ENGEL’S
COACH SHOP
105 So.
406-962-3573
September Notice
The first of September marks the fulfillment of 30 years in the wheelwright
trade when early September, 1979, I joined Rick Bischoff in his vision of a
buggy shop here in
Many times I have heard, and felt, the notion, “I was born a
hundred years too late.” The “good old
days” are enamored by those who look back admiringly from the comforts of our
current lives, and looked upon with mixed feelings by those who remember the
hard times.
All this to say that I am going to be out of the shop for the
month of September, and even possibly a week or two of October, to experience a
taste of days gone by. I am going on
about a 600 mile horseback ride/pack trip to taste a bit of what our forefathers
lived. I plan to leave the 30th
of August and should return sometime in early October.
The drawback to being a family owned operation is that when I
leave, things pretty much stop. Diane
will be here to answer the phone as much as possible and even help you with
your orders, but things will be operated on the lean side. I know this will be an inconvenience for
some, but understood by most. Our
personal number will be available through that time and she will monitor the
email boxes as best as she can. You can
reach her at 406-591-3573.
Once I get back in the shop we will begin our 31st
year and I look forward to what we have in store. Times have changed since our forefathers
opened up this country and times are changing all around us today, so follow
your dreams, overcome your fears and appreciate your friends.
See ya when I get back!
Dave
October Note
I made it!! 650 miles and
36 days later I rode back into
I was amazed at the bond that was generated between the three of
us. Day after day of routines soon
became habits of conduct. Saddles and
packs were put on and lead ropes just dangled as the girls patiently waited
their loads. Long, hot, dry days were
pleasantly interrupted by patches of bright green brome grass and stock tanks;
stock tanks and reservoirs became welcome sights. Probably half the nights were enjoyed out
under the stars enjoying the beauties of the heavens while frost, rain and snow
chilled my fingers and toes on others.
I was amazed at the noisiness of mankind each time we entered a
new town. I never realized how noisy
mufflers were and how loud tires were on pavement until spending numbers of
days where all we saw or heard were coyotes and hawks. We traveled the grasslands, farmlands,
mountain meadows and pine forests. We
were forced to ride maybe 60 or 70 miles of paved roads which were hair-raising
with 70 mph traffic and no ditch banks or right-of-ways at times. Gravel roads weren’t as bad, but hard on
horseshoes, so we sought out cow-paths, ditches and soft shoulders wherever
possible. Often times, through big
ranch country, we could travel draw to draw, gate to gate, cattle-guard to
cattle-guard and high-mountain trails, and reminisce that this is how it would
have been for the early settlers and mountain men as we rode with no roads in
sight. 100 year old wagon trails were a
special treat, and I was amazed several times at the work involved to traverse
creeks, draws and muddy hills. What a
hearty breed our forefathers were! What
a contrast to the “take care of me” mentality prevalent today.
I can’t recall how often I heard, “I would love to do something
like that!” It made me realize that the
responsibilities of our high pressure lives keep some of us from living our
dreams, (though I did meet several who were living their dreams). People all along the ride became monumental
memories to me; people who didn’t know me from Adam, who cooked a meal for me,
offered the girls and me a drink, gave us directions and stopped to hear what I
was doing. A very special man named
Bill, hampered with painful arthritis, rode 10 miles across mountain trails to
show us the way, and then 10 miles back home by his self. That was the living example of the “extra
mile” and it touched my heart.
I was told before I left that I would be amazed at the people I
would meet and that when I got back I would be a different person. I didn’t understand then, but I do more-so
now. Where this will lead from here I
am not sure, but I know I have discovered something that I love.
Dave
Quick links:
2009 trip pictures
Leg One
Headed out of
And leaving
This is our first night’s camp
at Fireman’s Point fishing access west of
This became a contrast of life
styles;
an awakening of the difference
between necessity and
luxury. My
first
camp was just below this mansion.
Our second night was under
unsettled skies and wide open rangelands.→
But this made for a beautiful
morning sunrise that turned into rain, so we packed up wet and rode in the rain
for a couple of hours.
Once we headed north of Reed
Point we were into grasslands, cow country and brilliant blue skies.
Stock tanks and reservoirs
became sought after water holes. The
first two weeks gave us day after day in the 90ºrange where any sort of breeze
was more than welcome.
After we lost sight of the
Beartooth Mountain Range, the next mountain range in view was the Crazies, to
the west.
The fluffy, cotton clouds
drifted through the bright blue big sky country.
Since we had no
one around to take our pictures, I did some self portraits. →
Some of the colorful skies were
just breath taking. This was on the Ed
Dedding place where I was given the typical
What Ed was referring to was
this 100 year plus old wagon trail that ran through his place. “Cross the reservoir, past the three corner
gate, and head west. You can’t miss it.” And by golly, there is was!
I liked this photo ‘cuz this
showed cowboy style cattle guards. I
actually began to think I hated cattle guards, because every time I had to open
a gate, but I began to realize it gave me a chance to get off and stretch. I wouldn’t know how many hundreds of gates I
opened. One thing our forefathers didn’t
have to do is deal with fences and gates.
Often times I was within a few feet of water, but was fenced out.
I wouldn’t have thought I would
see this in
Fine then, I’ll go where there
are no motorized vehicles
allowed, which was just across
the road.
From Harlowton I headed north to
the next set of mountains, which were a spur of the Little Belts, just west of
Judith Gap, and thankfully there were more stock tanks on the way. This ended up maybe being one of the longest
days we rode, crowding 30 miles. Most
days we traveled from 8:00 to 6:00, but this day we didn’t get to a camp-able
sight til after 8:00.
We camped in the Little Belts over the Labor Day weekend
and spent our first lay-over rest day here.
This was also my first, and
only, hot, camp-cooked meal I made on the whole trip. I had the capabilities to cook, but ended up
eating out of cans and wrappers. It just
wasn’t worth the effort for clean-up when water wasn’t always plentiful. This was a can of chili with elbow macaroni
and cheese added. I called it
chili-goulash soup and it was great! At
this camp we had to walk ¾ of a mile each way to get water. We walked it four times. This was on
This was on top of the Little
Belts looking north. I wasn’t supposed
to be here, but that’s what you get for taking the wrong trail. Just an extra three hours of riding. We actually rode to the peak, where there is
a survey post, and the end of the trail.
This is the west “sister” of two peaks known as “The twin sisters.” As we navigated rocky slides and disappearing
trails, I realized that if anything happened here – nobody would know where to
look. This is how people disappeared.
This was the right trail that got us off the
mountain.
This is north of the Little
Belts, looking back south, and if you look at the mountain sky-line, from right
to left, you will notice a double-humped pair of peaks about an inch in from
the edge. The first peak is the west
peak of the twin sisters, where I was the day before, pictured above.
This is also some of the
beautiful ranch country we were able to ride through, courtesy of Paul and
Janet Wertheimer of
Through
the Wertheimer Ranch, I picked up another old wagon trail that took me clear
into
Headed
west from
Some of
our camps spots were less than ideal, but always sufficed. This was on the dry, rocky creek bottom of
After
about 280 miles of riding I arrived at Great Falls , on day 14, to my brother
Dan’s place with wife Nora (left), son Robert, Dan, daughter Laura and my wife
Diane (right). They had no clue I was
coming until about two hours before I got there. So Dan and Robert quickly patched holes in
the fences while Nora and Laura got a water tub ready and made us feel right at
home. Leg one of the trip and another
day of rest, MUCH appreciated by all. We
all enjoyed a 50th birthday party potluck at the neighbor Bob’s, where
I ate way too much and I paid for dearly the next day. My body violently rejected the sudden rich
diet after two weeks of surviving.
If you’re not completely bored, I’ll continue –
Dave and Diane Engel
ENGELS COACH SHOP
105 So. Main
406-962-3573
(Top)
(Home) (History) (Photos) (Catalog) (Wheels) (Supplies) (Videos) (Contact
us)
Copyright 2009-2010 Dave
Engel