Helena, Montana and Points East

We arrived in Helena and after getting the trailer parked we took off for Walmart.  It seems we always need something.

We took the Last Chance Tour Train, which is a tour of Helena, it was very interesting giving the history of the town and history of some of the old buildings.

This bucking bronco is located by the Historical Society Building.                           The capital building of Montana          

 

 

The old Governor mansion.                           The old fire tower for the city of Helena.        Some old signs

       

We had a very unusual experience.   We were taking a walk and stopped to talk to a couple throwing a ball for their dog.  During the conversation some one mentioned Upper Michigan.  I said that my mother had grown up in Champion, MI The gent I was talking to said that so had he.  I said my mother was a Fredrickson, he said he had  lived next door to Oscar and  Lillian Fredrickson  and there two children Gerald and Aleta. They are my cousins.  The town of Champion is less than 100 people.  It was bigger back in the 40’s when he was growing up there. What a surprise, it’s a small world.

Today we continued our trip east leaving Helena and heading to Miles City, MT.  On the drive today I was reminded of the song Home on the range where the deer and the antelope play and the skies are not cloudy all day.  We saw many deer and more antelope.  We had some clouds but you can’t have everything.  We also saw a herd of horses and there were several young colts kicking up their heels and acting like little kids.In driving across Montana I can  see were the term Big Sky comes from.  We also saw many cattle, horses, several hawks and sand hill cranes today.  At a rest stop we saw this sign with some of the brands used here.  Also a sign about the rattlesnakes, I guess the snakes don’t use the sidewalks.