Snapshots

and a call from London

Dear reader,

When I walked into The Barn last week to get ready for a video interview from London, Smoke was sorting through pictures. Two long tables were filled with snapshots of a full life. Many were familiar to me: The snowy ride out from hunting camp without gloves, the view from the Chinese Wall across the continental divide, the cocktail hour with Bill Allen, the CEO of Boeing at the time - all of them made it in the book in black and white. But some of the pictures, like so many of his stories, I had not seen. “I want to make sure to organize and label them all before I forget,” he said, sorting through his memories, naming every guest and friend, and every horse I pointed to without much thought.

Smoke resting by a campfire (above)

Details of the more recent scenes, a meeting, a packing class, were harder to remember, some places were clear, but the people remained blurry for a few minutes. Our minds were full of memories when we started the video interview. The journalist from London with round glasses and a peppery short beard, had never had seen a mule or traveled on a trail, was cold in the mountains or slept outside, but he was curious. I think it was our best interview yet. With a story, Smoke took him on a trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, showed him the flowers, trees, and bears. We crossed a river, climbed a pass, made camp, and sat by a Ponderosa Pine to listen to the land. By the end, the journalist looked like he was ready to jump on the next plane.

Towards the end of the interview he asked: “Smoke, what is your legacy?” And I looked over the tables behind me. I saw pictures of Louis Adams, the legendary Bitterroot Salish tribal elder, John Craighead, the famed Grizzly bear researcher, Bill Allen, the CEO of Boeing, thought about how many stories Smoke had listened to and learned from around the campfire. How he carries them with him, some ready to be told, others blurry, revealing themselves at the right time and place. “Wild places,” I remember Smoke answering, but I was still far off some place, riding down the trail, listening to the Hush of the Land.

This would be great place to stop, but before I send this off, I wanted to invite you to our two upcoming reading and storytelling events this weekend: Sunday at 2pm in Choteau, MT and Monday, 6pm in Missoula, MT:

AND the Missoula Public Library:

Auf bald,

Eva