Going To Work

Not all commutes to and from work are created equal. I am, as example, convinced that I would not survive a steady diet of the 405 in Los Angeles. When I see images of all the on-ramps, off-ramps, loops, multi-lane, and single-lane roads splayed through the city, stacked in layers, tied into bowties, knit into granny-knots, and flopped overtop the metropolis, I get queasy. Imagine the upcoming mess when they purposefully close down a stretch for roadwork in a few days.

My commute to work, on the other hand, is always calm and often filled with lovely Montana diversions. The other day, I had to slow when I rounded one corner so that I might allow a gawky pair of sandhill cranes to totter across the road and flap up against a pink sky. I often stop for deer. On rarer occasions I allow elk or any number of more exotic critters to cross ahead of me. During the transitional and warm seasons, I leave very early just so I might stop someplace on my way into Helena along one of several routes I might choose. I may stop and watch a storm roll though, which is our version of heavy traffic. Sometimes I drive to water and catch the sun or moon skipping reflections across the surface.

The sky is my garden out here. And I drive right through my garden on the way to work. Here, I have posted a picture from my commute to work yesterday morning.

--Mitchell Hegman