09.S01 Chapter Nine, Snippet One

Camp Wolf, Three Forks, Montana - 2006

New Prairie Woman

Susie Rosso Wolf

Chapter Nine

Our new/used twenty foot long Komfort Travel Trailer sat on Robert’s fenced-in half acre of mud, rock, prairie grass and yard debris such as cut down tree limbs and piles of dead dried up weeds. This area was a wannabe paddock for the horse Robert was dreaming of having in the future so he enclosed it with rural fencing material and a single wide horse country style gate up top of the scrap of land that opened onto Conifer Trail and Old Town Road. For now Robert used this space as his burn area for the waste he and Brenda had been cutting down since they began their build on this property that was covered with old growth Conifers, Russian Olives, prairie weeds galore and Lilacs. Basically, it was a muddy mess and an eye sore but we were grateful to have been invited by both Rob and April to park our temporary home on their land until our own prairie palace was built across the road on the land Kurt was pining over and purchased from Helicopter Dan and his wife, Tammy. We departed from Northridge on September 12, 2006 in a five vehicle caravan that crept across the Western United States to our final destination of Three Forks, Montana.

After months and miles of uncertainty we were finally rooting down in Montana. Our first two weeks as new residents of the Treasure State were filled mostly with important errands and business tasks that were all part of Kurt’s vision of a new life on the western prairie. The first thing he wanted to do was to get our California plates off of all of our vehicles so we spent an hour driving to the county seat in Townsend where we waited a scant three minutes in line at the vehicle registration window. We both remarked about the wait that was laughable compared to the hours of long lines in Los Angeles. We also noted the vast difference in attitude and demeanor of the lady behind the glass who served us. She was actually friendly and looked us in the eye, which was astounding! Anyway, from there we drove another two hours in the opposite direction to Bozeman for our Montana drivers’ licenses at the DMV. Again, another example of culture shock when the entire process lasted less than twenty minutes and the service was warm and friendly. Once we took care of our driving privilege legalities we moved on to essentials we needed in the trailer, for the dogs, fall and winter clothing for us and meetings with our banker and with Montana Homes of Belgrade where we had decided to purchase a modular home to be built and erected on our land across the road from our family.

 Although we both felt exhaustion from the spontaneous and grueling move, we were beginning to find our footing in Montana which helped us to put the memory of the physical labor behind us. Each and every day we greeted each other with a smile and a giggle, still not really believing that we had actually escaped from the madness and mayhem of California. And although we had already encountered some snow and windy weather, for the most part the onset of Fall in Montana had been lovely and colorful.