The drive from Big Timber to Red Lodge is very familiar to me. There are a couple of different routes that can be taken, but the one I love best heads 40 miles east on the Interstate to Columbus. The Interstate was not built when I was growing up, so the first section is faster and has more traffic than was the case when I learned to drive. From there the two lane highway goes 15 miles southwest to Absarokee. The drive from Absarokee to Red Lodge is about 30 miles of winding up and down with some steep grades and plenty of curves. The drive was the first point to point drive I was allowed to make after getting my driver’s license. I had plenty of experience driving around the airport and on dirt roads and around town, but my parents were careful to limit my highway miles even after I had my driver’s license until I gained a bit of experience. The drive to Red Lodge was just right for gaining that experience. We had a Chevy Caryall, the passenger version of their panel wagon. It was equipped with a 6 cylinder engine and a 4 speed transmission. The hills and curves demanded that I anticipate and brake appropriately and also that I downshift for the steep uphill portions. It was a good place to practice driving, and I remember my first trip with my dad in the right hand seat. My father’s parents lived in Red Lodge and we made the trip often.

A year later, when I was learning to fly we made the same trip with our airplane. The trip is a bit shorter in the airplane and the airports are about 800 feet different in elevation. In those days, Red Lodge had a fair upslope in the runway, so landing uphill and taking off downhill was recommended in all but the strongest winds.

The 30 mile drive from Absarokee to Red Lodge is one of the most scenic drives anywhere. The dramatic Beartooth Mountains rise against the Montana big sky to the south. The hillsides are usually green. The mountains carry snow most of the year with peaks that rise above 10,000 feet. Red Lodge is nestled on Rock Creek at the bottom of a fairly step mountain valley.

Another thing about the drive, is that there isn’t much traffic. The main flow of traffic in and out of Red Lodge is coming down from Laurel and heading up toward Yellowstone National Park. That highway is busy and can be dangerous as people are impatient and tend to take risks when passing slower vehicles. But the road from Absarokee doesn’t have many cars. We may have met ten cars on our drive yesterday, but I think that it was closer to 5. Most of the time we didn’t see other cars at all as we drove.

I have a few friends who are bothered by wide open spaces with little traffic. They wonder what might happen if they broke down. What I know from a lifetime of experience is that help comes quicker when you are on roads that are lightly traveled because other travelers will stop to see if you need help. That doesn’t happen on the busy Interstate highways. Of course these days we use our cell phones if we need assistance, and the more remote locations might not have cell phone coverage, but places where you can’t get a signal are becoming fewer and fewer. At any rate, I have never broken down, or even had a flat tire on the drive from Absarokee to Red Lodge. I’ve had a couple of close calls with deer on the highway at night and I came very close to hitting a skunk once, but so far that stretch of highway has been gentle to me.

I’ve adjusted to the traffic in our new home for the most part. I know that even the two lane back roads will be full of cars and that a driver has to be vigilant for those who pass in the wrong places and others who drive too fast or too slow for conditions. There are plenty of drivers in Whatcom County, where we now live, who follow too closely to the car in front of them. I don’t like it when they tailgate, but I’m getting a bit more comfortable with the pace of travel and the density of cars on the road. We pass hundreds of cars on our drive from our house to the church. I’m sure there are days when it is even thousands of cars.

This trip is a real treat for me. I never expected to retire in a place with so many people. I like having a bit of space.


Red Lodge is still recovering from flooding in June. Rock Creek was so overwhelmed with water that it left its usual course and ran right down the streets of town. It took out bridges and bridge approaches, washed away hillsides and one house. It flooded dozens of other houses and left huge boulders lying around town. There has been a lot of clean up already accomplished, but there are still a lot of excavators and front end loaders working on various projects along the stream bank and the streets of town.

My grandparents are no longer living, but Susan’s sister and her husband have lived in Red Lodge for more than 50 years, so we have always had family in the town. It is a fun place with enough tourists to support several good restaurants and shops. The people who live here have learned to live with deer and moose in their yards. The town deer are very tame and will allow a close approach. They’ll eat dog food out of the dish if it is left outside. Some become so familiar to the locals that they have names and neighbors recognize individual deer. The moose wander in a bit less frequently, are bigger and can be dangerous, but pose no threat to those who are used to them. There are other animals that visit town. This time of year black bear sightings are common. The bears are hungry, filling up to prepare for hibernation and eat the chokecherries and the berries from the mountain ash. They also will raid a garbage can if it is left in a place where they can get access. Sightings of grizzly bears, bobcats and mountain lions are also fairly common. You don’t have to worry about them while walking around town. As long as you can see the deer and they are calm, you know that the apex predators aren’t in the neighborhood.

Our visit is a treat because it is a drive down memory lane for me and a fun visit to a place where there are fewer people. We’ll soon head back to our home where we are happy, but the memories of the Montana high country will be with us forever.