DAY SIX: We have sad news. Not through any fault of our own, there is one less sandpiper in the world. It made a kamikaze shot at our windshield and gave it's life for nothing - didn't effect our windshield or speed. Altho us passengers did duck.

The contrast differences between the states are unbelievable. Whereas ND was prairie, like MT is prairie, ND also had trees and bodies of water in abundance. MT is the horizon-to-horizon abundance of flatness. The fields of this state could certainly have been the inspiration for American The Beautiful's "amber waves of grain", except it's not grain it's grasses, and they sway in the breeze like the kelp beds tossed to and fro under under the sea. The wind blows incessantly. It's all so spectacular! 

This morning the azure blue of the sky against the greens of the trees in our campground nearly brought Keith to tears. He's so sensitive that way. 

We didn't see the big sky full of stars last night; it clouded over. But the sunrise was afire with color - so we were told. We both slept through it. Up at 6AM and packed by 7 we hit the road to get groceries, a new inflatable bed for the one that struck a leak. (It's amazing how God works. We walked into the sporting goods department just as the clerk marked down 50% the bed we were looking for. And when we got to the register, the cashier rang it up a dollar less.) 

Missouri River side of reservoir

Small portion of Ft Peck Reservoir

Ft Peck MT (where we'd camped) boasts the world's largest hydraulic earth dam - about a mile long. It controls the Missouri River which cuts through this part of the country, The was built in the 30's by the Corps of Engineers to assist with watering the NE corner of the state. The damming of the river produced one of the largest recreation lakes in the state. Ft Peck Reservoir boasts 1500 miles of shoreline, and plenty of walleye, smallmouth bass, and ling and chinook salmon. Too bad we didn't bring a boat!!

Semi-truck atop earthen dam. 

Eagle on nest.

Thus far, we've seen a moderate amount of wildlife - dead and alive. (Keith is an avid aficionado of these things and I've been keeping a spreadsheet of the tally.) The repertoire today consists of deer (3 live), antelope (1 dead, 4 alive), ring-necked pheasant (1 live) plus a variety of birds I spend a fair amount of time trying to identify with our bird book. But the day is early, and the big four ledgers tend to show up closer to the evening. Oh yes, thousands and thousands of cattle - black, brown, white and varieties in between. We see a lot of "harses" (yeah, that's how they say it here) and cowboys.

Doe and Fawn

Antelope feeding at roadside.

Still heading west. Traffic at a minimum. One construction delay thus far today. And just now, on the horizon, to the NE, is the first sitings of mountains. (They're a good 2 hours or more away.)

Mother Nature's promise of weather to com . . .

Overnight in Shelby MT