Elk River Books, Livingston, Montana - 2014 Author Tour - Part 7

(To start at the beginning of this series of posts about my 2014 Author Tour, go here)

Paige and I spent night five of our 2014 Author Tour in Bozeman. The hotel had a pool with a water slide, so again, Paige spent time in the pool while I read my Kindle. Finished Death on the Nile and started another Agatha Christie novel, Cards on the Table. I was in a Christie mood, I guess.

Day 6 we were scheduled to do a book signing at Elk River Books in Livingston from 11am-1pm, about 20 miles east of Bozeman. It's a wonderful bookstore, located in the space that used to house Chatham's Fine Arts (Russell Chatham is one of my favorite western artists). It's got books, of course - both used and new - and it serves coffee drinks, tea, smoothies - they even offer a  wheat grass smoothie. They have an upstairs that holds more books, but also has a nice large open area for visiting authors to give readings.

The bookstore is run by cousins Marc Beaudin and Andrea Peacock, two very nice folks who went out of their way to make Paige and I feel welcome.

Andrea and Marc

While there, an old colleague from my workin'-in-Yellowstone days,Tom Gierhan, along with his wife and son, came to visit. It was nice to catch up on things as well as reminisce about some of the folks we'd known.

Usually, I try to leave a venue (when I do a book signing) with more money then when I came in, but I was unsuccessful here, and ended up buying George Black's Empire of Shadows and William Hjorstberg's massive biography of Richard Brautigan called Jubilee Hitchhiker. 

After the signing, we headed south through Paradise Valley and into Yellowstone.

Click here for the next part of our journey - a Yellowstone Interlude.

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Visit Joel's Amazon Page!

Range Riders Museum, Miles City, Montana - 2014 Author Tour, Part 5

(To start at the beginning of this series of posts about my 2014 Author Tour, go here)

Day four of our self-proclaimed 2014 Author Tour. Paige and I had done a lot of driving the day before (well, I did the driving - Paige isn't quite old enough for that, yet) traveling from Ellendale, North Dakota to Miles City, Montana via Highway 12 - the Yellowstone Trail. We stayed in a hotel with a pool this time. Paige did a lot of swimming while I read and Agatha Christie novel on my Kindle. We got up the next morning - day four - and started out by heading over to the Range Riders Museum in Miles City to see if they wanted to stock any of my books in their gift shop. They bought a few, and Paige and I took a tour of the place.

It's a nice museum with a lot of variety. They give you a map of the complex with arrows hand-drawn on to show you the best route to take through the many sections. There were displays of barbed wire, axes, guns, old farm tools, vehicles, hats, saddles, arrowheads, dioramas of local areas with important historical significance with taped narration…in other words, lots of stuff.

Telephone pole insulators

Bert Clark's gun exhibit

The bottom gun remnants were found with a bullet in the chamber and the thing cocked, ready to be fired. I couldn't help but wonder if the gun's owner had been in a life or death struggle and lost.

Re-creation of an old west street

I love the combination of gun shop and violin maker

A nice auditorium for events

Paige and I didn't have time to tour the whole place. There was a lot we didn't see. I'd love to go back when I have more time to more thoroughly check the place out. The Range Riders Museum is definitely worth the stop if you're passing through Miles City.

Our destination this day was Bozeman. But there were a few more stops along the way, with some surprising finds. So on to part 6!

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Crow Fair, 2011

I attended part of the 2011 Crow Fair in Crow Agency, Montana. I'd like to go again sometime and take in more of it. It was an interesting juxtaposition of tradition and modern day life. Here's an example of what I mean:



Teepee versus RV



I was also amazed at the horse handling skills of not only the Crow adults, but their kids. Even the youngest seemed so at ease on horses. Here's a picture of a great way to advertise a horse for sale:



Horse 4 Sale

The stadium that held the horse races was old and worn, but kind of cool for exactly that reason. Anyway, being a naive white guy, when they listed horse races in their program, I assumed that it would be Native Americans riding bareback in traditional dress, or something like that. Again, that's an assumption bred by my own ignorance. Instead, the horse races looked like this:

Parimutuel betting, too!

The weather was hot and dry while we were there. Makes sense since it's held in August. I'd really like to go again and take in some of the things I missed. One thing to remember, though, if you decide to go, is that the Crow people don't put this on just for the entertainment of pasty-skinned folks like me. They put this on to celebrate their heritage and culture, old and new. Yes, us white folk are welcome, but it's their celebration.

(Melissa took the photos, by the way.)

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Visit Joel's Amazon Page!