The Valentine State

By Bennett Owen

100 years ago yesterday, Arizona became the 48^th state, the last piece of the puzzle in the contiguous US.

Credit: Paul Funderbird“The Grand Canyon is carven deep by the master hand; it is the gulf of silence, widened in the desert; it is all time inscribing the naked rock; it is the book of earth.” - Donald Culross Peattie

Credit: military museum"Fort Yuma is probably the hottest place on earth…A wicked soldier died there, once, and of course, went straight to the hottest corner of perdition, - and the next day he telegraphed back for his blankets.” - Mark Twain, Roughing It

Credit: triplepundit.com "There is a muscular energy in sunlight corresponding to the spiritual energy of wind." 
- Annie Dillard   

“They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars – on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.”
                                                - Robert Frost

Credit: Maryland Weather“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
and waste its sweetness on the desert air.”
                                       - Thomas Gray

Credit: Gatley.blogspot“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome dangerous, leading to the most amazing view…
May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”
                                                                                       - Edward Abbey

Credit: tripadvisor

Bannack Star Route - Haulin’ the Mail

By Bennett Owen

Credit: My-West.com ©

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. It wasn’t always that easy to hitch 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.’

Credit: My-West.com ©

No, I'm not that old, by my time the horse teams had been replaced by horsepower and a pickup truck but the idea remained the same. Riding with the stage was a peculiar experience because just outside of town he’d start taking detours off of that ribbon of blacktop onto some dirt washboard roads that were often glorified cow-trails. But at the end of those ‘roads’ we’d come upon something like this –

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Or this ...

California. Credit: Gregory Jordan

The ride took hours and was fascinating for the countryside you’d see. And by the time he dropped off me, and the mail, at the F-S, he wasn’t even half way through his route. 

Credit: My-West.com ©

There was no TV at the F-S and the radio reception was so scratchy that listening was pretty much limited to Paul Harvey News & Comment.  So the stage was an important lifeline and one of my chores was to walk down the lane and pick up that canvas satchel full of mail and the Montana Standard newspaper. The Sunday edition arrived on Monday, feeding my addiction to Rick O’Shay and Prince Valiant via the Sunday funnies. Yes, I read Ann Landers too.

Credit: My-West.com ©

Yes a ‘link’ literally with the outside world. All that stuff about rain and snow and gloom of night may sound quaint in the Internet age. But I can remember a lot of wind-swept, snowed over winter days when the stage tracks were the only ones on the road.

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Arizona. Credit: WVS

Last Weekend – Labor Day the My-West Way

By Bennett Owen

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…

10 – Climbing Mount Whitney – At nearly 15-thousand feet it’s the highest mountain in the lower 48…and some say it’s the highest walk-up summit on the planet.

Lightning Shelter/Hut on Summit of Mt. Whitney. Credit: peretzp

09 – Ellensburg, Washington – The Ellensburg Labor Day Rodeo is one of the ‘old rodeos’ and is also ranked among America’s top 10 – celebrating its 75th year.

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08 – Ketchum/Sun Valley, Idaho – Wagon Days - Commemorating the region’s mining past, the Big Hitch Parade is one of the largest non-motorized parades in the west, featuring an authentic, 20-draft mule jerkline.

Ore Wagons. Credit: Mountain Mike.com

07 – Grants Pass, Oregon – Rafting the Rogue River, one of the most gorgeous and exhilarating rides in the west.

Sunset on the Rogue River. Credit: Derek Severson

06 - Bandera, Texas – It’s a weekend southwest Texas spectacle in the ‘Cowboy Capital of the World’, but the thriller is the Running R Ranch Cattle Drive…with a herd of real Texas Longhorns.  (There’s also an event called ‘Cow Patty Bingo’ but we didn’t really want to know about that!)

Credit: Running R Ranch Facebook page

05 - Meeteetse, Wyoming – There’s a band playing at the Cowboy Bar, that’s a good enough excuse.  But the town has also celebrated a three-day barbecue on the same weekend for 99 years now. As one cowboy says, “The hay is in, and it it’s not yet branding and sorting time. Time to see friends and catch up.”   Sounds good to us.

Rodeo Queen from nearby Cody, Wyoming. Credit: newrambler

04 - Take the “High Road” route from Taos to Santa Fe, New Mexico - Start with breakfast at the Taos Diner on the north end of town.  – Santa Fe, by the way, is the oldest capital city in the US, founded in 1610.

Credit: j.s.clark

03 – The Grand Canyon Railway – Start at the Historic depot in Williams, Arizona, built in 1908 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad…and from there embark on a two and a half hour trip through the high desert. The Grand Canyon Depot is one of three log train stations remaining in the US. 

Grand Canyon Railway. Credit: obfusciatrist

02 - Jazz at Aspen and Snowmass, Colorado - Steely Dan will be playing there. Someday when I get the bill listing hours wasted listening to rock and roll, The Dan will be edged out only by Neil Young.

Steely Dan. Credit: commercialappeal

01 – Dillon, Montana – Montana’s Biggest Weekend, the Labor Day Fair and Rodeo.  Anyone who’s been with us a while at My-West knows the special place Dillon holds in our hearts.  And this year, Uncle Jules and Aunt Bonnie are the Grand Marshals of the Labor Day parade.

Credit: My-West.com

So, have a great weekend, and drop us a post card, wherever and however you spend it!

The Thing – One More for the Road

By Bennett Owen

Credit: A.C. Huestis

You’ll start seeing the billboards as soon as you cross from California into Arizona, or heading west from the New Mexico border.

Credit: ShadyL

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 to stop at a curio shop that’s as close to the middle of nowhere as it’s humanly possible to get.

Credit: Snap Man

And people stop here in droves, putting down good money for the sucker punch of the century…the desperate need to find out what “The Thing” really is.

Credit: Bill on Capitol Hill

No, we’re NOT going to tell you, although most visitors say it’s worth every cent of the 1 Dollar entry fee. Talk about damning with faint praise!

Credit: Eccentric Roadside

Although if you really want to spoil the surprise, my favorite website, Roadside America, does a hilarious inventory.

The owner…Bob Hope…says the original shop started up in 1950 and has been in the same ‘central’ location since 1965. That’s some true staying power.

Credit: LatFJCCT

And, over the years ‘The Thing’ has gained enough of a reputation that it’s marketing its anachronistic quirkiness.  Hence the Thing caps, shot glasses, t-shirts, beer mugs, and bumper stickers .. there’s even thing-branded bottled water.

Credit: Eccentric Roadside

Credit: Roadside America

In all, it’s an utterly ridiculous collection of crap that’s is far too good, far too entertaining to pass by.

PS: The My-West staff would like to give a hail and hearty hat tip to the intrepid RJ Burns for tipping us off to The Thing!