The days are getting away from me a little, so i needed to recount the basics since i left missoula:
Day 13, tues. 7/16, spent night in bigfork, 104 mi.
Day 14, wed. 7/17, spent night in st. mary, 90 mi.
Day 15, thrs. 7/18, spent night in galata, population too small to note. 111 mi.
Day 16, fri. 7/19, spent night in chinook, population 1,200. 96 mi.
Day 17, sat. 7/20, spent night in glasgow, population 3,200. 140 mi.
Day 18, sun 7/21, spent night in glasgow, again.
A lot of miles and i'm getting kind of tired. So today, sunday, is a day off. i've been very lucky. last night i stopped to take a picture of a newly mowed field and hay stacks and a woman pulled up to do the same. we talked a little and she ended up offering me a place to stay, which turned into a two night invitation. so i'm taking a very much needed day off, while i contemplate route trough north dakota.
John and mary are wonderful people. they've fed me and given me a nice comfortable bed to sleep in. what more is there to say? they're very relaxed and make it very easy for me to feel at home.
john is native montanan, has a small ranch which he works part time and also works with bureau of land management. mary, originally from houston, is a social services provider, artist, and active volunteer in art organizations. they've raised 5 girls and one son, who have all moved on. the house is filled with paintings the children have done. the one daughter who doesn't paint is in theatre. this evening they're taking me to the fort peck dam and the historic playhouse for a performance. fort peck dams the missouri and creates a huge lake for recreation.
it's a good chance to talk with residents and learn about life here. montana is a huge state and the people here seem to cover a lot of area. just comes with the territory. 100 miles radius is not uncommon, but they're familiar with everything in the state. i think back to growing up in new jersey, and i think i new about a 10 mile radius from my house. there just isn't that much, i guess, that it's that hard to do. the largest city is billings, which has a population of around 80,000, missoula is around 60,000. Glasgow is the regional center. it has the hospital and railroad operations. 3,400 residents.
the area along us rte 2 is called the hi-line. the road follows the railroad, which carries an amtrack and freight. there's an amtrack station in glosgow. most of the small towns along the way were located by the railroad to provide refueling and water, as well as grain storage. they were spaced around 7-10 miles apart. with the advent of increased efficiency of technology, the purpose of those towns has died. now they serve mostly as the local bar, but even those are folding. just like the towns, small farms are dying as the efficiency of scale makes it impossible for a small farm to compete. a harvested, tiller, or seeder covers so much more ground now; grain collection happens at much larger, central facilities; and trains go alot further on less.
there is a lot of land set aside (reserved) for native american tribes, but there are many social problems. domestic violance, drugs, and alchoholism are the symptoms. the problem is much too complicated. alchoholism is also an issue among the small towns. there's not much to do.
On friday evening, i made it to the town of chinook, pop. 1,200. Several of the towns have small parks where they allow camping. i was directed to a community park by a pool. when i got there, there were others setting up tents. turns out there was a swim meet the following day. brings back memories of saturdays at the pool, but we had it good. therer are only 9 swim teams in all of east montana. every weekend they gather at one of the clubs, travelling a hundred or two hundred miles. they bring their trailers, campers, and tents, and watch their kids swim for 5 minutes. that's dedication. but they're a fun group. they invited me in, fed me, and gave me a taste of grandpa's homemade rhubbarb wine. a sweet wine.
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