Stone schoolhouse. Lower Shell, Big Horn County, Wyoming

                                                                                                                                                                photo: David Branch

From David Branch, on the road: I'm traveling through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana. I came up here for a job that fell through so I've just made a trip of it before heading back to Texas. Man, one forgets (or knows somewhere but doesn't always refresh) how beautiful this country is. I've stayed largely away from the interstate and from cities if I can help it. Sleeping in the truck or tent way back in the sticks. Haven't had a lot of reception and in fact have been happy to have the phone at second thought. But, of course there are trucks and cars aplenty. Sometimes loathe to be the guy in the yard with a camera, though I often want to be. After a week I'm starting to slow down a bit. Walk around. Still, yesterday I was trying to make time getting within striking distance of Missoula where I'll collect my lady from the airport. She'll drive back with me to Texas. Perhaps more autos will be forthcoming. I've tapped out most everything in the Marfa surrounds. Not that there aren't cars undocumented but I've gone stale. It's good to see new light. I wake up this morning on the banks of the Jefferson River in Montana, headwaters of the Missouri. Geese, Hawks, beer cans. I wonder if Lewis & Clark took their time or felt in a hurry?--DB

"The Lower Shell Schoolhouse was one of the first non-log community buildings built in the Big Horn Basin. Using a classic one room schoolhouse design, it was constructed on this site in 1903 on land which had been donated to the Odessa School District. The school district was named for the nearby Odessa Post Office which had operated from 1891 to 1895. Local homesteaders quarried sandstone from the surrounding hills and assisted in the construction of the 24’ by 46’ building. During the 1905-1906 school year forty students were enrolled here demonstrating the early settlers’ high regard for education...." from Ultimate Wyoming