OUT IN THE WILD WEST!
MONTANA/IDAHO TOUR 2007

What an adventure! This March I embarked on a three-week concert tour through Montana and Idaho. The idea here was to bring concerts to "culturally underserved" communities, and so I visited towns off the beaten path. Since there are no Steinway piano dealers in the state of Montana, we made arrangements for a technician from Utah to travel along with me with a beautiful Steinway concert grand in tow! Our first stop was Glendive, Montana (far eastern side of the state)

I drove a few thousand miles on this trip....sometimes following the Steinway truck, sometimes the truck following me. Often we found ourselves driving alongside freight trains like this one.

Clint and I both stayed on the Clary Ranch. Dick and Marcia raise angus cows and it was calving season. I saw baby calves take their first steps. Did you know they are born weighing in at about 80 lbs and walk very soon after birth? Amazing! Rudy, the working border collie showed off for us each evening by bringing all the cows back home.

Clint gets a little help from George in Hobson with the piano move.

With George and Marcia after the show.

Hooterite children attend the program at the Stanford School. This was the first time any of them had seen a grand piano and they were quite amazed by its sound and its works!

Early morning drives through scenic Montana!

With Clint (piano tech/mover) before school show

For the shows and special programs in Ronan and Polson, Montana, Clint and I stayed in a beautiful lake house as guests of Mike and Trish. We saw a pair of bald eagles here on Flathead Lake.

Chas lends a hand moving the piano into the Lake County Youth Home. Moving the piano into the house posed a challenge, but Chas and Clint were up for the task.

Once inside, I performed a mini-concert, answered questions, and gave a talk on music therapy

We could have had a leisurely lunch in the time it took for this train carrying soybean products to pass...

In Lewis & Clark country, I tried to do a little exploring myself! Above is the famous Lewis & Clark statue in Fort Benton, MT.

After eight hours of driving to Idaho, we were rewarded with these amazing views around and in Glacier National Park.While very beautiful, some of the road conditions were a bit treacherous and I was more than a little relieved to see that Steinway truck in my rearview mirror! We were often the only ones on the road...for hours...

Performing in Challis, Idaho

After a lovely breakfast by host Jim (of Creekside B & B in Challis, Idaho), I went for a walk through the incredibly scenic town of Challis.

Early on in my travels, I felt the urge to snap photos, and couldn't help but stop to marvel at the many cows I saw along the way. Why marvel? Well, for one, they were HUGE. Second, the sky is so immense in Montana and so open that it was not unusual to see a cow in the distance that seemed to be floating against the sky...you would see a little grass, but not much, if the cow was on a hill. So I have a zillion photos of cows as a result. A man stopped his truck to ask me if I needed any assistance and I told him, no... I was just photographing the cows. He wanted to know why. That was hard to explain to a native Montanan.

I began my journey in the coal mining town of Colstrip, Montana...I then flew to Havre (pronounced "have-her") in the north and then drove east forever.

I have many roadside photos like this one...I found the landscape very intriguing and picturesque.

This is a self-portrait on the road from Havre to Highwood.While not the most flattering of photos, I wanted to remember the feeling of the strong clean wind which made a loud but pleasant whistling sound.

I performed mini performances in schools throughout Montana, often giving classes on music and composition. This photo was taken just prior to a school event along the hi-hi-line of the state (the hi-line consists of the towns that border Canada)

Some of the schools are very small. Unlike my high school , which had a graduating class of 700+, these schools often have just 3 or 4 students per graduating class.

Sunrise in Ft. Benton, MT

Somewhere along the road...on the way to somewhere...

I both cursed and blessed Big Sky Airlines, which has a fleet of tiny planes that save solo artists like myself from thousands of miles of driving. I nicknamed the pilots I met the "cowboys of the sky" since they fly in ANY kind of weather, including 50-60 mile per hour winds. Nothing phases them....but the ride is not for wimps! Bumpy bumpy bumpy!

My 8th and final flight on Big Sky Airlines originated from this airport in Sidney, located in the far eastern part of Montana (left photo). What you are seeing is the entire airport. That's it folks. One plane, one runway. Here I am at 5am waiting for the aiport to open. The pilot arrived...opened the airport, towed the plane from the hangar, tore my ticket and off we went. The three other passengers included a businessman who took this ride every week and Santa, who was on his way to a gig in a mall in the western part of the state.

When I arrived at this airport, I finally understood why the party meeting me promised I would not need directions to the gate!

Backstage in Polson, Montana

I reached Polson, Montana (not far from Missoula) in early November.The mountains here are beautiful. The scenery here was a highlight of the tour, even though it was only -4 degrees!!

When I finished my soundcheck in Polson, I stepped outside for a break before the show. My mission was to get some hot chocolate. This magical moon greeted us and so I snapped this from inside the car on our way into town.