US Highway 2 reaches across the northern edge of the United States from Bangor, Maine, to Everett, Washington. For over 600 miles of this immense length Hwy 2 wends its way across the state of Montana - where the Great Plains rise into the Rocky Mountains.

In Havre, our home base in north-central Montana, Hwy 2 doubles as a main street through town, just as it does for many other towns in our area. And it's very much a part of our lives here at Cottonwood Studio.

Just outside our door to the south is the Little Box Elder Creek drainage. A small irrigated barley field is bisected by the brush and tree covered creek bottom. Farther up the steep-sided coulee is rough, sagebrush and bentonite country where cattle are worked from horseback because the four-wheelers won't survive there. In the distance rise the Bear Paw Mountains visible from our hilltops.

Always in the background, though, is the constant hum and bustle of traffic on Hwy 2 which cuts through the northern edge of our property.