Road trip with cattle

Due to a bad fence and no time to fix it Dan and his son decided to sell the cattle he had bought from me last Fall.  They asked if I could haul the cattle to the livestock auction in Missoula for them.

Why not... I haven't been on a road trip for a while.   And what do I have to do around the ranch... other than a million projects!

Even though the auction is not until tomorrow it was easier for me to haul the cattle today. We loaded the cattle this morning and I drove to Missoula. 

The five cattle all did very well and gained lots of weight during the time Dan and his son owned them.  They were heavier than I expected.  I could feel their weight as I drove to Missoula.  With my underpowered pickup, on a few mountain passes I struggled to drive at least 40 mph.  My stock trailer felt very light on the drive home back to Kalispell.

The trip went well and I had no problems.  In Polson I stopped at my favorite Thai restaurant.  Even though the restaurant was closing their dining room for the afternoon at 2:30 pm, the owner let me eat even though it was 2:26 pm.  The owner does keep the restaurant open for carry out all afternoon.

Another excellent meal.

Once I got home I washed out the stock trailer.  It was filled with manure.  So much that some manure leaked out the side door.

Mission Mountains during the drive to Missoula.

View of the Mission Mountains on the drive back home.   The red arrow in the following photo points to Elizabeth Falls.  The water is running strong.   In July 2014 (almost 3 years ago!!!!  How time flies!) I hiked to Mission Falls (not seen) which is a little ways below Elizabeth Falls.  Maybe it is time for another hike there.