Looping through Montana’s mountains and prairies on a tank of gas

Head west from Billings on Highway 3 and beyond and you might not notice much at first.

A handful of small towns dotting the greens and dusty browns of the fields and pastures on either side of the road. The occasional grain elevator or rocky sandstone outcropping rising out of the landscape. Lots of open space.

But glance up and out farther toward the horizon and you can spot the Crazy Mountains jutting out above the hills and fields. Altogether what you’re seeing is more than just a broad swath of south-central Montana.

This — the friendly towns along two-lane highways, the agriculture, the mountains and the wide-open ranges — is iconic Montana.

By Zach Benoit

Full Story: http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/looping-through-mountains-and-prairies-on-a-tank-of-gas/article_2a67fcc0-040e-5129-95ce-de2ab3af12ce.html