a Jr. High English class.

Line 1:  I left my long-time companion, Highway 2, and turned south on 13 (aka, The Big Sky Backcountry Byway.)  Early on, I went over the river of my heroes Lewis and Clark--The Missouri River.

Line 2:  Up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down, etc.  That was the ride all day long--54 miles of it.

Line 3:  The landscape for 99% of that up and down ride consisted of vast crops of golden wheat or long grass.  Most of those grasses had been rolled up into huge five-foot high hay bales.  There were thousands of them scattered as far as the eye can see.  I also sat and watched one of those baling machines at work.  It eats and eats and eats everything in its path for a few minutes, then it slows down, opens up its rear end, and dumps a 1000 lb. present.  I was fascinated.

     Haiku does not allow enough syllables to mention the group of seven pronghorn antelope I saw hanging out in one of those harvested fields.  Nor could I state that I met Frank from Los Angeles, another Northern Tier rider going the entire distance from Bar Harbor, Maine to Anacourtes, Washington.  We had a couple of beers together in what was probably the only shady spot in all of Circle, Montana.  Good conversation.


Haybales as far as the eye can see.

The beautiful view from my motel room in Circle.  The motel itself was similarly attractive.
 



A lonely building on the road to Circle.