Montana, part 2

I drove from Billings and did about a 6 hour loop.  I started in Columbus, MT.   The hotel clerk said to stop in at the Atlas Bar.  It’s a 100 year old bar and I almost didn’t go in.  You’ll see, I was glad that I did. Notice the 2 headed calf on the wall.  It was born in 1962 and it died 3 weeks later.   A funny story…when I was  having lunch at the Cowboy bar, I sat across from a  woman and her elderly father.  They had gone to see the calf, in 1962, when it was alive! My lunch ‘companions’ also said that this bar also used to have even MORE heads on the wall. Cattle.Outside in Columbus.1906.I did take this shot while driving.  Luckily the roads were empty.  I followed this airstream for some time.The mountains, that I first saw outside of the airport in the distance, up close. Nye Montana.  No cell phone or 3g.   I really was off the grid and the only way out was to go the way I came in.  I heard there are 100 people living in Nye.   There are 3 children that go to the school. This is the one church.Montana has little casinos everywhere.  Even Nye, population 100, had a casino.  It didn’t have cell reception, but it  has a casino.Passing the cowboy bar, I decided to stop for lunch. It got good reviews on Yelp.  I did have a good burger and spent lunch talking to some locals. Dear Mom: The good thing about this part of the county was that I literally could stop the car in the middle of the road and take a picture. Red Lodge This candy store was very cool.“Just Like Dad!”  Super.I loved these Safe-T pops growing up! Driving on another desolate back road, I saw this and pulled over.   This is a sad story…google the Smith Mining Disaster if you’d like to know more.  These abandoned buildings were cool. If I weren’t alone, I would have gone down to them.I wish again, that you could have been here to see this.  This gulch was pretty deep and  you can see the buildings in the distance. Last, but not least,  here’s the part of the country I was in.  I used an old fashioned map to navigate as the 3G was really unreliable (forget about 4G)!  I had a great trip!