Trips to Montana

When Dan and Diana moved to Montana I knew that Helena was the capitol. I had never heard of Polson or Flat Head Lake or Missoula or anything else about the place. Having lived in North Dakota for two interminable years I knew it was cold.

So it seemed inconceivable that my parents would want me to go with them for Christmas in Montana. Mom was sick then but Dan got her on a sled and shoved her down a hill. She loved it.

The next time that I went, Mom was gone. Dad and Melodie and I drove to Polson where Dan and his family joined us on a 24 hour train ride to Minneapolis, Minn. for a family reunion. I will never forget the sight of Daniel folded up in a train seat trying to sleep. If he stuck his legs out in the aisle people would literally trip over him. He was very, very uncomfortable.

I made several more trips out to Dan's home. After he and Diana were divorced he met and married Pat. They were able to buy 20 acres near Hamilton-about 30 miles south of Missoula- where Pat could raise her beloved Arabian horses. They had both graduated from trucking school and had driving jobs. I would go for a visit every 3 or 4 years and always in the summer.

For his50th Birthday Bill and I and our families went to Montana. We celebrated at the ranch of a friend on the eastern side of the Bitterroot range. It was isolated and beautiful. The shower water was heated by a wood fired stove system in a room apart from the house. It overlook the beautiful expanse of pasture and mountains in full bloom. Our Aunt Louise refused to spend the night there because there was no indoor privy! She said she had grown up without a bathroom and she was not giving up the luxury now. So Bill and family left early. But I stayed and Dan and I talked late into the night. Have you ever stood in the center of an aspen grove when their leaves have turned and the sun upon them makes the air around you golden? I have. With Dan.

My last visit was this last year just before he moved to California. He picked me up at the airport and took me to the best restaurant in Missoula, according to him. I sat at an wrought iron table on a street corner and ordered the best hotdog I can remember from the vendor there. Best restaurant in Missoula. He was right.

He put me on the back of his Harley and we went everywhere. There was a celebration of some sort at a park where a band that he knew was playing. We went. And the band was fabulous. The brass player was an old friend of his who suffered from a degenerative nerve disease. He was confined to a wheel chair but he could blow that horn!

We followed that band to the Hamilton farmer's market where I bought him a copper ring with a peace symbol on it. I have the complementary bracelet. He introduced me to the best jam and honey I had ever had. I am still on their mailing lists. The band was playing there.

We had dinner at the brewery. The band there had the brass player join them that night. It was very special.
They are now both gone from this earth. I have to believe that somewhere Dan is listening to some great horn blowing!