Parallel Worlds

 So MPeasy is in Helena with her sister working on the house and the plan was to meet her at her sisters mountain retreat at Moose Lake and spend the night then drive home to Hammy. I get out  of bed and it's 50 degrees , did I mention that it's spring here ?....So.... I put on my shorts and flip flops and take off for Moose Lake about noon. I've always considered myself a common sense guy but this time I under estimated the difference in elevation, Hammy is at 3,570 feet and Moose Lake is at 5,300.  Here's pic of me in the Frankenstein's boots that Jim Weaver had to lend me.

On the way I stopped in the scenic town of Phillipsburg that is said to being over run by 

Californians like Kelly Clarkson, I needed gas and one of those really soggy egg salad sandwiches that I like when I road trip. The only guy around was the guy running the cash register and he started up the conversation....

" you ain't from around here are ya /" 

" Nope, ya can tell huh ?"

" So where ya goin ?"

" Moose Lake to see the relatives ?" 

" You got 4-wheel drive ?"

" yup, I got a little S.U.V. ?"

" You get stuck up there , ain't nobody to help ya ?"

" Oh I think I'll be O.K. " 

" Them California S.O.B's won't help ya "

" Used to be you could buy land here for 500 bucks an acre, now it's over 4 thousand thanks to them people "

" Well thanks for the chat. gotta go ".

As I drove along the sun was beating on me and I had the roof open and thinking when I got to the Lake me and MP would take the canoe around the lake for a cocktail cruise....Wrong...let's just say spring ain't hit Moose Lake yet. Beneventi has been telling me that the Root is where the Indians would winter as it's the mildest climate in the Big Sky. We drove back through the Big Hole country and I think he's right, the Root is a parallel universe, an island of ...dare I say it.....California like weather in Mooootana. Here's a pic from the wood fired hot tub and the Wise River area on the way home.

They got a funny way of running things in Alaska but boy howdy this Montana is going to take some getting used. I'm really frustrated by the way the government works....hold that.. doesn't work. I guess I shouldn't be to surprised as the current legislative session has had bills to allow concealed hand guns in schools and bars, the vote was actually close. And of course they got a Governor here that was warned for not taking the mandatory wolf trapping  course when he killed a black one because he's ' been trapping his whole life'...even if he is from back East.

Nobody wants to work and it seems the covid has turned into a big ol do nothing culture amongst all the government workers who seem to me to be the only segment of America that didn't lose jobs through all this....So it goes like this : When we arrived were told all the DMV and most other State agencies are closed but don't worry about your licensing as we're relaxing the rules until the covid spike ends. The finally it was OK we're taking on-line reservation for licenses , license plates and of course I need M.T. numbers for my boat to be legal. The 800 number rings for a full two hours and the on-line form has a ' create your account ' page which assigned me a password with a total of 18 letters , numbers and figures....Finally got our reservations for the first available day, May 25th. And the real rub is that you can't get a resident fishing license without a resident drivers license. So I call Fish and Game and ask if there's not something that can be done, ol #003 needs to go fishing. A surly woman told me it's not up to them it's the legislature so if I got problem go to them. I got the feeling the legislature is a little busy with all the important stuff they do to help me go fishing....

How's about a song....MP said she wasn't fond of this song I wrote about gossip in Soldotna so I round filed it for a couple years. But my friend Terry is helping me put together a second and third verse and as he says....at it's core it's really a love song. I was at a meeting and was introduced to a lady who said she was happy to meet  me finally as she had heard that me and MP had a very loving relationship....so I thought that's weird, but really cool at the same time.