The next stop on Ronbo's tour of those parts of America where he has never set foot is state of Montana. Rush Limbaugh once said in jest of Montana "As soon as you cross the border they hand you a copy of the U.S. Constitution to fill in any way you want, and for only $49.95 plus tax, a judge's robe so you can immediately be your own court and make your own laws."
I will be leaving Salt Lake City, Utah by Greyhound bus, as no passenger railroad connections exist between Utah and Montana anymore, although you would think with the billions the Feds have poured into passenger railroad service, a comfortable half filled passenger train would be running north to Montana. But alas! Only the crowded and uncomfortable Greyhound bus is public ground transportation north from Salt Lake City.
My final destination is Bozeman, Montana where fall has already started to fall, and it's not even September! It looks like Anchorage, Alaska style weather ahead where it snows in late September. Perhaps the cold weather accounts for the fact that Montana is least populated per square mile state in the lower 48. I have my winter gear already purchased and used last winter in Utah. It would appear I'll have use of it very soon - the temperature dropped last night in Bozeman to 38 degrees Fahrenheit.
I'm staying for a week (at least) in a hostel about a mile from the bus station near Main Street. I checked the map last night and Main Street is just about all there is to Bozeman. This is a small Western town with a population in low thousands with Wi-Fi and the Internet. I doubt these days they have gun fights on Main Street at High Noon, although the hostel I'm staying did host Hollywood cowboy Gary Cooper many years ago. The best I can hope for is walking into a saloon where all the cowboys look up from their whiskey as I walk to the bar and order a beer. At this point Black Bart will walk over to me and say with a sneer, "You be a sheep man, Stranger? I smell SHEEP on you!"
This is the romantic in me thinking of things long gone. The reality is that the West in America is not that much different than the East. The only thing that changes is the weather and the scenery. Americans have become a pretty much standard copy even if they are a mixture of all the races, religions and cultures in the world. The only thing that really divides us is our politics. In politics, Americans are a nation divided and a Second American Civil War perhaps the end result of this division.
I will be leaving Salt Lake City, Utah by Greyhound bus, as no passenger railroad connections exist between Utah and Montana anymore, although you would think with the billions the Feds have poured into passenger railroad service, a comfortable half filled passenger train would be running north to Montana. But alas! Only the crowded and uncomfortable Greyhound bus is public ground transportation north from Salt Lake City.
My final destination is Bozeman, Montana where fall has already started to fall, and it's not even September! It looks like Anchorage, Alaska style weather ahead where it snows in late September. Perhaps the cold weather accounts for the fact that Montana is least populated per square mile state in the lower 48. I have my winter gear already purchased and used last winter in Utah. It would appear I'll have use of it very soon - the temperature dropped last night in Bozeman to 38 degrees Fahrenheit.
I'm staying for a week (at least) in a hostel about a mile from the bus station near Main Street. I checked the map last night and Main Street is just about all there is to Bozeman. This is a small Western town with a population in low thousands with Wi-Fi and the Internet. I doubt these days they have gun fights on Main Street at High Noon, although the hostel I'm staying did host Hollywood cowboy Gary Cooper many years ago. The best I can hope for is walking into a saloon where all the cowboys look up from their whiskey as I walk to the bar and order a beer. At this point Black Bart will walk over to me and say with a sneer, "You be a sheep man, Stranger? I smell SHEEP on you!"
This is the romantic in me thinking of things long gone. The reality is that the West in America is not that much different than the East. The only thing that changes is the weather and the scenery. Americans have become a pretty much standard copy even if they are a mixture of all the races, religions and cultures in the world. The only thing that really divides us is our politics. In politics, Americans are a nation divided and a Second American Civil War perhaps the end result of this division.
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