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CITY GUIDES: Dillon, Montana (Repost - January 1, 2011)
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Five thousand people, one for every foot above sea level. ... 14 bars. ... Seat of a county larger than three US states. Home to an all-round champion rodeo rider and endless supplies of talc. Home also to a cold blooded killer who used a pack of camel cigarettes as a blueprint to build a magnificent stone gate as a gift to his gal, Gracie. |
HIT THE ROAD: The Valentine State
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100 years ago yesterday, Arizona became the 48th state, the last piece of the puzzle in the contiguous US. “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome dangerous, leading to the most amazing view ... May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” |
FESTIVALS: Roses for Roy Rogers
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Now that’s a passel of Palominos in Pasadena. 100 to be exact, symbolizing the centennial of Roy Rogers’ birth. Horses and riders escorted a float honoring the “King of the Cowboys" … decorated with more than 11-thousand roses, five-thousand gerberas and 500 carnations…with Roy’s son and grandsons on board singing Happy Trails. |
NEWS OF THE WEST: Meals on Wheels
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As the old saying goes, ‘one man’s trash is another bear’s pre-hibernation pig-out…’ I think that’s how the saying goes… At any rate this pubescent black bear cashed in his meal ticket and took a ride in the back end of a garbage truck, gorging himself so blissfully that he didn’t realize he was being transported from the suburbs into downtown Vancouver, Canada … (the city with the coolest flag in the world). |
NEWS OF THE WEST: Unbridled Enthusiasm
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December 13th is the ‘National Day of the Horse’ in the US. Yes, we realize you weren’t aware of that fact. That’s why My-West is here! The congressional resolution reads in part: “Whereas the horse is a living link to the history of the United States; Whereas, without horses, the economy, history, and character of the United States would be profoundly different.” |
HIT THE ROAD: There Otter Be A Law – of Nature
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Now do yourself a favor and take four minutes and 35 seconds out of your busy weekend to have a look at an absolutely stunning compilation of images captured last winter in Yellowstone Park. ... |
HIT THE ROAD: Away in the Menger – Rough Riders Apply at the Bar
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By the late 1880s the Menger Hotel, in San Antonio, was one of the nation’s finest hotels. Its bar was outfitted with solid cherry wood, French mirrors and gold-plated spittoons…good enough for Teddy Roosevelt in 1898 when he recruited his famous Rough Riders to fight in the Spanish American war. The hotel also hosted Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee (we assume not at the same time!), as well as luminaries such as Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Lilly Langtry, Mae West, Babe Ruth, Oscar Wilde and Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
HIT THE ROAD: What Lies Beneath
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Do we really need any more evidence that everything’s big in Texas? Those million acre fires may be out but the drought that fueled them lingers in THE worst and longest dry spell the Lone Star State has ever recorded. ... One unforeseen silver lining is that history is revealing itself throughout the region as man-made lakes recede in the face of the very drought conditions they were supposed to ameliorate. And so, long forgotten villages like Bluffton are revealed for a short while ... |
HIT THE ROAD: Hot Springs Eternal – 10 Curative Qualities of Western Hot Springs
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That said, here are 10 good reasons to visit nature’s hot tubs: |
FESTIVALS: Burning Man Revived
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For those of you who saw our post on this year’s Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada, here is a beautiful time-lapse video. It shows the festival rising in an empty basin of sand to a city of 50,000. And when the Burning Man and the Temple of Transition are finally consumed by flame, the city then fades away again – back to the desolate desert expanse. |
NEWS OF THE WEST: Cubs Vs. Cougars – The Cavorting Carnivores
 
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Obviously Zeus the watch-cat was Lion down on the job. Caught napping, our fearless feline awakened to the pitter-patter of Puma paws on the back deck of this Boulder, Colorado home. In a classic case of fight or flight, Zeus…did neither. Obviously, he couldn’t be bothered. Meanwhile in Montana this family of rambunctious bruins scrambled up an Aspen tree near Whitefish, Montana. No one knows why…confusion…fear…we’re guessing it probably wasn’t the view… But they sure brought traffic to a halt on highway 93 as nearly 100 cars stopped to take a look. |
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Visited by about 15 million people every single day. For two decades. Rick O'Shay and his cartoon cohorts were the brainchild of Stan Lynde, award-winning author of eight western novels, a master storyteller with a singular talent for dialog. |
HIT THE ROAD: We Bearly Knew Ya’ – 10 Surprising Facts About Yellowstone
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In an effort to entertain and enlighten the kids en route, I uncovered some things about Yellowstone that entertained and enlightened me more than anyone else and since they didn’t impress the kids I’m trying ten of them out on you: 10. Tiny little Isa Lake is the only body of water that empties into both sides of the Continental Divide…feeding both the Missouri and mighty Columbia rivers. |
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We're just back from our road trip through Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Along the way we passed through about a hundred small towns. And one thing they all have in common is a one-room post office. Here are a few more to add to our prior post, Post Modern Mails. |
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On My-West’s recent road trip, we saw dogs of all stripes and sizes, sitting in, on, under, and around their owners’ pickups. There’s not much that makes a dog happier than to ride in the open air, head and tongue hanging over the side railing, feeling the wind in their fur. Here are some pictures of Fidos in Flatbeds, Pooches in Pickups, doing their thing, being our best friends, Wagging in Wagons & Waiting at the Tailgate. |
HIT THE ROAD: Bannack Star Route - Haulin’ the Mail
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The F-S is a good 40 miles from town, connected by a stretch of two-lane that…well, let’s put it this way, if you’re looking for the road less traveled, you’ll most certainly pass by the F-S on the way. As a kid it wasn’t always easy to catch a ride out to the ranch, so on a few occasions I became unofficial freightage of the US postal service, riding shotgun on ‘The Stage.’ |
HIT THE ROAD: Post Modern Mails
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The USPS plans to shutter as many as 37-hundred affiliates in an effort to regain solvency…85 of those are scattered throughout Montana and in some cases closure will leave patrons up to 60 miles away from the next post office. As one customer in Dixon, Montana said, “a town without a post office becomes a ghost town.” Not that we have anything against ghost towns, but… The My-West team is fighting back in our own small way… |
HIT THE ROAD: A Birthday Cake For Canyonlands
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In the parlance of geologists, “The park is characterized by sedimentary rock, which has been deformed by anticlines, synclines and monoclines.“ Yikes! It was the miners and cowboys of a bit more wistful nature that lent more imaginative nicknames to the outcroppings and chasms… - Candlestick Tower |
NEWS OF THE WEST: La Rue de Ralph - A Medium Rarity
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No, this is NOT Paris, Texas, nor Paris, Idaho, nor Paris, South Dakota. This is the fashion capital of the world... Boulevard Saint-Germaine des Pres, to be exact. |
FESTIVALS: Burning Man: The Desert Blooms in August
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Burning Man: A celebration of art and alternate lifestyles and transcendence and the counterculture and eccentricity and pixilation … A touch-down on an alien planet … A festival that began in 1986 when 20 friends burned an 8-foot tall structure on a beach in California … and has morphed into the annual blossoming of a full-fledged city in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada … |
NEWS OF THE WEST: If the RL is Rockin' ...
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Given his brand name, you might expect a parade of polo ponies, but Ralph Lauren has chosen a western wedding fiesta for the marriage of his son David and Lauren Bush. Security is tight but word has it a western saloon has been set up along with Tipis and cabins, not to mention mountain scenery right out of the John Wayne version of True Grit. |
HIT THE ROAD: Last Weekend – Labor Day the My-West Way
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Summer going to the mountains…Summer going to the lake … Summer going to the Rodeo … Summer staying right home. Any way you look at it, summer’s almost over. Here are our 10 favorite Labor Day detours … |
NEWS OF THE WEST: A ‘Fortune’ Teller – In the Truest Sense
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The Montana Heritage Commission has found that the Gypsy in the Virginia City arcade is one of only two or three “verbal” fortune-tellers left in the world! And magician David Copperfield has gone a step further, saying he believes it’s the only one. He’s reportedly offered $2-million for the relic, hoping to make it the crown jewel in his collection of turn-of the century penny arcade games. |
FESTIVALS: Maynard Dixon Country 2011: An Artists’ Artist
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In many ways Maynard Dixon was ahead of his time. None before him understood the brute grace of the stylized forms of the West as well as he did. Artists painting at the Maynard Dixon Country invitational this week in Mt. Carmel, Utah, are among the best in the country and they are up to the challenge. |
FESTIVALS: Puttin’ the WOW in Powwow
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It is considered the largest American Indian Tipi encampment in the US, and it’s in place for the next four nights…The Crow Fair, celebrating its 93rd year at Crow Agency on the banks of the Little Bighorn River, (yes, THAT Little Bighorn) south of Billings, Montana. Organizers bill it as “a giant family reunion under the Big Sky.” |
HIT THE ROAD: Everything's Better with Blue Bonnets On It
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We received these gorgeous pictures purporting to be of a western Texas highway, fairly bursting in bucolic, byway blue, only with closer inspection revealing something with a buzz far more dangerous than bees in your bonnets. |
NEWS OF THE WEST: John Ford's Stamp of Approval
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Ford has achieved immortality based on the scene portrayed on the stamp, the broad shoulders of John Wayne and Monument Valley; scenery Ford claimed was the true star of his westerns, and featured in one of the most famous opening scenes in cinematic history - The Searchers. ... Yeah, pretty flashy, but give me Liberty Valance any day. |
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WHAM! BAM! POW! BIFF! Yes, BIFF as in Bicknell International Film Festival, a southern Utah tradition since 1995. Past themes include:
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HIT THE ROAD: The Five Loneliest Roads in the West
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To paraphrase the nursery rhyme, ‘solitude is very sad – outta gas is twice as bad.’ With that in mind, you might want to top off the tank before you try the following five highways. In fact, you’ll more likely spot a UFO than oncoming traffic ... |
NEWS OF THE WEST: Royal Flush - Will & Kate at the Calgary Stampede
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His Rocky Mountain High-ness, Britain's Prince William and his bride Princes Kate donned specially made rabbit fur cowboy hats for the grand parade at that 10-day cowboy cavalcade known as the Calgary Stampede ... |
HIT THE ROAD: BAR NONE – Round 1 – The Cowboy Bar, Meeteetse, Wyoming
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The first of our occasional series on western watering holes! What do a ruthless cattle baron, Butch Cassidy, Amelia Earhart and Al Capone's personal chef have in common? |
NEWS OF THE WEST: Five Rules of Summer Skiing – Greatest Slush on Earth
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Skiing Snowbird, Utah on the 4th of July, 2011 … And you wondered why they call it the “Bunny Hill?” |
FESTIVALS: July Fourth - The Seeds of Greatness
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Everyone had their own way of dealing with watermelon seeds. Mine was simply to ignore and swallow them. My Aunt Ruth told me I'd soon have watermelons growing out of my ears. I countered that it would more likely be corn. It took her awhile to see the humor in that. |
NEWS OF THE WEST: Cowboys Get Their Due – From the Barons of Bull
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‘The Hill’ reports that the US Senate has recessed for the July 4th holiday after approving a bipartisan resolution to “recognize the contributions of cowboys and cowgirls to American life.” The measure designates July 23 as ‘National Day of the American Cowboy.’ ... Well, at least they got something right. |
CITY GUIDES: On the Shoulder of the Wind Rivers - Lander, Wyoming
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If you drive into Lander for the first time, it won’t take long for you to recognize that the Coalter Block is the hot spot in town. It’s a good sign when the locals and the tourists frequent the same watering hole. |
HIT THE ROAD: My-West Road Trip – First Impressions
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Let’s just say that our love for the west and awe of those who inhabit it has been doubly re-enforced by the things we’ve seen, the people we’ve met and the stories we’ve heard over the past four days and 13-hundred miles… |
CITY GUIDES: Off the Beaten Track - Dell, Montana
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If you find yourself between Idaho Falls, Idaho and Butte, Montana on I-15 and you’re looking for a good place to eat, don’t wait for the big city. Stop in Dell, Montana, population 35. Every time we drive north to visit family we stop in Dell and they’ve never disappointed us yet. This little town is trying hard and they’re doing a great job of making sure that you’ll want to return next time. |
HIT THE ROAD: Come Hail and High Water
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Still on the road - lots of great posts starting tomorrow! |
FESTIVALS: Welcome to Cody – My oh May
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-- Albert Einstein Not every traveler gets a welcome by Buffalo Bill himself when they arrive at Cody “International” Airport in the wilds of Wyoming. But 26-year old Vanessa Schwartz and her friend, Janina Datow are no ordinary tourists. The Koberg, Germany native won an all-expense paid 10-day trip for two to Cody as the 200,000th visitor at last summer’s Karl May Western Festival in Bad Segeburg, Germany. |
HIT THE ROAD: The Thing – One More for the Road
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You’ll start seeing the billboards as soon as you cross from California into Arizona, or heading west from the New Mexico border. And you’ll keep seeing them, the deeper you drive into the desert – ‘Mystery of the Desert’ – ‘The Thing’ - 247 road signs in all, captivating the kids’ imaginations and enticing the weary traveler to go even further out of their way ... |
HIT THE ROAD: Utah’s Son of Speed – Racing on a Ribbon of Salt
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This is the “Mormon Meteor,” one of the world’s most valuable cars…a custom built Dusenberg built with only one goal in mind…breaking speed records. The 1939 version generated 750hp with a top speed of 275 MPH. And this is the man who piloted the 22-hundred pound beast ... adventurer ... pioneer ... visionary ... David Abbot Jenkins.
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HIT THE ROAD: Big Medicine in a Small Package
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This is no bull…but then again it is. A rare white buffalo calf has been born on a ranch in north Texas…owned by a Native American descendent of Chief Sitting Bull. As we all know from my post several days ago on “Big Medicine” a white buffalo is a portent for many plains tribes…and therefore tribal leaders from around the country will be gathering soon to have a look at the newborn critter. |
HIT THE ROAD: Western Vacations Week Two – The White Bison
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Our first stop is the state capital, Helena, home of the White Bison. Clorox had nothing to do with this freak of nature, born on the Flathead Indian reservation in 1933 and revered by the Blackfeet as “Big Medicine,” which became his nickname. And Big Medicine fit the bill, measuring six feet from hoof to hump and weighing in at 19-hundred pounds. |
HIT THE ROAD: WESTERN VACATIONS – Discover Your Routes
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4 Bucks a gallon be damned, Memorial Day is approaching at a speed that would surely merit a night in jail if Mother Earth were twirling up the turnpike in an SUV. So with the family outing looming large, the My-West staff has assembled a series of helpful hints to enhance your vacation, entice Dad to stop for something other than gas, food and lodging and perhaps even keep the kids’ noses out of the play station for a few minutes. |
HIT THE ROAD: Winter 2010/2011 - ENOUGH ALREADY!
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My Uncle Robert says this is the toughest winter he's ever experienced in southwest Montana and he's pretty tough himself. Now we read that the Sylvan Pass road into Yellowstone Park has been re-opened to 'limited' traffic after being blocked by severe avalanches… |
NEWS OF THE WEST: Montana Politics - Irons in the Fire
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Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has been vetoing legislation he decries as “frivolous” almost as fast as the state legislature can crank it out. Never the shrinking violet, he’s now brought out his “VETO” branding iron to ceremoniously transform those bills into puffs of smoke... |
NEWS OF THE WEST: Good Thing She Didn't Come From Poughkeepsie
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"Nan Collins, my manager, came from Gary, Indiana and suggested I adopt that name. She felt it was more exciting than Frank. I figured I’d give it a try. Good thing she didn’t come from Poughkeepsie." Gary Cooper |
FESTIVALS: Colorado Burro Racing – Haulin’ Ass
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It’s said that burro racing is the only sport indigenous to Colorado and there’s even a movement a-hoof there to make it the official state sport. There are two legends on its origins. The first harkens back to two miners striking gold and racing back to the claims office. ... The second concerns a few drunken miners at a bar in Leadville, Colorado. ... |
NEWS OF THE WEST: Camargue Cowboys – Heavy on the Gallic
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The similarities are baffling at first – the weathered faces - broad-brimmed hats - sturdy, fleet-footed horses - the love of a stiff shot of whiskey of an evening. But mostly it’s the independent spirit, the love of nature, the freedom of the outdoors that binds them in spirit with their American cousins. |
NEWS OF THE WEST: A Traditional Western Wedding - Western Germany, That Is
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Tübingen is about as close to every American’s image of Germany as you can get…crooked, narrow pathways meander through a labyrinth of intricately detailed thousand year old half-timbered buildings … A turn through the town square reveals a centuries-old Rathaus…and outside, a wedding party is gathered, gaily festooned in their traditional cowboy attire ... |
HIT THE ROAD: The Mantle Ranch - Spring Roundup
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400 hundred head of horses that haven’t seen a human being in six months. Headed up and herded down to the Mantle ranch near Three Forks, Montana. Springtime on the high plains of Montana brings its own rituals…and the renewal of unique and valuable traditions. |
HIT THE ROAD: West Texas - Drive Like Hell, You'll Get There
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The Houston Chronicle reports Texas legislators are considering upping the speed limit to 85 MPH (136 KMH) in remote parts of the state. Read that, West Texas. The Lone Star State already boasts the fastest speed limits in the country and yet traffic fatalities are trending downward. Still, the article quotes a Sheriff who fears West Texans just can’t drive 85… “You put it up to 85, and they drive 5-10 mph faster they’ll be going close to 100.” |
MUSEUMS: Big Nose George - Wyoming Justice
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The outlaw “Big Nose” George Parrott would surely have died in obscurity had his body not been discovered by construction workers 72 years after his death, buried in a whiskey barrel. A run of the mill outlaw with little to distinguish his bad ways, Parrott was hung from a telegraph pole by a lynch mob in Rawlins, Wyoming after trying to escape from jail. |
HIT THE ROAD: Glacier Park - There's Snow Business ...
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Progress Report, road clearing crew, Glacier National Park: "Plowing operations on the west side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road begin April 1, 2011.” Reminds me of this classic VW Bug commercial from the 70s... |
FESTIVALS: Cowboy Theme Stampedes German Carnival
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It’s over for another year. The “silly season” as it’s called in Germany. Fasching. Karneval. You expect this kind of thing in Rio and New Orleans but the Germans have a different reputation…stolid, dour, intellectual. And stereotypes are there for a reason. So it’s all the more amazing to see the great western German cities of Mainz, Düsseldorf and Cologne in the midst of Carnival fever: |
HIT THE ROAD: Burma Shave - Tuesday Morning Engine Starter
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Hurry while supplies last, we’ve only got 6990 Burma Shave ditties left! In the meantime, here’s some more trusty trivia:
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HIT THE ROAD: Yellowstone Park - AKA Jellystone
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Why is it that every time I see a picture of Old Faithful these days, an image crops up in my mind of a lit fuse sizzling down toward a very big time bomb? Yes, and good morning to YOU, too. |
HIT THE ROAD: Burma Shave - Renew Your Poetic License Here
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Prepare here for the Burma Shave Quiz, to be held at a time of our choosing: |
CITY GUIDES: That Loving Feeling
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Loving County, Texas is most famous for what it doesn’t have – namely people. And it looks set to retain the title of least populated county in the US for another 10 years. |
HIT THE ROAD: Saving Face - Burma Shave
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As I recall there were three sets of Burma Shave signs out on old highway 91 between Dillon, Montana and Idaho Falls…a stretch of roughly 140 miles surrounded by mountains and sagebrush. One was about jackrabbits having to pack their own lunch and the other warned motorists to be careful of Mormon crickets, but the one I remember best was printed in white lettering on six red signs ... |
FESTIVALS: Ellensburg, Washington - Cowboy Capital
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Ellensburg, Washington – Only about 90 miles southeast of Seattle but separated by that magnificent lifestyle divide known as the Cascade Range…home to one of America’s oldest, biggest and most prestigious Rodeos and for the past seven years, the Spirit of the West Cowboy Gathering, a winter weekend celebration of cowboy music, poetry and the western mystique. |
FESTIVALS: Sundance Film Festival: 'Buck'
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- Robert Redford – The Sundance Film Festival is well underway, with a new Documentary Premier section, intended to put greater focus on the independent edge of the fast-growing documentary market. Among those being screened this year is a doc entitled “Buck,” an impressive story of the original Horse Whisperer, and fellow Montanan Buck Brannaman. |
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Five thousand people, one for every foot above sea level. ... 14 bars. ... Seat of a county larger than three US states. Home to an all-round champion rodeo rider and endless supplies of talc. Home also to a cold blooded killer who used a pack of camel cigarettes as a blueprint to build a magnificent stone gate as a gift to his gal, Gracie. |