the annual pilgrimage east

heading home for the holidays

Somewhere between Glendive & Lewistown MT

Every December we load up the truck with clothes, gifts, skis, and the dog, to head 1,200 miles home for the holidays. We call it the annual pilgrimage. Unless we’re out hunting birds, it’s about the only time of year you’ll catch me east of Lewistown.

We don’t drive this direction too often. Eastern Montana, North Dakota and beyond aren’t much to write home about, but they hold a subtle beauty on those crisp December mornings. Some of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen have been while driving this way.

After the sun comes up and the underwhelming landscape of the plains gets monotonous we tend to pass the time with conversation- with ourselves and with others when the service allows. Catching up with old friends and family seems to get us in the Christmas spirit, as does a holiday radio station if the road has us weary enough. We usually split the drive into one full day and one half day. Although we’ve done it in one sitting, we prefer getting a cheap motel room and spending a little extra time at a random fishing access or pull out - for Wes and us too.

We made it to Miles City last night afterwork, crashed for 5 hours at an Econolodge and hit the road early - hotel lobby coffee in hand. I'll ask Ajax to stop in the North Dakota Badlands, like I always do, and always have. I’d ask my dad to stop here as a kid on our westward trips. If my convincing works (it usually does) we'll climb the ‘closed for the season’ fence at Painted Canyon Lookout and snap a film photo or two, with a bison in the background if we’re lucky. We'll be driving through in an hour or so and I'm due for a bathroom break and of course another coffee - probably from the Trapper's Inn off the Belfield exit.

Leaving Montana for ‘home’ is always bittersweet, especially when Missoula is about the closest to home I've ever felt, but little stops along the road and the nostalgia of the town I grew up in seem to help. And of course, a wholesome Christmas Eve in my childhood home makes it all worth it.

I'll be home for Christmas, ma. Give me 8 more hours.

Sadie