Greetings from Lavina, MT
The second leg of our journey was basically uneventful. It was noted that from one gate to the next, it was a further walk than what Ralph normally walks at the gym.
We arrived in Billings, MT without incident. I got our rental van and we were on our way to E-Z’s ranch. E-Z’s real name is Ezra and he went to High School with Ralph and Vaughn. They have come out West to visit him as well. He and his lovely wife Deborah have a beautiful ranch about 5 miles outside of Lavina, MT. The views are amazing.
After visiting with them for a time, Jim arrived. Jim is a college friend of E-Z and came down from Calgary. The band is all back together. I also got to meet Shep, the Wonder Dog and Bess. They are two great dogs. E-Z wanted to show us the ranch. Being the driver, I drove all of us around as he pointed to the ends of his property. He directed us into town to stop at the Cozy Corner.
Lavina, MT has a population of 168. When we arrived at the Cozy Corner at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday, approximately 10% of them were there. Lavina’s hottest night club is Cozy Corner. Located at the corner of 3 and High, this place has everything. Beer, Lay’s Potato Chips, Night Crawlers, Country Music, Borat “My Wife” jokes and Free Wi-Fi. It is owned by Terry, who according to Yelp reviews is both hilarious and their drunken customer.
This is where I began my education. I keep them vague in the interest of protecting them…a little.
I was yesterday year’s old when I learned that it was common for one of our party to leave pumpkins on the front porch of others. It seemed polite until I also found out that he threw them from the truck while he was driving by.
Some of them replaced some of the chocolate with laxatives and it sent 3 boys home for the day from the high school. They were threatened with expulsion if any of them missed a day from school. Fortunately, they all returned.
They are also a fan of old movies. Airplane, 48 Hours, Old SNL, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein.
We arrived back at the ranch to find that baked potatoes were in the oven. E-Z asked us how we liked our steaks. I went over to the grill a bit later. These were massive steaks and we all thoroughly enjoyed them. Deborah made a fresh pineapple upside down cake. I’m sure it was delicious. None of us got to try it. We were all too full.
As the sun started to set, we all slowly started to retire for the evening. With the jetlag, we are two hours behind. I was hoping to be able to take some photos of the stars here in Big Sky country. However, the clouds rolled in and I was treated to a lightning storm across the High Plains as I drifted off.
Tomorrow, we will be headed to Pompeys Pillar National Monument.
72 and you. 