MOOOOO!!!!

Today was perhaps my first real up close and personal encounter with some Moo’s…. thank you for that word, Lauren. Now I have seen a cow in person before but only in petting zoos… in captivity surrounded by suburbia… never in an environment for which they are superiorly adapted. And thus began my Friday afternoon at a 4-H steer show.

Who knew there were six classes of steer, and each class was different based on size? … The correct answer would be a cowboy, not a Morgan. The man judging the competition, Collin Gibbs, called six or so steers out at a time, spending about ten minutes inspecting each Moo and watching how it interacted with his handler before grabbing the mic and explaining for us what was good and what wasn’t so good about each particular steer. I still have to look up what “Twist” means as well as the meanings and connotations of “Dry” “wide in the behind” and “green” mean.

Lauren and I grew particularly fond of a certain steer that we named Peabody. Now, Peabody was in the third class…. So medium class? J And let me tell you, these Moo’s may have been huge but they were only calves!

After two hours of judging cattle, Lauren and I headed home but not before stopping at Arby’s where I ordered some curly fries… and as the teller takes my order, he cracks jokes over the intercom and Lauren laughs at me because I truly didn’t know how to handle it… no drive through sales associate has ever been that light hearted, and before even seeing who I was! I could not be more pleasantly surprised by Montana… I’ll just have to work on lightening my own heart.

Mount Helena

I drove over Bear Mountain several times over the course of my life, to Elmira College, to Iowa, a general upstate destination, you name it, but I only hiked the trails a handful of times. That’s why when I got to Helena and was told by Lauren to “head toward to mountain thing and explore,” I decided to take a look at what this mountain had to offer.

All in all it seems like a pretty normal mountain thing - several trails marked by colored lines over a diagram adjacent to the parking lot, the same trails marked by colored string on trees where the terrain may seem a little less certain… but by god I am determined to master every one of those colored paths.

Last Friday was my first jaunt up the thing, I had just begun really exercising vigorously again and so I decided to take what seemed like the most harmless route, as it was the longest and made a sort of loop around the back of the mountain… turns out I should have read the description of the trail that lie next to the diagram. Note to un-experienced hikers: the blue route? It kind of gets lost in some semi-steep rock formations. Sadly, I had to retreat to another off shoot trail to climb the mountain… I am still not sure what this particular trail was but it worked out just fine.

Monday I thought was going to be a new day – I ran into another hiker at the parking lot who claimed to be from Buffalo, New York. Hey I thought! To get to Buffalo I have to drive over the Bear Mountain… good sign. This gentleman, Mark, told me to take the red path… I decided this time to glance at the description, which said that the red path was the most popular route, although significantly shorter than the blue route -in my mind this means steeper. Turns out my mind is pretty sharp and so were the turns I had to take through the mountainside, zig-zagging paths like little Z’s up the mountain. After about an hour I ran out of water and decided it was best to turn back… dehydrating on Mount Helena is not quite how I pictured my adventure.

Yesterday I decided to hike once again, this time though I had limited time as I was supposed to go to the historical society (upon Lauren’s request). I decided that I would try to find my way around those silly rocks on the blue route… because you know, in the movies, you persist and you look like an ass at first for being stubborn but then you succeed in the end! Turns out, my being right was a Monday thing because I still couldn’t make it past those damn rocks, AND I was on a time crunch so I had to head down the mountain in defeat.

There are still a few more colored paths up the side of Mount Helena and as god as my witness I will conquer them as well as route red and blue… you just wait... and maybe I’ll tell you about it.

Meowwww

I can't say that too many of my adventures in New York began with an hour long drive to a ranch, followed by an hour long caravan to a cabin, followed by a half hour long continuance to another cabin... and this was just the beginning.

You see, the evening before, Lauren and I went to Wal-Mart to purchase inner tubes for the 'Meow Mixer,' a float trip organized by some several dozen adventurous rancher women, instead, due to the last minute approach, we bought some neon pink rafts. If at any point we really believed that these would be sufficient, we were out of our minds.

The Mixer’s destination was a cabin on a ranch next to the Smith River somewhere in Montana and after a lovely potluck lunch (I must have eaten ten times my body weight in delicious dishes) it was tubing time. Our friend Rose had arranged for Lauren and I to borrow some real tubes which was a godsend because the rafts would never have made it down the river… float trip is a funny word because you only really float for about ten percent of the time, the rest is maneuvering little rapids and avoiding what Lauren referred to as #giantrockdeath.

You’d think social networking would be more prevalent in New York but Twitter ruled that Saturday on the Smith River.

You see my friend Lauren was not mentally prepared for the actualities of a float trip, and I cant say I was either but she had the misfortune of taking a tumble over the first rapid area and falling off of her tube head first into the Siberian water. From then on it was Twitter everything… #rapiddeath, #giantrockdeath, @pres.Jacks (as we pretended to be Lewis and Clark making our way out west… I don’t think ‘explorers’ will be our next profession). The two of us held on to ends of a stick as to not get away from each other which ultimately became a sort of game in our exploration dreams.

An hour into the trip we finally reach the cabin again and stumble out of the river, fighting the currents hold over us and thanking god for some kind of solid land... while we were shouting hash-tags into the air I realized how beautiful the scenery up here is and how people take it for granted, showing these sights in movies and making it so no one ever need step out of their house to take in such wonders... well step out of the house my friends because you wont have adventures like this just sitting on the couch.... yeah, Brokeback Mountain may have the Art Direction but nothing beats screaming #giantrapiddeath and freezing your butt off while looking at the pristine pastures above you.

Second week out west

As the first week in Helena was about finding a job, so was the second... Still waiting on that golden opportunity but I have grown to appreciate patience as I have grown to appreciate the ways of ranching life. Lauren and I have continued to create our little home - found some furniture pieces at some seriously low prices! We have also added Gershwin to our happy little family, Gershwin Emerson McHugh-Chase... one of the most darling of pet rocks. We also have Roberto, Alejandro and Magpies... Note, Magpies are crazy birds.

I have been learning more and more about ranching and about the history of agriculture industry and I must say, that if you don't know anything about it, you're missing out.... learn a little about Florida and a little about the original American cowboy!

I made a few friends with Lauren at O'Tooles on Friday night and I'm thinking this place is just right for me :)

Yesterday Lauren began teaching me to rope and I have to say, getting that rope around that chair was one of the highlights of my Montana experience so far... I'm not sure why but I feel as though I've accomplished something. Slowly but surely I'll get the hang of this yet, I'm confident in that.

Seven Days and Counting

It's been a week since I arrived in Montana, the journey took a bit longer than I thought it would but that's to be expected when White Eagle tells you to take your time seeing your friends. I spent a week and a half in Iowa, the state where perhaps I feel the most comfortable - I saw friends I hadn't seen in over a year and spent a lot of time 'rallying.' We made cute 'family' dinners, went out on the town, watched a tv series...followed by the cult film, went to balloon festivals, took seemingly meaningless trips upstate... all in all the best vacation in the world that I never wanted to end. But end it had to and tears fell upon I-80 as I drove toward my next destination; Kansas City, Missouri.

I didnt think my trip could get any better, I really didnt but I was wrong. I pulled into Christian's drive way after managing to get myself lost and felt the surprising ease I always feel around him. It's odd because I've known him for ten years and still, to this day, I am always surprised by how comfortable I am around him... you'd think I'd have learned by now. Regardless, the three days I spent in Missouri confirmed my suspicion that I have the best friends in the world. He took me out to meals (something no one actually does in the east coast... no one that I know anyway), over to see his family again as I hadn't seen them in years, he took me out at night, we played pool (he let me win a few times), he took me out to meet his friends and their families, would give me a kiss and tell me I was beautiful no matter who we were around just because he felt like it in that moment, and he walked around with me on his arm as though he was proud to just be around me. Christian is one of my best friends - he makes me feel more loved than I know what to do with, and genuinely so. Suffice it to say, as I pulled out of his driveway I was again crying, this time on some random highway.

That is how my journey to Montana began. It took two days to drive from Kansas City to Helena - as soon as I arrived I ran to WalMart (twice) to gather supplies for Lauren and my new apartment. For full disclosure, in the past week I have been to WalMart at least 8 times... it's certainly a new world but they have everything!

Our apartment is pretty phenomenal, three bedrooms, a large living room and kitchen, cute bathroom, loud children neighbors... oh wait, those little ones are not quite a highlight. Lauren and I have been gathering things (thanks to her mom as well) for the apartment... scored huge at goodwill - coffee table, kitchen table, AND side table for a total of 17 dollars... not to mention the sweet cowboy boots I found there for 3. Our home is not quite complete but it should be soon - we're also planning on getting more groceries because we have more storage space than a smugglers pirate ship.

So far I've been looking for work out here and already noticing how friendly strangers are to others... It's like being in a welcome time warp. Well I'm off to find some street toward the mountain thing that Lauren told me to explore :)