On These Days in Montana
On these days, retired Montana ranchers met for morning coffee at the Remember When Cafe.
They grew up on this land. As boys, they rounded up wild horses in the badlands for the government because they could ride fast. One served in Vietnam. Another served in Korea and watched the United States test a hydrogen bomb that wiped out an island. They said it's a good year to be a Montana rancher. Cattle prices are high, and the rain came.
From the deck at Flying Pig Adventures in Gardiner, Nathaniel Rateliff floated through the morning air: "Say, times are hard, you get this far, but it ain't the way that you want."
Around the corner, Cowboy's Grille smelled of smoke and burned wood after the kitchen caught fire the night before. A charred freezer still read: "Breakfast Only."
Also on the these days, bison in Yellowstone National Park wallowed in the dust and butted heads. A grizzly dug through the ground, looking for bugs.
A man came to Yellowstone for one season to let his body heal and never left. He pointed toward the mountains across the road. Why would he go back to the heat and flatlands of Texas when he had this?
A woman returned to Yellowstone for the first time in 67 years. She was 11 on her first visit—parents in the front seat, three kids in the back. It looked just as she remembered. This time, nature eased the pain of her estranged daughter's birthday and the granddaughter she had never met.
Three best friends from South Dakota wore matching shirts that read "She's the Crazy One" and a newlywed's car carried the words: "Next Stop: Forever" and "Adventure #1 of Infinity."
There was tubing, floating, and paddleboarding where the three rivers meet at Three Forks, Montana—the place where Lewis and Clark camped for three days in July 1805 while searching for the Northwest Passage. Dogs in life jackets ran along the bank or paddled beside their owners at the headwaters of the Missouri River on one of the hottest days in years.
A son stayed behind to start a job at Yellowstone—his parents' favorite place.
All on these Days.
