S is for Sagebrush

My husband loves to go “boonie bashing” – driving on non-roads with a 4 wheel drive. He loves going through rough areas just to see if he can. Since I have been going with him he doesn’t go through the rough stuff like he used to. But that is another story.

 

Sagebrush can be found in many places. It is often viewed as a weed. In reality it is an important ecosystem. There are 16 species of sagebrush in Montana. I looked that fact up. I can only name a couple of the species. Any way, on with the story.

 

We had gone hunting up near Ismay. We had a deep aqua green pick up with new running boards on the side. We went down a coulee. There below us head on was a clump of sagebrush. I took one look …

 

“That’s old sagebrush, you might want to go around it.”

 

Incredulous he said, “It’s sagebrush, it bends.”

 

“Old sagebrush is hardwood, it doesn’t bend. The trunk is about 4 inches in diameter”

 

Laughing, he hit it head on.

 

The metal screamed, “SCREETCH, YEEE! EEEH”, as it was rending from the box. The sound was deafening as the metal ripped, and shrieked. In my mind I thought “save the pieces.”

 

Dan looked in the side mirror at the fragments of metal strips that lay twisted and broken in our wake alongside the trail.

 

“Didn’t think it would do that,” he commented as he picked up the mangled and twisted pieces of metal that had been running boards.

 

“Guess we should have got those Nerf bars instead of those cheap running boards.”

 

I shook my head as I looked out at the ocean of sagebrush flowing down the hill. Under my breath, but loud enough to be heard, “Maybe we should JUST gone around it.