Montana Day 1(ish)- Big Skies, Bare Roads, and BBQ

In all truth I can’t say today was a particularly exciting day, as staying in Nampa to host the show last night meant that in order to get to Montana today I had 8+ hours of driving to do get all the way across Idaho and up to Helena so I’ll keep this short and sweet. I got my first cup of coffee to prepare for this big driving day at a place called Moxie Java in Nampa, which was a quick and tasty local chain of coffee shops. The big advantage of hitting more of chain place was being able to just get a lot of coffee for not a lot of money and boy did I need it.

While I think I’ve done a good job this week of showcasing a lot of the natural beauty of the state of Idaho, I have to admit that the farther west you get the more some of the dynamism of the landscape gets flattened out (unless you keep going straight through to Yellowstone). I had to stop at one point to get gas, and figured I had to take a photo of this bare crossroads of endless highway where you really feel like Satan oughtta be offering kids blues guitar lessons.

While I was stopped I also got some gas station fried chicken, which was about as good as it sounds. I’ve done a pretty good job of trying to find affordable and quality local spots, but sometimes you just gotta buckle down and accept whatever looks like the best thing to eat in the gas station general store. On the plus side, the gas station general stores are much more interesting in terms of what they actually sell out West, probably because they know it might be your last chance to buy anything for a hundred miles or so.

I had heard a lot about the rugged natural wonder of the state of Montana, but I was still totally impressed with the views of snowy mountains, rolling green hills , and huge blue and white skies that dominated the skylines from the minute I crossed the border. I took this photo from possibly the most aesthetically pleasing highway rest area I’ve ever been to (great place to nap 5/5 stars) in the little town of Lima. You just feel like you could reach out and grab a cloud from any of those peaks.

My first real stop in Montana was for dinner in the mining town of Butte. I went to a great bar and grill called Sparky’s Garage. While I don’t normally associate garages with great food, they were really fantastic and the only thing particularly garage-y about them was that the walls were decked out with Americana from old timey roadside attractions which I thought was actualy kind of neat and fitting for my current living arrangement. I had to go with the Supreme Nachos because they came supremely packed with basically everything I wanted to eat, beans, cheese, veggies, tons of avocado, and tender beautifully seasoned barbecue grilled chicken all piled high on a bed of crunchy home made corn chips. It was comfort food of the highest order, and I washed it all down with an amazing local beer called the Storm the Door Vanilla Porter from Muddy Creek Brewing right there in Butte. It was rich and dark but with really great hints of vanilla that just popped and added a great touch to the flavor. If the quickest way to a man’s heart is through the stomach, then even though I didn’t do much in Butte, it was a enough to give me high hopes for the week to come.

From there I made my way to Helena and just about immediately passed out. 500+ miles of driving will do that to ya.

Favorite Random Sightings: Triangle Truck (seems like the wrong shape); “We pay cash for houses” billboard (seems sketchy); Juicity Vapors (I think trying to make a pun just made this store name nonsense) Town Pump (a wonderfully blunt name for a gas station); Santa Claus Road (I can’t even begin to express how happy it made me that this was the name of a major street in a small town in Western Montana)

Regional Observations: There’s a chain of gas stations up this Way called Stinky’s with a big Skunk as the mascot, and it made me laugh every single time

Albums Listened To: Third/Sister Lovers by Big Star (such a wild departure from their first two records, it just sounds like a 90s punk album made in 1975); This by Vic Ruggiero (some fun re-recordings of his favorite solo songs); This & That Then(Discs 1 and 2) by Bop (Harvey) (the songs are all good on their own but back to back that’s a lot of 80s ska for one car ride)

People’s Favorite Jokes: One from the world wide web-

Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Person asked a young Engineer fresh out of MIT, "And what starting salary were you looking for?"

The Engineer said, "In the neighborhood of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package."

The interviewer said, "Well, what would you say to a package of 5 weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, a company matching retirement fund for 50% of your salary, and a company car leased every 2 years -- say, a red Corvette?"

The Engineer sat up straight and said, "Wow! Are you kidding?"

And the interviewer replied, "Yeah, but you started it."

Songs of the Day:

Great Song, sad guy

One of my all time favorite songs, and all my siblings and I were at this show!

I feel like the dog really steals the show here.