While the ongoing travel around Montana turns into a rather boring long saga and Jick's dialogue is not up to [Rascal Fair] or {English Creek],
there is still notable writing when Jick carries his Churchill speech along and the angry Buffalo delivers a well-deserved punch.

The Baloney Express was a true highlight!

Why there is no compassion for lamb and sheep slaughtering is never explained.

And why didn't The Rangers shot the Grizzly again with a tranquilizer instead of killing him?

And why do Indians always get a pass on the extreme cruelty of the Buffalo over the cliff killing
of so many creatures just left to die.

Riley's articles were erudite fun reading.

Riley's best line: "Aw, crud,"

Jick's best line: "this place is still in a bad mood."

Mariah's best: "ack-ack-ack-ack."

And, from Garland Good Hope Hebner: "A time was had by all."

I sure miss Lucas Barclay and Angus McCaskil! ( )

This was a fine ending to the Montana trilogy by Doig.

These feel similar to Lonesome Dove, but are not depressing the way that series was. ( )

This is a very sweet book. It doesn't have the gutsy depth of the previous books in the trilogy. The whole book is a kind of resolution of the tensions of the earlier books. Everything comes out for the best.

I just turned 65 and bought a camper to tool around the country in, so this book really resonated with me! I don't expect quite the level of adventure... but, well, maybe we'll have more adventure! Maybe it's the journalistic perspective that keeps everything in the book at a relatively safe distance.

Anyway it was fun to follow their travels on a map of Montana! ( )

Jick's daughter, Mariah, asks him to drive her and ex-husband Riley Wright around Montana as they work on a series of stories on the 1989 Centennial for Missoula's newspaper. Riley is the writer, while Mariah is the photographer...the scribbler and the shooter. Traveling in a Winnebago as they criss-cross the state leads to some pretty funny stuff such as this description of the close-up of a buffalo before he decides to attack this strange metal beast: "It was news to me that a buffalo appears to be two animals pieced together, the front half of a shaggy ox and the rear of a donkey. There is even what seems like a seam where the hairy front part meets the hairless rear half. But although they are a cockeyed-looking creature--an absentminded family where everybody had put on heavy sweaters but forgot any pants, is the first impression a bunch like this gives--buffalo plainly know what they're on the planet for. Graze. Eat grass and turn it into the bulk of themselves. Protein machines." (23)

Ivan Doig can write humorous scenes, but he really shines when he describes the majestic country. I have never been to Montana; however, it is on my list of places to visit after reading about the mountains, river valleys, golden meadows, and breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. His breezy dialogue between these unlikely fellow sojourners was amusing at first but wore thin after a while. The outcome seemed too predictable...until everything I thought was going to happen fell apart. The bottom line however is that it was yet another enjoyable read by a favorite author. ( )

5032. Ride With Me, Mariah Montana, by Ivan Doig (read 9 Jun 2013) This is the third volume of Doig's Montana trilogy and was published in
1990. It devotes much time to Montana's 1989 centennial of statehood. Jick, the central character of the first volume of the trilogy, English Creek. is now 65 and his wife has died and he has to decide what to do with his sheep ranch. He and his daughter, Mariah, together with Mariah's ex-husband, the son of Leona, (who Jick's brother Alec wanted to marry in 1939, resulting in a great rift in the McCaskill family) and after a time, Leona, drive around Montana doing stories about Montana. I found this book considerably less interesting than the first two books of the trilogy, and it could easily be skipped, though it does answer some questions about events in the first book of the trilogy. ( )