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September 4, 2004

Missoula, MT

I am sitting in the Raven Cafe in Missoula, Montana, where I have landed to open for Catie Curtis at the Crystal Theatre after three days of camping on Wyoming's BLM land and in The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. I have lived in the West for the greatest portion of my life, yet I had never before been in Yellowstone (which I called Jellystone my entire childhood due to an obssession with Saturday morning cartoons). I had, prior to three days ago, always turned my nose up at the notion of the summer crowds slow RV rolling through the wilderness. Well, I have been properly rebuked. IT IS INCREDIBLE! Bison! Elk! GRIZZLIES! We saw mineral hot springs reshaping the surface of the earth into white stepped terraces and Old Faithful (along with 250 international tourists). Steam vents burst grey plume veils through the earth's crust like subway grates on a cold New York day. Never has the smell of sulfur been so full of wonder.
Wednesday night, Jim and I pulled off 191 heading north through Wyoming (dark, very dark) to find a place to camp for the night. Ten miles off the road along a washboard dirt two track, we came to the Boulder river and a big swath of BLM land. The next morning we woke up in the midst of a wide group of cattle grazing along the river, the first sound we heard, a long, low, 'Moooooooooooooo.' I love the cow. I could not have been happier.

Posted by bethamsel at September 4, 2004 12:27 PM