Montana 1999--the vacation before the end of the world
By the time August 1999 arrived, everyone was tired of Y2K, though there were still many who truly believed that all of the world's computers were going to stop working at approximately midnight of January 1, 2000 and we would all be in a heap of trouble--worldwide trouble. In our little world, I was in college and working, and we were just living our lives. With the end of the world pressing upon us, however, it seemed the perfect time for a big vacation.
Most vacations happen because a person is inspired by something. In this instance, it was a song. The song Come Monday, by Jimmy Buffet has this line which Jamie always sings to me that went, "we can go hiking on Tuesday, with you I'd walk anywhere." And, since that song also contains a reference to some night in Montana, I took it as a sign to book a trip to a dude ranch in Montana; before airplanes stop working and travel becomes impossible, you know, because of Y2K.
Even with the world potentially coming to an end, we still lived life like we always do. For us, we always were knee deep in remodeling projects. A few days before we were scheduled to leave, we were painting the outside exterior and as I sat on the front porch smoking my cigarette, and watching Jamie paint, I smelled natural gas. "Hon, I am going to call the gas company, because I smell natural gas." I never knew utility companies reacted so quickly, but about five minutes after hanging up the phone the little white gas company truck was pulling in our driveway. A wave of her gas wand showed that we had a leak in the house. As luck would have it, a few years earlier I decided to pay that extra few bucks each month for the insurance which covered all the repairs from the meter in the house to the street if we ever encountered problems with our line. The gas company employee was so proud of us twenty-somethings for making such a wise decision that she made a point to shake my husband's hand and told him good move. Jamie later asked me, "Okay, so why was she so happy with us?"
We left a few days later and my dad said he would let the utility men in to change the line, etc., etc., uh-uh, yeah, okay, sure, we are leaving, bye. And so we left.
We arrived in Bozeman airport and drove a couple hours across the great big state of Montana to Bonanza Creek Dude Ranch, situated in Martinsdale, Montana in the Crazy Mountains. Our cabin was on the side of a mountain. It was cozy and rustic. When it was mealtime, we went to the main house where we were waited on by the nicest staff and each meal was spent with the dude ranch hosts and their family members who cared to join us. At that time, June and David had children about the same age as Jamie and I. There were six other guests and the ranch hand Fredo. We loved it immediately. We rode horses from morning until lunchtime, but sometimes we skipped lunch and rode until dinner.
We were truly living in the moment that week. We forgot about home, so much so that when I called my parents to check in, my dad was going on and on about the gas line. I completely forgot that we had an issue with the gas line back home. Jamie and I both forgot about everything back home.
Jamie made fast friends with the ranch hand Fredo. Fredo was an experienced cowboy who could do all the lasso tricks and knew everything about horses. There was an authenticity about Fredo. I guessed that if we saw Fredo's home it would have only the barest of necessities. He was our friend that week. After a long day on the trail, we would have dinner, then drive into town to the local watering hole. The local bar was truly the local place that did not see new faces that often. By the end of the week, we had the rest of the guests at the local and we were a hit in Martinsdale, Montana.
Montana is still one of my favorite vacations. I would never go back expecting the same thing because it was truly a once in a lifetime trip. The perfect combination of people all in the right place at the right time, having the time of our lives before the Y2K bug hit.
