Solitude and Impulse

As we drove from North Dakota and into Montana in the wee hours of morning, I was reminded that few places in the US offer this level of solitude. In fact, with the exception of Nevada and parts of Wyoming, you would be hard pressed to find yourself more alone on an interstate, especially at 1AM. Rolling into Bozeman should spark a few memories. It has been sometime since I visited this part of the country and I cannot stop asking myself why I took so long to return. It is truly fascinating to be surrounded by so many different mountain ranges that you cannot remember all their names. This part of the country leaves little room for posers, unlike the mobs of twenty-somethings trying to find themselves in Colorado. For me, this is what makes this place so much more special.

We made a crucial impulse buy today, a new 55-200 mm Nikon zoom lens. Although we probably could not afford it, by the time we can afford it we will be in Houston and then what would we want to photograph. So, we have made a very large sacrifice by vowing to consume a steady diet of goldfish crackers and tap water in order to bring the best photos possible to our followers. That, and we are headed for the Glacier National Park backcountry tomorrow, and most would be hard-pressed to find a book of nature photography without at least one image of that amazing place. So now I feel that I have at least justified the purchase to myself, which is really all that matters at this point.