USA

When you put 2800 miles on a rental car in North Central America you learn and see a lot. I guess what jumped out on me the most was what Winston Churchill said about Americans, they have character. A farmer in North Dakota took time to build an object that was a huge ship type anchor chain that must have weighed 2 tons hanging from a tree that said 'North Dakota wind chine'. And then there was this.

The cowboy looks over the heard, it's us I suppose. So along this desolate stretch of Montana you find the contrasts of great success and always America's broken dreams. I guess you don't get one without the other, that's the way it works.

The people who live in these outposts of Montana are rightfully proud of their place and what it took to be there. I was struck at how almost all of these little towns and sometimes even families had their own museums to show us the way. Just like our own Soldotna Homesteaders Museum these people have put together the story for us, and pridefully so. At first I thought it was kind of funny but as we journeyed on I saw it....these people feel special, and so they should.

The other day we got on this barely paved-no stripes-no shoulders road where we only saw a few cars for 30 miles. It was absolutely gorgeous and I wondered just how much of this Montana there was that I hadn't seen before.

As we started down a hill into a valley I just had to stop the car and take this picture.

We turned the corner and fueled up in Anaconda where all the copper from the Berkley Pit was smelted years ago. Even though when I first saw the stack I knew the story I was still a bit surprised. Of course here in Alaska the Pebble Project is the catalyst for the age old debate of  how industry can co exist with nature, I guess these two pics show whether it can or can't...you decide.

As we traveled the big issue of course was our shut down government deal. I noticed some people would be angry and some thought it was funny. I haven't really given it that much thought and I don't think people like this did either. Maybe they know it's just a sign of our American passion and character.

So I guess this trip left me a better American. If only the people in the world that don't like us could see what I just did it might give them pause. The precision of the corn farming in Minnesota, the durability of the Montana rancher or the hard working young guys drilling the  Bakken Field...It's a pretty cool place, with character.