Road Lessons/Day 21

Downtown, midtown, and uptown Martinsdale

It is always hard to say goodbye to friends you love, who treat you with such hospitality and generosity, and it always feels like we are giving the impression that we can't wait to leave, but getting back on the road is exciting and we are full of mixed emotions: sad to go, but anxious to get underway.   I think I am starting to get this addiction to riding that bikers have.  It really is satisfying to travel this way.

So, our last breakfast, our last hugs and kisses, our last heartfelt thank yous, and we are on the road to Martinsdale, MT and David's cousin Rob.  The ride out of Bozeman, up towards Bridger Bowl Ski Area is unbelievable!  The rolling hills and mountain views are just amazing. At one point, we both thrust out our right hands, pointing at the same time, at the same site, so the other wouldn't miss the amazing scenery we were passing, it was like Italy, like Tuscany, gentle hills, covered with pines, a foggy mist laying in the cleavages. (Later we both agreed, THAT was the valley we wanted to live in). (With our next million bucks, right?)

We were scheduled to meet Rob at 11:00 in Martinsdale, and the ride being shorter than we expected, we rolled in about 10:30, but Rob was there waiting so it worked out perfectly.  The road out to the Crazy M Ranch is about 14 miles of gravel, not advisable on our overloaded bike, so Rob was offering to let us store the bike in the little storage shed in town, where he keeps his Harley.
David and Rob had not seen each other in 20 or more years, he and I had probably never met...we couldn't think of any family event we might have been at together, but he is a warm and outgoing person, so we felt like friends right away. This is so great for the cousins to reconnect and we are looking forward to a couple of days of just hanging out with Rob and his girlfriend Kimmi.  They are temporary caretakers at a 12,000 acre ranch, the
Crazy M.  Kimmi is responsible for cooking and light housekeeping duties for the owners, a 90 year old couple from LA, who made their millions in real estate and spend their summers here at the ranch.

Smoky haze on the Crazy Mountains

Rob has yard work, vehicle maintenance, and rodent control (rabbits and marmots and mice, oh, my!) priorities, but he helps Kimmi with her chores, as well.

As we travel the road to the ranch, we are glad to be in a big four wheel drive truck....it is a very narrow, curvy road, that has frequent very steep inclines and declines....now we know why he recommended that he pick us up!

David and Rob compare road trips on the map

We find out that the 'fog' that we see lying in the hills is actually smoke that was blown in from a fire in Wyoming, by a strong wind  the night before, making the whole valley very misty and mysterious.

The main house and caretaker's house, and a few out buildings are situated in the most beautiful valley, completely surrounded by hills, it is  perfectly secluded, idyllic even...and there's 12,000 acres of it!
We arrive, unload, Rob shows us to our room, a bright airy, attic room in the cozy caretaker's house, he shares with Kimmi.  She is still at work in the main house and so we sit outside and wait for her to join us.  It's a great place to relax and soon David and Rob are talking non stop about motorcycles and riding and adventures they have been on, the places they've been, they are two peas in a biker pod...definitely speaking the same language!  Soon they have an atlas out and are showing each other routes they taken and will take.  Soon enough Kimmi comes home and there are more introductions and greetings and stories etc.  She needs to take the Jeep into town to shop from the Hutterites who come to town once a week for 2 hours, to sell their produce.  I offer to keep her company and it's the long trek back up the 14 miles of gravel road and into little Martinsdale again.

We stop at the post office first, and chat with Connie the Postmistress, who is really going to miss Kimmi when they leave in September, and I buy some stamps and Kimmi picks up some priority mailing boxes.

Across the street the Hutterites have set up their produce and we head over to do some shopping.
There is a Hutterite community in the area and it is possible to go there to shop, but Kimmi says it is easier when they come to town.  I will say that it was a very interesting experience, the Hutterites are a very unique sect....I will leave it at that. We buy some veggies at exorbitant prices ($8 for a quart of pickled beets?!) and hop back in the Jeep for the slow ride home.  Kimmi is a person of varied talents and experiences...and we are already talking non stop...so the trip goes fast...and it seems as though we have known each other for a long time, it is so easy going.

Kimmi has to make dinner for the ranch owners, and so David and Rob and I get the wine out and sit around the table telling stories and laughing till she comes back.  It was really fun to get to know Rob after all these years, and I am still amazed how much he and David are alike and have similar interests and outlooks....how is it they haven't kept in touch?  It's a guy thing I guess, who knows, but I hope that changes.  When Kimmi returns she makes dinner, there's more wine and we have more stories and find that Kimmi spent a lot of years in around the Twin Cities, working as a chef and creating the recipes and menus for many local establishments (among them Maud Borup Chocolates!).  She and Rob were both dividing their time between the US and Mexico for many years before they met, so when they did, they found they were kindred spirits with a love of adventure.  I had to say to Kimmi, that she didn't look old enough to have done all the things she's done!
(I asked Kimmi if she preferred Kim or Kimmi, and she said she pretty much answers to Kimmi now.  In the part of Mexico where she has lived the most, they do not have a 'K' and so when she said her name was Kim they called her Tim.  But there is a nickname 'Qemi' (sp?) and so when she started to introduce herself as Kimmi they could understand it, and so the Kimmi stuck!) I will say again, that it felt as though we were with lifelong friends that we just dropped in on.

Sunset over the Crazy Mountains

We were hoping to see some elk activity tonight,  Rob says the elk are in rut and they face off in the field just a few yards from the house, and so normally they can sit on their deck and listen to them bugle and watch them fight.  Not tonight!

Today's quote: Everyday, Kimmi's 90 year old employer writes up a menu for the day, inevitably he requests "Lots of Gravy!!!"...it is our new mantra!

And so the lesson for the day, #32, from the mouths of nonagenarians: Always ask for more gravy in life and you'll often get it!