A Quick Tour of Brady

Last weekend I was waiting to meet someone who had a late start so I decided to take the Brady exit off I-15 that I always had planned to take one day when I had time. Yes, it took me several years to find the time!

Our weather was pretty fickle that day – sunny skies one minute, clouds the next, followed by short-lived flurries of snowflakes.

Brady sits on the west side of I-15 about 45 miles north of Great Falls. It’s typical of many small towns in Montana with population declines. They have combined schools with a neighboring community for efficiency and businesses need to work extra hard to keep their doors open.

I drove through town. It was about 8 am and you could tell who was serving coffee!

Several pickup trucks were parked in front of three businesses on Brady’s main street. I did a double-take when I saw the sign for Dusty’s. I can only imagine that at one time Monte and Suzanne also owned this local gathering spot!

I drove around town and saw a nice community park with a restroom, shade trees and play equipment for kids – a great stop for families looking for a place to let kids get out of the car and run and play.

The view to the west of Brady was beautiful, even with some darker clouds overhead.

The Rocky Mountain Front was snow-capped and that gave good contrast to the wheat stubble field closer in.

I circled around through town again and was surprised to see a train coming.

I didn’t even realize there were tracks along here but then I remembered that I was in wheat country (it’s called the Golden Triangle for all of the wheat grown here).

Farmers have the option of taking grain to several elevators around Brady and those elevators need rail lines to complete the grain’s journey. Makes sense.

It was a good photo op although it would have been better if the tree had leafed out.

And, I’m fairly sure the person driving that train thought I was a bit odd for taking the photo!

I enjoyed my tour of Brady. Next time I’ll plan my stop around some of the meal specials served at Dusty’s – biscuits and gravy on Saturday morning, evening specials, lunch specials – my options are wide open!