Photo by Lisa Beaudin

Lisa and I had to get a little creative for our route to Country Bookshelf in Bozeman to avoid, yet again, traveling I-90 (there’s only so many ways to get over the pass). So we headed up to Clyde Park (originally called “Sunnyside”) and took the breathtakingly scenic Brackett Creek Road to Highway 86 which hugs the south-eastern front of the Bridger Mountains.

It was worth the extra time.

As always, “making good time” should refer to quality not quantity. And any route that results in a poem, is very high-quality indeed.

Brackett Creek

Gold coins of aspen
shimmering on the hillsides as
a golden eagle lifts
from a fence post

We slow to watch
as it follows the slope of the land
like chords waving across the lines
of a musical staff

Sunlight painting spruces,
barns & the ribboning road
unrolling before us
like our best possible future

Surrounded by the only gold
that isn’t fool’s gold,
& with you here to share it,
I’m the richest man in the world

The reading was enhanced by that drive, and also by a great dinner beforehand with one of my favorite couples, Gatz and Janie. Gatz (aka William Hjortsberg) gave me the first blurb for Vagabond Song (which, coming from the author of so many great books and screenplays, was a huge honor).

Here’s the trailer for the Caldera Theatre Co. production of “Trout Fishing in Livingston” which features Gatz reading from his Jubilee Hitchhiker: The Life and Times of Richard Brautigan:

Thanks for riding shotgun on the Hundred Highways tour. We’ll be heading to Billings next.

[Read more reports from the Hundred Highways Tour here.]