Greetings fellow Extravaganzers from Clinton, Montana—official epicenter of Extravaganza 2013!
Over this past weekend your Hostess With The Mostess “Kookin’ Kathy”, your two mascots Sir the Spaniel and Ma’am the Lab, and I did the annual drive from San Rafael to here in what took, as it typically does, about 17 hours of driving over a two day span. This year the annual trip occurred a month earlier and, unlike last year when we had 4 inches of snow over Memorial Day Weekend, this year we were greeted with 67 degree temperatures and gusting winds that moved our fully laden Expedition to and fro as we travelled the last two hundred miles. This trip is an interesting one for us, as it marks a major household transition where Montana becomes the main base of operations for the ensuing four months. Our lives’ focus changes from a California point of view to that of Montanans and our general attitude toward things takes on a nature-based hue as opposed to a more urban one. Witness just yesterday when I was in town changing out our winter snow tires and, as I was travelling back up our Rock Creek Road only to spot for the first time ever a gray wolf standing in the middle of the road (right where the bighorn sheep normally hang out) who casually looked my way as I slowed down agape before he loped off into the woods.
Travelling that 1137.1 miles (hey, whose counting anyway?!?) provides an interesting study in contrast on the western United States. California is abundant with asphalt and density of population (both on and off the road); Nevada offers a great expanse of vacancy; Idaho presents itself with acres of flat land to be the site of tomorrow’s French fries; and, voila, as you approach Montana everything literally changes. We travel east on Hwy 80 to Wells, Nevada where we take Hwy 93 north to Twin Falls, Idaho to merge onto Hwy 84 east to Pocatello where we take I-15 north into Montana. As you do the latter, you can literally see Montana before your get there, as the dividing Idaho-Montana border line is also the Continental Divide. In the distance, as you venture northward, the snow-capped cascades of the Rocky Mountains appear in their swooping south to eastward swing and you know that you are soon in for something special. Crossing into Montana the scenery and the world literally changes. Instead of flat farmland you are greeted with majestic snow topped rock formations and rolling grazing lands that host Montana’s abundant cattle, antelope, deer and smaller creature population. Leaving Idaho and arriving in Montana is like going from night to day. Even the exit signs are different, witness “Moose Creek Road” as one of the earliest…formed by the Divide, the cloud formations become epic (in fact, all the photos in my Pt. Richmond office are of Montana cloud formations)…the air is crisp and clean and you can even breathe it without seeing it…and the attitude of mankind dramatically alters, for here the expectation is that you will naturally wave to your fellow man (with your whole hand, gang) and automatically smile as a sign of knowing that, yes, you are indeed surrounded by someplace special.
That is Montana, folks; that is why we are here and why the Extravaganza is resident here—for we want you to have the same annual experience of seeing, smelling and living what we see and bear witness to each year…we want you to be part of this special journey to the soul that has so enriched our lives as, today, this May Day, your Hostess and I share our 14th wedding anniversary and the 15th anniversary when we met on a blind date in Tampa, Florida. We anxiously await your arrivals here knowing that, just as did we a few days ago, Montana’s beauty never ceases to amaze and rejuvenate those who are blessed to be in her presence.
Best to all from the glorious scene of it all,
Rock Creek Ron
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