July 31, 2008 – I’M LEAVING MONTANA

Well the day has finally come. I must leave Montana and head back to hot, humid Georgia. I can’t believe how sad I feel – almost depressed. But I had an absolutely FABULOUS day. I didn’t get very far – I’m in Cody, WY right now. But I did go to Nye to walk around the property some more.

It was a very interesting day. I was walking parts of the property to see what would be the best home site, and I decided to go back to the truck to get the camera. I saw a guy walking down the road with a shovel and a rifle hung over his back. Now I’m wondering what he is going to shoot and then bury. So I’m walking behind him on the road (he hasn’t seen me), and he starts to dig along the road in my property. Figured I should let him know I’m there, so I ask what he’s digging for. And I mentioned it was my property. Turns out he was doing a good thing…..digging up some really large thistles along the road.

This is the guy (name of Steve) who lives in the shack on the property next to mine. He’s the person who is “grandfathered” into the development and he runs the cattle on the property. He seemed a decent guy – well spoken and friendly. But it didn’t take long to figure out he is a military type, survivalist, and a little radical (on the conservative side of radical). He mentioned several military bases where he was stationed, and when I told him I was from Georgia and had driven to Montana for 2 months, he said that I was supporting the terrorists. I asked how he got to that conclusion, and it was because I was using so much diesel gasoline, so I was supporting terrorists. The survivalist comes from the fact that he has killed rattlesnakes on the property (OH MY GOD!!!!!) and he cooks and eats them (says they taste like chicken – I said I didn’t care if it tasted like filet minon, I wasn’t eating a snake). Steve said he had seen a rattlesnake on my property a couple of weeks back, but he didn’t kill it. It was small, he didn’t have a shovel, and he wasn’t ready to cook it – so why waste the snake. You can imagine what I am thinking. I did invite him to feel free to keep as many rattlesnakes on my property as he wanted – whether he ate them or not. Of course, he could be pulling my leg about all of this.

So now I know there are rattlesnakes on my property. OH MY GOD!! I told him I hadn’t actually walked the back part of the property because of snakes. His response was that the snakes didn’t really start moving until the afternoon, so I should be safe. I think I just decided to sell this property.

Actually, this trip was good. It just came to me that this property was perfect if I just want a place to come for the summer (and of course, I’ll never leave my house because of snakes). It is still the most beautiful part of Montana that I have seen, and I have trees, mountains, rivers – all right in Nye. But today, it just didn’t feel like a 12 month a year piece of property. Particularly since I have seen Jane and Jack’s ranch and the Polson area. I’ve been in this area before, and I think if I’m a full time resident, I need more around me. Polson is a small town with a really big lake. Missoula (one of my favorite cities) is just an hour away. Kalispell is less than an hour north, and Whitefish (great arts festival) is about an hour. And Glacier is a little over an hour. Now, I do like Yellowstone Park better than Glacier – far more diversity and things to see than Glacier, with fields full of wild animals, geysers that look like a moonscape, beautiful mountains, a canyon and waterfalls beyond beautiful.

So now I’ve got more to think about. If I only want to come summers, I’ll keep my property. If I want to be in Montana full time, then I need to sell and find something else. The fact that Jane would keep Ludo for me would be a big selling point for Polson.

Then I left Nye, and drove down to Red Lodge. There is a big forest fire burning towards the Red Lodge Ski Area that could cause millions of $$ in damage. I could see some smoke, but didn’t see any fire. But the smoke made the views of the Beartooth Mountains rather hazy.

I wanted to drive to Cody, WY via the Beartooth All-American Scenic Drive. After having been over most of the mountains, this is by far the most beautiful mountain drive. This was my 3^rd time over the mountains, and it still takes my breath away by the incredibly tall, snow covered, and beautiful mountains.

AND…..I found another incredible drive. As you leave the Beartooth Mountains coming into Cooke City, there is a turn off before Cooke that is the Chief Joseph Scenic Drive that takes you into Cody, WY. If you ever get to this area, take this drive. It takes you up the mountain, back down again to a huge gorge, back up the mountain, and down into Cody. This valley is HUGE and just incredible. The drive gets its name from Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians. Apparently in 1877, the Calvary was attempting to wipe out 600 Nez Perce Indians and 2000 of their horses (I’m sure the Calvary would not have killed the horses – just the Indians). Under Chief Joseph’s leadership, the Nez Perce managed to out maneuver two different Calvary units (one on each side of the pass) and escape with their lives. But the drive is to die for – you must see it.

I’m heading out tomorrow to drive down across Wyoming through Casper and Cheyene, and then into Nebraska. With probably a 12 hour day of driving, I hope to end up in Grand Island, NE for the evening. Not sure if I can make it all the way back to Georgia on the next day (Aug. 2), but I’m going to give it a shot.