Owly055
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2014
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I live 20 miles from the nearest real town ( population about 2K), 80 miles from the nearest city (about 40K), 100 miles from the nearest "real city".... Billings...... pop 100K, and 500 miles from the nearest place most of you would consider a real city..... (Denver). The middle or nowhere by most people's definition, God's country by mine. With the great plains rolling out in front of me and the last outpost of the Rockies behind me, it's the best of everything America has to offer........ in my view. I absolutely dread my forays into the heavily populated areas west and south of me, and far worse those east of me. I don't pull the keys on my vehicles, and it would take me an hour or more to find my front door key. If my neighbor needs my car or pickup, they are welcome to it. If they need my phone, they have only to open the door to find it. If they are hungry, my fridge is full of food............. Have a home brew while you are at it!! It's the way we live out here. Nobody steals anything..... If you need my can of gas to get to town....... It's yours. I know you will make it good. I don't even have a gun safe. You need my rifle to put down an injured animal....... take your pick. The ammo is there, and they are ALL loaded.
It's the way of the west, the ONLY way I really understand. Theft does not happen here...... ever. I've borrowed vehicles to get home a number of times, used the phone, had a cup of coffee, left a note........ So has everybody else. It's a way of life that goes back to the homesteaders.
This morning I encountered a strange duck....... a lady bicycler from somewhere back east. Well off the beaten path, she rolled up and asked for coffee with sugar, and bread with peanut butter.... exhausted and dehydrated, I gave her a homebrew instead, as I had none of what she wanted. There is a cafe 3/4 miles away.......... all downhill, and I suggested that she have breakfast there. She was very afraid..... " I don't know what goes on in the kitchen....... I can't leave my bike out front...... somebody might steal it or take my things......". I explained that this sort of thing NEVER happens here. I can't even remember the last time something was stolen, and I know the folks who own the cafe.... I've watched them in the kitchen....... even helped them. She ranted and raved about mafia and drugs, about crime in Billings, Bozeman, and Missoula, about how she traveled from one bicycle club to the next...... Obviously in fear. Helena being the next one. She talked about Giaanforte and violence, and I explained to her that he was NOT from Montana, but New Jersey.......... She talked about the news, and I explained to her that Montana was safe, especially rural Montana. People here don't rob, murder or rape people......... We help each other, and regard a stranger as a friend we haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting............
How pathetic!!!........ I've never feared anybody in the rural west.... in 62 years. How could someone from the urban east be afraid here??? What's to fear? Most folks would offer to load her bicycle in the pickup, and haul her the 20 or 24 miles to the next town.......... the gun rack might carry a couple of loaded rifles, but we carry them for varmints.......NOT PEOPLE. How have we become so alienated from each other?? Or have we? Personally I find friendship everywhere I go........ If I'm open to it. I've walked the streets of New York City, Miami, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and other cities. I find the intensity a bit overwhelming, but the people mostly decent. If I wander into Bruno Idaho, Winnifred or Square Butte or Lincoln , Montana, Lovell, Wyoming, Paulina, Burns, McDermott, Tekoa, Colfax, Odessa, Goldendale..........Jarbidge, Beowawe, Austin, Adel, and countless other places, I feel right at home........... Is there something wrong with me?
H.W.
It's the way of the west, the ONLY way I really understand. Theft does not happen here...... ever. I've borrowed vehicles to get home a number of times, used the phone, had a cup of coffee, left a note........ So has everybody else. It's a way of life that goes back to the homesteaders.
This morning I encountered a strange duck....... a lady bicycler from somewhere back east. Well off the beaten path, she rolled up and asked for coffee with sugar, and bread with peanut butter.... exhausted and dehydrated, I gave her a homebrew instead, as I had none of what she wanted. There is a cafe 3/4 miles away.......... all downhill, and I suggested that she have breakfast there. She was very afraid..... " I don't know what goes on in the kitchen....... I can't leave my bike out front...... somebody might steal it or take my things......". I explained that this sort of thing NEVER happens here. I can't even remember the last time something was stolen, and I know the folks who own the cafe.... I've watched them in the kitchen....... even helped them. She ranted and raved about mafia and drugs, about crime in Billings, Bozeman, and Missoula, about how she traveled from one bicycle club to the next...... Obviously in fear. Helena being the next one. She talked about Giaanforte and violence, and I explained to her that he was NOT from Montana, but New Jersey.......... She talked about the news, and I explained to her that Montana was safe, especially rural Montana. People here don't rob, murder or rape people......... We help each other, and regard a stranger as a friend we haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting............
How pathetic!!!........ I've never feared anybody in the rural west.... in 62 years. How could someone from the urban east be afraid here??? What's to fear? Most folks would offer to load her bicycle in the pickup, and haul her the 20 or 24 miles to the next town.......... the gun rack might carry a couple of loaded rifles, but we carry them for varmints.......NOT PEOPLE. How have we become so alienated from each other?? Or have we? Personally I find friendship everywhere I go........ If I'm open to it. I've walked the streets of New York City, Miami, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and other cities. I find the intensity a bit overwhelming, but the people mostly decent. If I wander into Bruno Idaho, Winnifred or Square Butte or Lincoln , Montana, Lovell, Wyoming, Paulina, Burns, McDermott, Tekoa, Colfax, Odessa, Goldendale..........Jarbidge, Beowawe, Austin, Adel, and countless other places, I feel right at home........... Is there something wrong with me?
H.W.