Search My-West

"Informative and entertaining, My-West will be a valued destination for westerners and devotees of all things western. Well-written posts, evocative photos and fine art, valuable travel tips, and an upbeat style make this a destination site for travelers and web surfers. Go West!" - Stan Lynde, Award-winning Western novelist and cartoonist
Subscribe to Hit the Road

HIT THE ROAD

Entries from April 1, 2011 - April 30, 2011

Tuesday
Apr262011

The Mantle Ranch – Spring Roundup

By Bennett Owen

400 hundred head of horses that haven’t seen a human being in six months.

Credit: JeremyOK

Credit: jdwheaton

Credit: jdwheaton

Credit: JeremyOK

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.

Credit: Ed Yourdon

These animals will work through the summer for cattle ranches and outfitters. Kail Mantle says he looks for, “a good big-boned stout horse with a quiet disposition and the right attitude for this business.”  He adds, “Every horse has a name and we know it and love every horse on our place.”

Credit: bravofourthree

Sounds like horse sense to me.

For more information, visit www.montanahorses.com

Three Forks, by the way, is where the Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin rivers merge to form the mighty Missouri.  Top that, Texas!

Credit: MichaelOnTheTrail

Credit: ScottSchrantz

Wednesday
Apr132011

WEST TEXAS – DRIVE LIKE HELL, YOU’LL GET THERE

By Bennett Owen

But don’t blink or you’ll miss a little Loving.

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.”  The piece also quotes a trucker who quips that, “out in West Texas or the Panhandle, they’re probably driving that speed anyway.” Read the article here.

Of course we all remember Montana’s short-lived experiment with “Reasonable and Prudent…” a speed limit that gave rise to The Montanabahn.  Am I reading in to this interview or is the Governor a bit wistful about its demise? 

The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Brian Schweitzer
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

 

As for testosterone pumping, I once drove from Berlin, Germany to Innsbruck, Austria in 5 ½ hours. That’s the equivalent of doing the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.

 

 

Of course, what Montana and West Texas have in common besides the need for speed, are massive reserves of crude oil, very long distances to cover and very few people.  West Texas boasts an average eight persons per square mile and towns like the aptly named Notree …

In Montana about 212 highway patrolmen cover more than 50-thousand miles of highways and interstates … and one of the worst driving hazards is road kill frozen to the pavement. Having done away with reasonable and prudent, one Montana legislator is trying out UNREASONABLE and IMPRUDENT as he tries to outlaw DUIs laws …

He is a tavern owner by the way. And the New York Times reports that cell phones play a part in one third of traffic accidents … ”inattention blindness” is the new term.

Stories like that make me want to “Boogie Back to Texas …” Speaking of speed is it the rosin or is this fiddler’s bow on fire? 

Saturday
Apr022011

GLACIER PARK – There’s Snow Business...

By Bennett Owen

Photo courtesy of Glaciernps

“They say Montana has only two seasons: winter and the 4th of July.” 

Photo courtesy of Glaciernps

Considering the weather forecast, the road clearing crews in Glacier may be engaged in an exercise in futility. Here’s their cryptic progress report, as of April Fools Day: 

“Crews are currently working in Two Medicine and are one half mile beyond Running Eagle Falls. The weather today was around 32 degrees and it snowed the entire day. Crews are encountering 4-8 foot snowdrifts. The snow at the bridge by the Running Eagle Falls parking lot is 5 feet deep.

Photo courtesy of Glaciernps

Plowing operations on the west side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road begin April 1, 2011.”

Photo courtesy of Glaciernps

Reminds me of this classic VW Bug commercial from the 1970s: 

And the road crews have to get to work somehow:

Punch line translation…although the pictures tell the story, don’t they? “Ever wonder how the man who drives the snow plow, drives TO the snowplow?”

Photo courtesy of Glaciernps