The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

When I was a much younger man than I am now, I spent the time leading up to the Fourth of July figuring where to go for the Fourth to have the maximum amount of fun.

Often I ended up on Clear Creek, Howard’s Hill, Beaver Creek or somewhere in the Bear Paw Mountains. When spending the time there, I dreamed of spending that holiday somewhere close to Glacier National Park.

Well, that time finally came and we had a cabin at Lakeside on Flathead Lake. I dreamed often of spending the Fourth at that cabin and Christmas there as well. You know there is something about Christmas and a lake and forest that is simply wonderful.

Well, let me tell you about Christmas first. I was working at the time and always had to get home to make a payroll on January 2. Of course I didn’t want to leave the cabin at Lakeside until January 1 so that was one travel day. On that one travel day of the year, I never had more troubles than I had trying to get back home,

On several years Highway 2 would promptly close on January 1 due to massive avalanches. So I would have to get to Missoula and go over Rogers Pass to Great Falls and back home. This happened again and again and again. I remember one January 1 it was about ten above when I left the Flathead and when I got over Rogers Pass, the bottom dropped out of the mercury. It was 30 below in Great Falls and 40 below in Havre.

Another year I took the train home on January 1 only to find that it was running some eighteen hours late due to cold weather. When I finally got on the train and heading for Havre, it took many hours as the train just crept along and stopped at every trestle to see if it was safe to venture on it.

Think that was bad. The Fourth of July was much worse. Wherever we went it was just simply wall to wall people, traffic, dogs, cats, fireworks and anything else you can think of that would happen on this most busy of all the Flathead holidays.

It was with a great sense of relief that I decided the Flathead was nowhere to be on the Fourth of July and went back to the beautiful Bear Paws whenever I can.

These days are very different. At the most maybe I will have a few friends or family over and barbeque steaks on the terrace of my Havre home but mostly I think of our great nation and what we have gone through to get to the Fourth of July, 2017.

You don’t have to be a Republican, Democrat, or Independent or of no political persuasion to know that there is something really wrong with our great nation.

It is not just terrorists although we worry about them as well but it is how we treat each other.

We are, by nature, a friendly nation but that seems to be changing and civil discourse has become much less civil than ever before.

When I lived in Somers, I noticed that when I went to Kalispell and walked down the street, there was little or no eye contact. What a shame, I thought. Then I would go to Great Falls and visit Albertsons there and a half dozen people I had never seen before would greet me and wish me well. It was then that I knew I was back home in Montana.

But even Montana is changing. People are going after their doctors. In Great Falls, one disgruntled patient burned his doctor’s house down if memory serves.

That is not what Montana people do. Actually it should be what people all over the United States do not do either.

And the really gross advertisements that we see on TV, why it is embarrassing to watch television with a young person. There is one going around right now called VIPoo that is worse than anything I have ever seen and yet it is shown over and over again.

So, it is my wish for all of us to become more kind and gentle to each other and realize that the fellow giving us the finger while driving down the highway maybe has had an even worse day than we had.

Kind and gentle, not bad words for a state or a nation.

Meanwhile, from me and mine to you and yours, the best Fourth of July ever!