Branding 2012

I'm a city boy, born and bred.  The closest I've ever gotten to a cow was during the annual trip to the state fair.  What I learned about cows and ranching came mainly from watching westerns, like Bonanza, on TV.  That was pretty much it until a few years ago when my eldest daughter married.  Her husband and his family are from Montana where one of the relations owns and operates a ranch. 

Several times a year family members and friends come to the ranch to help out with some specific activity, the largest of which is branding.  Since I've blogged about this in the past, May 2010,  I won't go into specifics other than to say it's a lot like Nascar when the race cars pull into the pits for gas and tires.  

The difference is that at branding, the cows keep coming and when your done with one, there's another one, two or three ready for your services.  The highlight is lunch.  What a spread!  No restaurant even compares to the ranch's lunch at branding. 

This is my grandson, Raif.  OK, I know that every grandparent thinks their grandkids are the cutest, but you must admit, he is one really cute kid.

And this is the other cutest kid ever, Saray.  She was so excited that she was riding by herself. 

After branding I went up to Glacier National Park for a few days.  It is so different being at the park when there was hardly anyone there.  The campgrounds are all closed except for the small picnic area next to Lake McDonald.  There was a grand total of 3 campers while I was there.  On the weekend the park service allows hikers and bicyclist to go up the Going to the Sun Road which is usually closed until sometime in June.  A lot of families from the Kalispell area take advantage of going up the road without cars.  I rode for a little over 30 miles.  Monday I took the motorcycle around to East Glacier and Two Medicine.  Unfortunately the road to Two Medicine was closed as the snow was still pretty deep there.  I'm thinking I might go back late May for some more bicycle and motorcycle riding along with a hike or two.  

Take a close look at this picture.  Notice that the front of the trailer has dropped down quite a bit.  Turns out that just as I was arriving home I heard some strange klunking sounds and shaking in the motor home.

Here's the problem.  The trailer hitch had started to tear loose from the motor home's frame.  If you look close you can see that the hitch bolts had pulled completed out  from the frame and that the frame itself has split open.  This should not be happening, especially with the light load my trailer is.  I'm so lucky the whole thing didn't break completely off someplace.  I shutter to think what might have happened since the safety chains are attached to the hitch, meaning the trailer could have careened off, possibly at 65 mph along a remote Montana highway!