Why Owe Ming

We drove through Wyoming very quickly. Well, actually it took a long time or felt like it did because it was a pretty hot day for us. We have been spoiled by this beautiful weather. I will tell you the best part about Wyoming later. First, haven't you been wondering what I've been reading??

Lots. But let me tell about three. One was Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century. This was written by Tony Judt. Isn't it funny how his name is bigger than anything? That's because he wrote a highly regarded book called Postwar. I've read that. It tells what happened in Europe after WWII. Nominated for a Pulitzer. This one was good, but not as good. This is a compilation of articles that he wrote for various magazines. He goes back to review what some have written in the past and does an appraisal of the author and the thoughts. Some of these guys I knew. A few I'd never heard of before. I remember Arthur Koestler and Henry Kissinger. But there are a few that I was hearing about for the first time.

As I said, I enjoyed listening to this book. The reader was very erudite sounding. I listened to the end of it with Eric in the car. Then the next book came on. That was Silent in the Grave. I don't know why I bought this book. I just checked on Audible and it looks like a mystery. What I missed when checking on the book is that it is from Harlequin Publishers. Yep, bodice-tearing, heart-throbbing Harlequin. So, we finish with the erudite Brit and start the breathy lady. Not much of a mystery. Will the dark and handsome guy who is slightly strange turn out to be the man of her dreams? Guess.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, I read The Painted Veil. Yes, same as the movie that Edward Norton starred in. But this was the book written by Somerset Maughm. I've had this in my library for a while. It seemed like it might be a little soap opera-ish. All I know is, I could not put it down. It was very involving. I wanted to find out what happened to that incredibly spoiled girl and her sweet, sincere husband. I have a few of these classics on my wish list. After my good experience with this, I am even more eager to go back for a little visit.

And back to that little visit to Wyoming. Two things stood out. One was the Devil's Tower National Monument. This is the pile of rocks that Richard Dreyfuss kept making out of mashed potatoes in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was also the first National Monument in the US. We decided not to go because it had been a long drive already and we'd already made a few long detours. The great thing is that we could see it from miles away while on the highway. It just juts out of the horizon, it's so big. So, we saw it, even though we didn't touch it.

Finally, please look at these gas prices. We have found them all across the Dakotas as well. It can be confusing. I've been buying 85 octane gas since this station because it appears to be cheaper. But sometimes the 88 octane with 10% ethanol is cheapest. It does keep me in my toes because cheaper is definitely better at this point.

If you can't see, the price per gallon is $3.80. Neat.

The Ramblers

Custer's Last Stand

We left Bozeman very early. It was going to be a busy day. We got our hotel in Billings and headed out to the Little Big Horn. Yet another beautiful day in Montana. I got tickets for a bus tour lead by young Indian guides. But before that, we listened to this Crow park ranger speak about the battle and all it entailed. She was great. Karen learned that all who work at the visitor's center must have college degrees. Although this young lady has always spoken Crow, she didn't learn how to read and write it until she went to college. Now, in her spare time, she teaches grade school students how to do just that. Nice.

Then it was time for our tour. The tour vehicle was broken. All they had was a van with no step to help lame folks get on board. I had someone on a bus at the Festival of Books reach down from the bus and grab my ass to help me on board. Sorry. There is no other way to tell how shocked I was. So when I saw that step I said no way. I'd bought a tape tour anyway, so Karen and I donated our seats to the Indians. Our tour was perfect for us. We saw a lot more of the grounds than we would have on that tour.

There were gravestones all over the place. They marked the fallen soldiers. There were other markers that showed where the Indians had fallen. Speaking of fallen Indians, Sitting Bull didn't fare too well after winning this battle. He fled to Canada and then returned to the US in 1881, only to be killed by soldiers in 1890. 1881 stuck in my mind because that's when the Los Angeles Times started publishing. Then it was killed by a light-weight from Chicago in 2009. Let's talk about Last Stands.

After Custer, we drove to Pompey's Pillar. This is a rock that William Clark signed on his trip East with Sacagawea, her family and his followers. They found this huge rock jutting out of the ground. Clark climbed it and signed his name in the rock as many Indians had done previously. They etched in petroglyphs. He was so impressed by the rock that he named it after Sacagawea's son, who he called Pomp. I can't remember what his real name was.

All in all, a very fine day. We were glad that we already had beds in Billings to fall into at the end of the day. We were, as always. . .

The Ramblers

Welcome to Montana

We spent our first night in Missoula. This is a town with a university (University of Montana, Missoula), dozens of bars, and pizza parlors. We saw little else. It was open and pretty and pretty darn boring. Sorry, Missoula. If you ever meet someone who went to college there, take him out for a beer and pizza. I know he will feel right at home.

The next day we went to Butte. I wasn't sure about this. It seemed pretty close to Missoula and aren't we moving East? Shouldn't that be done more quickly? But Karen had our day planned. It was a great day.

We started in Butte with a ride on Old Number 1. That's the trolley on the left. Our driver and guide used to work in the copper mines in Butte until some boards fell on his legs. Now he gimps around pretty much like me. He may talk more than me. He was filled with great information.

We stopped at the Berkeley pit on the right. They are no longer mining there so it is filled with water. The miners would work on the sides or underground. They used to pump the water out of the underground pits and down a stream bed which is now eternally copper- colored. When it got to be too dangerous, they closed the mine and cleaned up the stream a little. They later found out that the water in the pit was filled with copper. Whoa! So now the little twin towers that you see in the picture on the left is pulling water out and removing the copper. Miner Mike (our name for the guide) told us that they use our disgarded aluminum cans for the copper to attach to. We didn't get to see one of those.

Miner Mike is a big fan of the mine owners. They were paying him $1300 per week back in the 70's. There was also a high probability that he would be killed or injured. Rough life. But probably easier than it was when the mines were young.

The town is fascinating. It was loaded with brothels, slums, opium dens and mine owners' mansions. Just what you would imagine. There were three mine owners who hated each other. One built the house on the corner that you see on the right. Very ritzy for its day. One of the others had the tower of apartments next to it built to block his view. Petty, petty, petty, boys. One, Daly, was well considered by the community. They put a statue of him at the entrance of the old Montana School of the Mines (now called Montana Tech.) That was our university for that day.

We then got in the car and drove to Bozeman. They have the best museum there. It is the Museum of the Rockies and it is fabulous. Click on that name and you will go to their website. Amazing. I learned so much about palentology in the area. It was full of dinosaurs at one time and an ocean before that. The museum has much more than that, but I got stuck with the dinosaurs. If it weren't half a world away from everything, this might be one of the top museums on my all time list. As it is, you need to be willing to drive forever to get here.

I've got to say, it was gorgeous all the way across Montana. It might not be such a bad idea to visit here. The sky is not just big, it is very blue and filled with fluffy clouds. The food is hit and miss, but if you like barbecue, Famous Dave's was very good. Hey, I just found a Famous Dave's in Long Beach!

Our Private Idaho

We drove into Idaho and visited with Karen's old grad school friend, Sharon. What a nice woman. They live in a little town called Moscow. We've been hitting college towns all along the way. Across the border in Pullman, Washington is a branch of Washington State University. The University of Idaho is in Moscow. Just wait to hear about all the college towns we've been visiting in Montana. I feel like one of those parents taking her kid from college to college over the summer.

Anyway, Sharon was very nice. Had a huge old dog named Bear. Looked like a bear in chenille jammies. But he was very nice. She seems happy in this quiet little town and I can understand why. It was cute, even though it was a bit isolated. I bet it has really cold winters.

We drove through Idaho the next day. We seemed to follow rivers all day. The one on the left is the Snake River. The town is Lewiston, named after Meriweather Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame. The river on the right is the Clearwater. The Lewis and Clark group traveled down this river on the way to Oregon and the Pacific Ocean. We have been crossing their path all along this trip.

The Clearwater was beautiful. We stopped for lunch near it at a place that provides river rafting tours. The food was wonderful, salad on a pita. Healthiest meal of the trip. It was a very peaceful drive. This trip is making me adjust to lots of changes in plans and ways of doing things. I've decided that I'm becoming a different person.

The Rambler. That's how I'm going to sign all my posts from now on.