10 Rules to live by....

While traveling I intentionally boycotted the news (except for weather and only then when it was threatening) in all it's various forms for the duration of my trip. That's an incredibly unheard of thing for me to admit, however in doing so I missed the news that Justice Sandra Gardebring (Ogren)  passed away.   I had known for about a month that it was coming so it wasn't unexpected.  However I didn't learn the actual news until this morning, 10 days after the fact.  The reality was the day I left on my journey, hers ended.

Justice Gardebring (even with her passing I can't call her anything else) would have been supportive of my recent road trip independence ...and even more supportive of just letting everything go.  She had a knack of knowing what was important and not and had fought bravely on and off, for almost a decade, with her battle against cancer.  She was fun, feisty, warm, giving, hardworking and respectful.  She was a force of positive energy to fight the good fight, a calming voice of reason, a butt kicker when needed, a leader, mentor and the consummate public servant.   To know her best is to read her "10 Rules to Live by...."

1. Don't be a jackass

2. Listen more than you talk

3. Find time in every day to reach out to someone

4. Always: Please - and - Thank You

5. You can't over-communicate important ideas

6. Don't eat at your desk or in your car

7. You don't have to be at every meeting

8. You can accomplish a lot more if you don't care who gets the credit

9. Tell the people you love that you love them

10. Everything does not have to match

Not a bad list of rules to live by....RIP Justice Gardebring.

Battle at the Little Bighorn

It was tough to leave Billings, despite our best efforts there were stories and memories left lingering and the weekend was a bit of an emotional blur. On the way out of town we drove up to Airport Road in an attempt to see if the distant Beartooth Mts. were visible, sadly they too were clouded in a distant haze.

Traveling southeast we turned off at the Hardin exit and headed towards the Little Bighorn Battlefield Monument. It had been 30+ years since Sous-Chef had last visited. Since that time there has been little change in the landscape but there has been a total change in philosophy and understanding of the events that took place there on June 25, 1876. It is a place where truth merges with myth and reality with legend.

"Custer's Last Rally," by John Mulvany

First established as a national cemetery on January 29, 1879; proclaimed National Cemetery of Custer's Battlefield Reservation on December 7, 1886 (AKA Custer National Cemetery); changed to Custer Battlefield National Monument by act of Congress on March 22, 1946; changed to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument on December 10, 1991.  With each name change there has been a sense of new focus to the area.  It is interesting to note that as early as 1881 the horses of the 7th Calvary were memorialized and yet it wasn't until 110 years later that that we had grown enough to commemorate the native peoples as well. 

I highly recommend anyone visiting our national parks, national monuments and like avail themselves to the interpretive programs available at the location you are visiting. They offer depth, context and understanding to the places you are visiting. Secondly take the time to explore the site…forego the quick photo op and the urge to take off to the next place. While there we viewed the film produce by the National Park Service, an interpretive session with a park ranger and a walking tour also with the park ranger. On certain days they also have guest speakers as well.

View from Last Stand Hill

The interpretive programs made some interesting comparisons between June 25, 1876 and September 11, 2001: the state of our union, the economy, the ideals and shortcomings of our leadership, the sense of loss and hopelessness felt by the citizenry at the events that unfolded on their respective days. The anger and need for retribution, the desire to preserve a way of life and the hunger for consumables like gold and oil.

Time has given us the perspective to look at the events of June 25th with hindsight. Many myths have been proven inaccurate either by historical or archaeological findings. One of the greatest being there were no survivors, in reality there always was including both army soldiers and Native Peoples. It is only through modern scholarship that these accounts have been legitimized and the other part of the story are beginning to be commemorated at the battlefield.

They have started adding red granite graves for the fallen Native Peoples.

The Indian Memorial: Peace Through Unity

The site's first mission was and continues to be a National Cemetery for veterans of our nation's wars, known and unknown soldiers from abandoned military posts, spouses of military personnel buried there, woman and children from frontier outposts, "Indians", scouts and Medal of Honor recipients.

Bivouac of the Dead

The muffled drums sad roll has beat

The soldiers last tattoo

No more on life’s parade shall meet

That brave and fallen few

On eternal camping-ground,

Their silent tents are spread,

And glory guards with solemn round

The bivouac of the dead.

Theodore O’Hara

August, 1847

Good girls go bad...

...or the horse made me do it.  Still not fully recovered from the weekend's adventures MB is still out of commission and Sous-Chef once again takes to the keyboard.  After a series of mundane but necessary errands Sous-Chef, MB, and company set upon getting our wicked on Saturday and Sunday. 

First stop "the mall".  What started out as a quick in/out stop ended up having some serious complications to my wallet.  My friend/sister needed to stop into Montague's Jewelry (a local institution)  to have her Yogo Sapphire checked and cleaned.  Now I should mention Montague's is known for their original designs and for working with yogo sapphires in particular.

While attending my twenty-year I had shopped for a Yogo, but frankly I couldn't afford it.  For years I planned to get one at my 30th, however with recent financial events being what they were (new car and computer)  I decided I would be good and not tempt the financial wants and needs balance yet again.  As soon as we hit the mall I knew it was a foregone conclusion, if I found something I liked it would be coming home with me.  Fortunately my eye and my wallet instantly picked the same item.  MB ponied up for a photo-op with the Yogos and we were off.  I do think the fine staff of Montague's thought we were insane, but I'm sure the commission more than made up for it. 

To ease the pain of the semi-impulsive purchase our happy group decided it was O'Beer Thirty somewhere and we soon settled into trying a few of the local brews.  The following represents a the debauchery that ensued. 

MB reviews the menu at the Bone's Brewery:
Sharptooth Volcanic Porter and steak fingers.

MB earning some beer money at the casino next door...

MB samples the Dog Slobber Brown Ale at Angry Hanks

The official "class reunion beer" was Whitetail Wheat from the Montana Brewery Co. However there was also opportunity to sample the perennial favorite Moose Drool and the seasonal ale Summer Honey from the Big Sky Brewery out of Missoula, MT in my motel room.

Later that evening "the girls" attend the pig roast with our classmates out at Oscar's Dreamland.  The food was great, but the conversation even better.  We laughed...we cried...and our reunion motto "We are Family" was never more true.  It seems the older we get, the differences of our youth become more negligible and in reality they always were we just didn't know it.   

On Sunday my other family and I recalled memories of adventures past including high times at the Red Door, the Horseshoe, Tiny's and Lucky's on Grand.  Along the way we raised our glasses in memory of Pappy as we laughed, cried and laughed some more.  It was a fitting end to an emotional weekend. 

I'll be leaving Billings this morning...MB and I will be taking the southern scenic route home.  Our first stop will be the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

What goes around comes around

Sous-Chef is back at the keyboard as "MB"  has had a little too much adventure and is trying to recover...  Our day got off to a splendid start, downstairs at the coffee shop.  On one hand it was like stepping back in time on the other it had a very cosmo feel.  No sooner than I had sat down at the counter when I began to overhear a conversation between a couple I suspected was from Australia (and I was right) and a local woman of about 80 who obviously makes the Dude Rancher Restaurant a regular outing.

They were engaged in a lively conversation regarding world travel.  Where they each had been and what they had done....and discussions about the "next" trip to be taken.  The Australian couple were asking questions about the area including local history, industries, and even the woman's own personal history.  It was obvious that these three seasoned travelers understood what it means to travel...not just "visit the sites" but learning about the people and places you visit. 

I listened in silence as I took stock of my surroundings. Not much had changed in the 30 years since I had last been there. I did notice the dishes bearing the Dude Rancher's own pattern were gone expect for the collectors pieces on display. The dishes like the carpeting throughout the Lodge were designed using livestock brands of local ranchers. The food, however, was still made from scratch (including the pies)...and was just as good as I remembered it

After breakfast I met up with my sister from another Mother and recently departed Father and her husband.  We spent part of the afternoon touring the area.  I swear the city has tripled in size in the ten years since I was last here.  With the "new" I was also able to see how the community has adapted and rediscovered itself over time. 

Driving up Grand Avenue through the heart of town on the street where our high school is located, more than a few ghosts were recalled. Rolling past Daylis Stadium (home of the Broncs) we noted the last time our high school won the state football championship was the year we graduated. Sandy's just up the next block is but a faded memory as we recalled the $0.25 crinkle cut fries served in a brown paper bag, and just what was the name of the place that served the pizzaritos anyway? 

We also drove through my old neighborhood.  When we first moved to town, the neighborhood was brand spanking new.  All the folks up and down the block were the original owners and had invested time, money and energy into the homes and the yards that went with them. We all were transplants moving into Billings from somewhere else, and within a span of a few short years we had all moved on to our next adventure.  On my last visit 10 years ago I was in tears as I drove up the street and to our house.  It hadn't been well taken care of and our neighbors homes hadn't  fared much better.  Much to my delight on this visit the neighborhood appears to be on somewhat of a rebound.  
 

Negotiating my way through downtown was based more on muscle memory than the missing landmarks of my youth.  The locally owned department stores and long standing businesses were long gone replaced by specialty shops, eateries and such; just another example of how the town has reinvented itself.  With the majority of retail and commerce moving out to the ever expanding "West End" downtown has come into its own, not the dust bowl of my last visit. 
 
 Life is like a wheel, what goes around comes around and it applies to communities as much as it does people that live in them.

Yes you can go home again....

Before leaving Miles City, Sous-Chef decided to check out all the personal sites before leaving town.  Heading west on Main Street Sous-Chef was reminded of such events as her grandparents meeting at the soda fountain at Foster Drug (sadly no longer there), her father's stories of washing the windows of Main Street business to earn money, and the knowledge that most of those buildings on Main Street had construction, remodeling and/or finishing work done by her great-grandfather or her grandfather.  At the end of  Main Street was City Park, she recalled walking by with her Aunt on their way to Great-Grandma's house for homemade doughnuts.  Then we drove past the Rangeriders Museum and stopped into the Custer County Art & Heritage Center before heading out of town.

Back on the open road; it's true what they say the sky is big in Montana and it was a beautiful blue, laced with happy white clouds.  Sort of the iconic images that make the phrase road trip meaningful.  Our next stop was Pompey's Pillar.  It's the only known spot where Lewis and Clark left evidence of their visit on their entire adventure.  Following the Native peoples before him, Mr. Clark carved his name and date into the rock.  We climbed to the top, but the wind was blowing so hard I thought we would both take flight.

We arrived in Billings in the early afternoon and checked into the Dude Rancher Lodge, our home for the next few days.   Like most things on this trip this motel has a meaning to Sous-Chef.  She stayed here her very first night in town (back in the day) when her family first moved to town.  The next morning she walked across the street to enroll in school.  By the time school was out for the day the moving van had arrived and she went home on the school bus having no clue as to where she was going.  Anyway the Dude Rancher was recently placed on the National Historic Register, and the people are very nice.  Check out the lobby...

 

 

Last night Sous-Chef went to meet and greet her fellow classmates "Class of 1980 Billings Senior High School".  My daddy Bronc is their school mascot... She had a fun time seeing everyone, they had a street party downtown in front of a local microbrewery called Montana Brewing Company.  There were people she hadn't seen in 30, 20 and 10 years and some people she didn't know back in the day but now consider them "new old friends".  The stories and memories are well worth the trip.  We are looking forward to tonight's Pig Roast and I've been invited along so I can tell you all about it in the morning.  

We're off to start our day...see you all on the flip side.  ~MB~

The Song is 500 Miles not 700

Goodbye and temporary good riddance to the feline diva. Not only did she demand control of the tuneage her caterwauling simply left me unbridled. With her out of the way....I mean loving left in the care of Grandma...we were up and out of the house bright and eary. Our first stop was Alexandria for one of the first "Minnesota Marvels" on our agenda. I wanted my picture taken with "Big Ole". According to regional lore, Big Ole and friends were the first to discover America.  They tell their story on something called the Kensington Runestone. According to Sous-Chef we know this to be a fake but fun "story".   Anyway he was much too big for me to get my picture taken with him, but we were able to get these.

Big Ole, Isn't he handsome?

Me reading the sign

On our way through North Dakota, we decided to stop and have lunch in Jamestown with the buffalo. I made some new friends and I got my picture taken with the world's largest buffalo (look real close and you'll see me by his right front hoof). We tried to have lunch with real buffalo but lady at the National Buffalo Museum said they were hiding on the back 40 of the 200 acres they live on.

Can you see me by his right front hoof?

Our next stop was the rest area near the Painted Canyon in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The painted Canyon is part of the Badlands which can be found throughout North America. In some areas they've even found real dinosaur bones. We didn't see any wild animals during our brief stop, but we were warned they live there. It was getting late and we were pressed for time so after a quick photo-op at the state line we headed straight for Miles City.

Did you know Miles City is home to Violet Beauregard of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the world famous "Bucking Horse Sale". I got all excited thinking maybe I'd get me some two-stepping action, but alas it wasn't meant to be. However, Sous-Chef had a hot date with a real cowboy last night. I didn't get to go along, but I'm told he was a fine gentleman (he even opened all the doors for her and helped her in and out of the pick-up). After showing her his fancy tripped out horse trailer they went out for a nice dinner and fine conversation; it was like meeting old family for the first time.

Well, the thunderstorm has cleared so it's time for a quick breakfast and a trip to the cemetary to pay respects to Sous-Chef's family. After a quick photo-op downtown we'll be off to Billings.

~MB~

Gone but not Forgotten

This past weekend a young friend was once again saying goodbye to one of his former classmates. I say once again because this young man has had too much loss at the tender age of 25. The most recent loss was a young man serving bravely in Afghanistan; I was overwhelmed by Drew’s response. Posted on Facebook it was thoughtful, gracious and frankly made me cry. 

It got me thinking, certainly in the last thirty years we’ve had a number of classmates die. There were a few at 10th, a few more at the 20th and more will be recognized this weekend. One person I know we shall be missing is John. John died in Nov. 2007, although I only learned of his death earlier this year. My heart sunk in a sort of selfish way…for there was always something I wanted to tell him but never got the chance and now I never will.

John provided me with one of the best memories of my senior year, little did I know then it would come to mean so much to me 30 years later. Most of you know I moved a month before starting my senior year…my father’s company transferred us from MT to MN.  However, a few weeks after leaving, the family had reason to return to Billings for a quick visit. As luck would have it, it was the same weekend as homecoming and the game was with our cross-town rivalries the West High Bears.

Early Friday morning, I walked into Senior and was standing in the hallway when I heard my name. I looked up and in the distance I could see a smiling John running down the hall towards me. He picked me up and twirled me around ala “Officer and a Gentleman”, gave me a peck on the cheek and said “I’m so happy to see you”. It was such a genuine moment and I remember being both a little shocked and a little pleased.

High school was all about insecurities and if you were in with the right/popular crowd. John was one of the “popular” ones…good student, artist, musician & thespian. I ran around with that crowd but would never considered myself one of the “in crowd”. In/out John didn’t care, he had already learned one of life’s greatest gifts…to accept people for who they are. In a brief instant he told me I may have been gone but not forgotten and while I was there I had made some kind of connection.

I’ve held on to that memory for over thirty years waiting to share it with him again. Sadly John didn’t make it to the 10th or the 20th reunions and he won’t be making this one either. The lesson learned: don’t put off telling someone they make a difference. It is far better to share the gift with the living rather than remembering them via social media after they are gone.

My thanks to the BSHS Class of 1980…for always allowing me to come home again.

Road Trip Essentials

Few things help define an epic road trip more than a travel buddy. So it is with great pleasure I introduce you to Ms Broncette (hereafter “MB”), the Thelma to my Louise. A little history for the initiated, the school mascot of Billings Senior High is the Bronc. “MB” is the product of a few sown wild oats after a night of too may Jack Daniels and some fancy two-stepping with a filly of fine pedigree.

MB is funny and bright and just a tad wicked which is good because her job description is vast and varied. In addition to being my co-pilot and wingman on this adventure; while riding shotgun she is master of all maps and tuneage; she will posse up for every photo opportunity (ala “Killroy was here”) and will post travelogue updates via all social network outlets.

Newly acquired Colt will be our faithful steed. With barely 1000 miles under his harness, he’s chomping at the bit to hit the open road. Just to let all would be cowboys know Colt’s a little protective of both MB and me so he’s been appointed bodyguard for this adventure. Keeping the two of us on the straight and narrow will be job enough I’m sure.

Snacks have been procured: pb/cheese crackers for me and cinnamon bears for MB. MB, like her father before her, only eats the heads off cinnamon bears. Why? You ask…. as any (Billings) Senior High graduate will tell you, the preferred “meat” of choice is West High School Bears our cross-town rivals.

With that I’m off to pack the most important element to this road trip…the travel tunes. I dedicate this tune for those of us in the class of 1980…no matter where you went to school. Please have a wine with the cheese ;-)  http://youtu.be/zO6D_BAuYCI

Literary License and the Road Less Traveled

Those of you, who know me, know I never do anything without a reason. In my last post I hinted the why of this blog. With this post I will attempt to tell you “why now”. Truthfully, I’ve attempted similar projects over the last two years…however they never really got off the ground. In part because I was doing them for the wrong reasons, at the wrong time and I lacked proper motivation.

Next weekend I will be attending my 30 year high school class reunion in Billings, MT. My original intent was to fly in and out…rent a car and call it good. However, two women of influence set the bar for epic road trips this summer and it got me thinking: “DANG, that sounds like fun…wish I could do that”. So thank you, Ms Linda Lou and Ms Nat, for your sweet inspiration.

OK gentle readers we've got a little fat, we've got a little flour....well you get the idea.  My upcoming epic road trip will be the first thematic arc chronicled in this blog. Over the next few days I will be introducing you to my supporting cast and sharing my preparatory neurosis and rituals before taking this show on the road. I hope you decide to come along…if nothing else to keep me on the straight and narrow or better yet take me off road. 

“It was a dark and stormy night…”

How to Make a Roux or What is a "Forever Life"

A precursor to a forever life moment usually starts with: I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. As events unfold the bad news often could have been so much worse and the good news often represents varying forms of relief. What you are left with in between is the roux… the wisdom and clarity of day to day blessings that we use as a basis for creating other good things. How you make your roux and what you do with it is up to you.

With this blogging adventure I hope to embrace and come to terms with my forever life (aka making roux). I am starting this project "mid-life" meaning: some stories have been told, some are not yet written and some are evolving as I type. True confessions, there is extreme anxiety associated with this project. While some have said I write well; others have only offered criticism and red ink.  Thus I usually try to avoid this kind of thing. However, having my thoughts digitized and gazing back at me from a faceless monitor are less fearful than the ones etched on paper.

So please be kind gentle readers...if all goes according to plan we'll all have a good time in and out of the frying pan.