06-11-11 - Goin’ from Montana Soon

06-11-11
Goin’ from Montana Soon,
Gonna be a dental floss tycoon.
12.5 miles
Train and sun wake us at 4:55am
Mischa & I take our own sweet time waking up.
Several yawns and stretches are exchanged between us as we milk this routine until just after 6am.
We keep eyeing each other to seee which will make the first overt move to “get up”.
It’s a Cat Steven’s kinda morning - a road to nowhere. Oh, yeah, guess we’ll take our time…to get there.
Mischa wins. I finally kick off the covers and roust the both of us. Mischa looks relieved and can’t wait to go outside to really be relieved. ( Damn… I knew I had her in just a few more seconds…)
Albertsons and
Holiday Oil
Swelled Yellowstone river - no one seems concerned.
Writing my back pages
Jami - I went back to the Holiday gas station for another soda refill and see Jami again, whom I met in the morning. I’d made a mental note of her earlier because of her attentive eyes and great presence…and her name caught my attention. I’m always appreciative of alternate name spellings (ofr obvious reasons) and at first I read Jami (as in Jam -ee) and then realized it must be Long A sound as in JAY-Me. I confirmed this as I paid for the refill.. It had been on my mind that I had not as yet found anyone that seemed open enough to ask for an interview from this state. As I went to the car I though…maybe Jami would be open to this idea. I went back inside and her reply was “really?!” She agreed but the only problem was her replacement hadn’t arrived yet and she asked if I wouldn’t mind waiting a few minutes until the other girl arrived.
I had no problem with that as I was able to write in the car and had a few back pages I was already finishing up.
The replacement never showed up to work and Jami was worried about losing her other job because of this. If someone didn’t come to replace her she wouldn’t be able to get to her other job (which paid better) and lose that because this isn’t the first time this situation has happened and she got left holding the bag and getting the short end of the stick..
Interview - I propose doing the interview in between customers in little snippets. She agrees and , of course, a flood of people arrive just after we begin. I wade thru , with my having to tell each person approaching the counter “I’m not in line - go ahead”. I get about 4-5 little segments and then someone finally comes to help - not the scheduled person who flaked, but another person who has limitations for work because she’s 1recently had surgery. It’s not clear if anyone else will come to relieve Jami so she can get to her second job on time. W ego out side briefly but the sound pollution is rather bad as is the lighting. We go into the stores back room and compressors and refrigeration units conspire to drown out her words. We go back to the store floor and she goes back to work stacking and replenishing stock and I continue to interview her as she does. I learn that she is studying to be a Vet and that she participated in the Miss Montana Pageant a year ago and that Glendive (of all places in Montana) is the location of the Pageant! At a point the interview ends. I start to go but realize Jami had only met half the Journey. I ask if she’d like to see my dog, I could hold her up to the window outside. She asks how bigh the dog is and I discribe her and she says she can come in. They meet and both jami and Mischa are happy with the experience as is Jan the rescue helper. Mischa was very enthusiastic about getting out of the car and getting petted and lavished with attention .
I find a quarter in the men’s bathroom. Is there any portent to this find, other than I’m now a quarter richer than a moment ago. I hope it does…I need all the help to finish this I can muster.
Prep for departure. More mental notes than anything else. Only things I remove from the tent in advance are the space heater, power cables and lantern. The rest is just mental rehersal for tomorrows pack out.
Re-read Steinbeck about Montana and north Dakota
Tomorrow I’ll be going where he once was.
Thoughts about his view of Montana vs. mine.
Steinbeck said he was in love with the state, but that his view may have been thru the lens of infatuation with “the new”. I was ill received from the beginning and with few..perhaps only one, given the cold shoulder. And for that reason I give it the same in return (with that one singular exception.) We traveled a few of the same pathways but in reverse direction. I think my Montana may have been a bit more lush than his and the years may have populated the open spaces a bit more, the political and therefor philosophical outlook of the state seems to be a bit more closed off than in his journey