Im sitting here in the shade at a concrete picnic table in a free campground on the outskirts of Lewistown, which is the geographical center of Montana. The air is warm and dry, with a nice, cool breeze blowing across me. Behind me sits Empedocles, the Wonder Odyssey, in which Sally is lying down with her friend Shinzen, trying to get rid of a headache. To my left, just across a gravel drive, theres a hole in the ground about three inches in diameter. Every now and then a prairie dog peeks out at me. His name is Paul. He lives here, and hes wondering just what the hell it is I think Im doing, driving over his home.
We spent the night at Lewistowns historic Calvert Hotel, which specializes in fancy decor, failing to stock extra toilet paper, and slathering every surface, and all of their bed linens and towels, with as much disinfectant as they can. Which means chemical odors. Which means Sally didnt sleep much, and awoke with a headache, and is now feeling highly sensitized to chemical odors such that she feels poisoned, which then triggers all sorts of emotional material from the past.
The park is nice enough. It sits out on a flat plane, the highway on one side, the towns municipal airport on the other. Theres low level road noise. Theres the quiet of the wide expanse. Theres not much shade. Just a few small trees. Thankfully I could pull right up next to this picnic table shelter and get sleeping Sally out of the sun, despite the disruption to Pauls peace and quiet.
Paul is now messing around under a pine tree. It is difficult to tell what he is doing at this distance. As he does not seem to trust me, he may be burying his valuables.
This is our second night in Lewistown. We spent the first night at the historic Yogo Inn, a cool old conference center trying to stay alive in this hot mess of an economy, hoping to get enough customers to justify the pool renovation they mustve begun in more promising times. Wed have stayed there a second night, had
the beds not been so mushy and So we tried the Calvert. More expensive. Full of chemicals. And morning coffee fit for washing the car and not much else. So got up this morning, found some really good organic espresso at a little drive through booth, had a sweet conversation with the owner, and then drove around town while quaffing our daily dose of caffeine. From there we returned to the Yogo restaurant, because they do good breakfasts there, and we needed the wifi, and a place to land for a while to write up our notes and upload our photos.
The notes and photos are in regard to yesterday, which was spent viewing two ranches in the Lewistown area. Its interesting. A property viewing here last two to three hours, entails both buyer and sellers agents, and means a tour of the land either in a 4 by 4 or a pickup truck. One property was about 350 acres. The other about 475. Both with houses and barns and shops and corrals and outbuildings. Both with
creeks and pastures and hay fields and woods. Both beautiful in their own way. Both with pluses and minuses.
Paul has gotten really brave and has run up beside me just a few feet away. If I moved to take his picture, he would run back into his hole. Oops. There he goes.
The first property we viewed yesterday could well be THE ONE. I dont want to say much more, in order to not jinx it, or to get our hopes up, or give the gods something to screw around with. One of the games here is to remain unattached and not urgent, to remind ourselves that itll all work out, to let things happen the way they need to, to simply follow our excitements and longings and promptings and stay in conversation with the Cosmos, and let the Cosmos have its say as well. So maybe we have found the one, the one in these pictures. But maybe not. Sallys brother has yet to weigh in. And then theres that whole messy deal of offers and contingencies and counteroffers and such.
