The most interesting thing about today was crossing into Montana, and the 3 stories that happened to me almost immediately. But first, the second most interesting thing was the Teddy Roosevelt National Park, which I rode about 8 miles into. I did not see bison, sadly, but I saw a lot of cool wildlife. I love the sounds of nature, especially the prairie dogs, which really go at it if you just stand there and let them go. There must have been a million of them. Anyway, on to Montana things:
1) As I stood in line at the Re-Treat (think: local Dairy Queen) to buy my rolled ice cream (it’s ice cream they make right in front of you in a flavor and color of your choice, and lay out into 4 tortilla-shaped ice cream rolls, see picture below, apparently it’s a thing in Pennsylvania, why they had it here I don’t know) and Bratwurst with sauerkraut, the guy behind me paid for my food and then asked me to sit and eat with him. He was 100% Montana; I wish I could have gotten a picture with him but I felt weird. He had crazy white hair and whiskers and told me all about the housing prices in Bozeman (too high), the weather tomorrow (nice but hot), Palm Springs (nice but hot) and living in Montana (born and raised).
2) As I was riding up to town, on a small county road with nobody around, a red pickup drove past me and then stopped about 1000 yards up ahead on the right. This always sketches me out slightly so I was on edge, and as I rode towards him, I saw a shape come out the window. My first thought was, “that looks like a gun”. My second thought was “how gauche, mr city slicker. not everyone in Montana carries a gun, it’s probably your imagination.” Then he got out, with a very large gun. I”m thinking a rifle, with a wooden stock, straight out of a bad Western movie. Now I’m about 500 feet from him. He raises it and takes aim - not at me, but at some cows off to the side. I freak out and start pedaling about 100 miles an hour. He starts muttering something. I honestly almost shit my pants. I kept waiting for the gun shot behind me as I rode as fast as humanly possible without looking like I was. Now, I look back on it, and it’s obvious; he was using the sight on the gun to look at the cows in more detail. But holy shit. Welcome to Montana.
3) On the way into town I was advised to check out the dinosaur museum, which was brand new and had a very cool dinosaur coming out of the side of the building. A good start. I walked up the door, which had a hand-typed sign: “Find the truth, creation truth.org”. “Huh",” I thought. Then I looked through the double doors. There were some normal museum things at first glance, but there was also a sign: “We are proud to present the facts about dinosaurs through the lens of biblical tradition.”
I did not go into the museum.
