Before I left home I glanced in the road atlas and saw a thin red line marked 200 coming out of Missoula and heading toward Great Falls, going over Rogers Pass, and through Lincoln on its way. Great road and Lincoln is a pleasant little town geared to hunters, fishermen and snowmobilers.Their restaurant, the Lambkins I think they called it, had some good soup and really excellent cherry-rhubarb pie. Near here they have a habit of hitting grizzlies out for a stroll on the highways so I kept a lookout for them. None seen today. The view to the right was a traffic jam on this road.
On Thursday evening I stopped in at Centene Park, home of the Great Falls Voyagers, rookie league farm team of the Chicago White Sox. I had thought the 'Voyagers' part of the name referred to those intrepid river travelers of the early 19th century, but I was wrong.
A close look at their logo and their mascot to the left revealed an outer space idea, or maybe some form of insect.
This is an old-fashioned park with some simple protection over the central part of the grandstand and mostly unreserved seats without backs. The dugouts are fairly open. You have to walk up stairs to get to the viewing part of the field. The space under the stands is where most of the concessions are.
I am willing to bet that the good burghers of Great Falls will be asked to build a new stadium for the team in the next few years for oh maybe $15M. Let us hope they choose a different architect than the one Billings chose.
If they act quickly maybe they can get some of that 'stimulus' money they are handing out in Washington DC. The Mustangs lost 6-3. Good batters are hard to find.
Talking about highways and we were reminds me of the need to celebrate Highway 89, starting just east of Great Falls and heading south through some great scenery, fairly narrow canyons to start and then eventually opening out into the grain and cow country south of White Sulfur Springs.
I met some nice-looking sports cars including a few Ferraris I think on the road and a few polite motor cyclists too. Is it me or are Harley riders getting older?
I noticed a few bedraggled rusty small signs off to the right with a sometime raised path and finally some left over railroad tracks gave the game away. I wonder who built this small line and why? Chances are it wasn't a railroad 'to nowhere' as they say now, when it was built, though it looks like that now. I noted a few really nice spreads south of White Sulfur Springs and then there were some mines further north in the Belts which probably explain this little line between Great Falls and Livingston. I wonder if the railroad made any money off this line.
Another point to make is that the lodge-pole pines in this part of the country look fairly sick in that many of them have a very pleasant to the eye rusty fall color but I'm fairly sure that is a sign of some sort of beetle infestation. Is this an aging phenomenon or just part of the way things are? Is global warming responsible? Curious readers want to know.
I got hungry about lunch time and by this time I was racing along the 90 toward Billings so I pulled in at the usual place in Big Timber, the Grand Hotel. This is a nice rehab job. There is a stuffed longhorn from some trail ride in the not too distant past I would guess.
The bedrooms look nice, but I don't know if anyone stays here overnight. They have an excellent kitchen and attentive bartenders and waitresses. I especially like what they call a "gourmet cheese sandwich," a combination of Pepper Jack and bacon with some guacamole and a few other probably secret ingredients. Good clam chowder too.
Not surprisingly I ran into some other discerning Billings folks here at the Grand Hotel.
A close look at their logo and their mascot to the left revealed an outer space idea, or maybe some form of insect.This is an old-fashioned park with some simple protection over the central part of the grandstand and mostly unreserved seats without backs. The dugouts are fairly open. You have to walk up stairs to get to the viewing part of the field. The space under the stands is where most of the concessions are.
I am willing to bet that the good burghers of Great Falls will be asked to build a new stadium for the team in the next few years for oh maybe $15M. Let us hope they choose a different architect than the one Billings chose.
If they act quickly maybe they can get some of that 'stimulus' money they are handing out in Washington DC. The Mustangs lost 6-3. Good batters are hard to find.
Talking about highways and we were reminds me of the need to celebrate Highway 89, starting just east of Great Falls and heading south through some great scenery, fairly narrow canyons to start and then eventually opening out into the grain and cow country south of White Sulfur Springs.I met some nice-looking sports cars including a few Ferraris I think on the road and a few polite motor cyclists too. Is it me or are Harley riders getting older?
I noticed a few bedraggled rusty small signs off to the right with a sometime raised path and finally some left over railroad tracks gave the game away. I wonder who built this small line and why? Chances are it wasn't a railroad 'to nowhere' as they say now, when it was built, though it looks like that now. I noted a few really nice spreads south of White Sulfur Springs and then there were some mines further north in the Belts which probably explain this little line between Great Falls and Livingston. I wonder if the railroad made any money off this line.
Another point to make is that the lodge-pole pines in this part of the country look fairly sick in that many of them have a very pleasant to the eye rusty fall color but I'm fairly sure that is a sign of some sort of beetle infestation. Is this an aging phenomenon or just part of the way things are? Is global warming responsible? Curious readers want to know.I got hungry about lunch time and by this time I was racing along the 90 toward Billings so I pulled in at the usual place in Big Timber, the Grand Hotel. This is a nice rehab job. There is a stuffed longhorn from some trail ride in the not too distant past I would guess.
The bedrooms look nice, but I don't know if anyone stays here overnight. They have an excellent kitchen and attentive bartenders and waitresses. I especially like what they call a "gourmet cheese sandwich," a combination of Pepper Jack and bacon with some guacamole and a few other probably secret ingredients. Good clam chowder too.Not surprisingly I ran into some other discerning Billings folks here at the Grand Hotel.
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