Our favorite little town

 Choteau Montana...just something about that place . It's not like the rest of the State isn't friendly and welcoming it's just that in this town it's unmistakable . We're waiting at a crosswalk and in the middle of the light controlled intersection and a guy driving a one ton dually and pulling 5 tons of Hay pulls to stop and waves us over...and smiles.  Our waitress at the unbelievably affordable John Henry bar / casino / restaurant says " whatchya doin in Choteau " and we tell her that we love her town and come to bird watch at the Lake often, when we mention Alaska she says " my husband right there works in Alaska, ya wanna visit with him " ? ...and so it goes in Choteau Montana.

So we're up at  cold thirty as usual to be at Freeze out Lake to watch the birds lift off . Well, fall bird watching is complicated  by a few things, one of which is hunting season . Wouldn't ya know that they'd have a hunting season for Swans here in Montana and guess what kind of birds were the only ones present  ?  Yup, Tundra Swans and they 'lift off' real good when they're being shot at . I was pretty proud of myself for getting this shot as the Swans were at the farthest side in the farthest off lake. I set my old trusty Minolta on the tripod and then used maximum digital zoom with the time to hold the camera steady. Walla.

Of course the Lakes and management area are a ( yawn ) State Park and of course State Parks come with State Park policies soooo......During hunting season all the roads have gates that are locked closed. This area is huge and some of the hunting and viewing areas are way to far away to walk so it begs the question. If it's legal hunting and there are enough birds for harvest why make it so darn hard on the park users ? People that know me know that I easily find fault with State Parks . This time I think I've been real gentlemanly with a little constructive criticism . MP and I were disappointed that this vast eco system was basically closed but we'll be back to see the birds off in the spring when it's open.  

One thing they're good at with State Parks.....Signs. Look at how big this area is, can you imagine walking to the far side of that lake ?

I'm a fish / boat / music guy and agriculture is new to me, and I'm impressed . If I hadn't ventured north I think I would have found myself a place in this Montana lifestyle. There's an energy in the morning just like there is on the harbor floats as the boats are prepping to leave, you can feel it, it's money, it's culture , it's the American way.

I took this shot driving through Fairfiefd. I think it's a gorgeous scene, the symmetry of it especially. It was a cool morning and hour after sun up and truck after truck was arriving to unload. On the other side of the bins train cars were being loaded. It was bustling with activity . Wish I could tell you what they were loading and where it was going and well....I've got a lot to learn about Montana. But so far I can tell you this for sure, we love this part of the State.

The power of the pen

 Well first off the staff here at the Mile 14 Southern Bureau has to apologize for not making our own imposed deadlines as promised, we let it go dark for an entire month and that's not right. But it was a weird month and nothing spectacular occured other than my friend Keith traveling through and stopped to give counsel on operation Walleye and gift me this treasure drove of tackle....thanks buddy. But soon our fortunes will reverse and we'll be in Mazatlan surf fishing and singing. My neck is soooo much better so I'll have adventures to report. Please come back to Mile 14.  Check out the goodies.

So what I thought I'd do is shine a little light....explain what's bothering me a bit and I'd bet dollars to donuts many or even all of you ' know the feeling ' .  In this day and age of instant information it takes just a little effort to shine the light as Howard Beal did in the movie  Network when he famously opened his window and encouraged people to yell out ' I'm sick and tired of this #%&* and I'm not going to take it anymore " . Howard called it a cleansing moment of clarity . So Mile 14 is my window. I have about 500 loyal readers and if some of those 500 have windows and....well you get the idea, maybe somewhere somehow somebody will hear.

These guys right here. Terrible . We've banked with these guys for over thirty years and have run mucho dinero through their system and what do you get for that...ya get mined, you get taken advantage of, robbed. Here's the short story. We had a wonderful Canadian couple come down to buy our camper. They brought a guaranteed bank draft for the Royal Bank of Canada that was for the agreed price adjusted to the current foreign exchange rate. Well, our friends here at Wells Fargo manipulate the exchange rate with what their own web page calls ' set at our discretion ' which is no more than a hidden fee of 3% , it's called a non-competetive exchange rate . In this case we were charged $ 545.00 good ol American Money for a safe and easy transaction.  So it goes like this.....I'm still in business, guide #003 Walleye expert fish killer for hire. Now being in a border State I have a huge customer base from Alberta that love to come south and fish with me. Of course we tailor the price so we can accept their currency for their convenience .So every week when I deposit my hard earned work these people at W.F. want me to give them 3 % of my life....I don't think so. W.F. is in the news a lot and I don't really need to go into that, you know the story but the final chapter of this mine job was when it was suggested we could make up the ' non competitive exchange rate ' by investing the left over money from the deposit in one of their CD's ....So it's hello Interstate Bank and if any of you Wells Fargo people want to go fishing we'll have a great professionally guided trip and I'll tell you about our ' fresh bait fee ' when the trips over . The only good news was just look how happy they were with their new camper and how cool it is .

Election : The next 18 days can't come soon enough and I'm sure all of us are feeling it. What a system, we have candidates that have raised and spent millions. We got commercials during the football game that last long enough for ya to cook a burger. Everybody's got a nasty nickname . Everyday our mail box has 4 to 10 of these in it....Kinda old school I'd say. I wish I'd saved them, we'd have had enough to wall paper that nursery bed room we've be working on....hehehe, pulling your leg with that one.

Taxes : One of the underlying themes this election season in Montana is - they don't like people moving here....yawn.... They complain about you all the while you're paving the roads and putting their kids through college. They think it's some kinda utopia and that new people are ruining it in many ways. Our rental house in Hamilton Mt. is 750 sq. feet and has one bathroom with two garages on 3 city lots, it's nice and has a beautiful view. For that we pay about the same property tax as our house in Alaska that was 2500 sq. feet with 3 bathrooms, two garages on 7 acres of riverfront . It's an absurd amount of tax here in Montana and somehow they've crafted it into being somebody's fault besides the government. 

But. Our elected officials got to thinking that this tax situation could end up with some of them getting unelected and how in the heck are they gonna change the world with that happening. So they come up with a rebate system to send you $$$$$ but it doesn't just come in the mail with a check and an apology, oh no, you have to apply for it and prove you're not one of those @#&%* non-residents....And then the next year you have to do it all over again cause ya mighta been lying the first time....and oh , I'm joking about the apology , that never happens . AND while this is all going on with ridiculous amounts of $$$$$ the State has a 2 billion dollar surplus in the budget . Go figure. That's 2,000,000,000....Yikes....

OK, I feel better...thank you for your patience. And don't forget to open that window and let people know of yet another unethical business practice at Wells Fargo Bank . 

Update : It's been a week now and I had hoped that the Bank would use some of the ' discretion ' they have mentioned on their webpage and somehow try to correct this situation a bit . No business person like myself would ever begrudge a business from making $$$$. But this amount on one transaction is ridiculous . I was left with a guy telling us he thought it was too much and after talking with his manager we were told someone would ' get back ' with us with either help or an explanation.....Well add ' lied to ' and 'ignored ' to the list along with 'taken advantage of and hidden fees ' ..... But stupid me, I could have taken the Canadian Bank draft to ANY bank and opened an account with absolutely no fee and a nice " welcome to our  Bank Mr. King '.