August 9, 2008 - Bozeman, MT ro Helena, MT

Today would be one of the few days of very little driving. My destination was Helena, MT, the capital of Montana.


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The day started out with very reasonable temperatures. Eastern MT was terribly hot (close to 100 both days). Today was in the 70s.

The terms of my rental agreement state that I must turn in my car when it gets close to 3,000 miles and swap it for a new one. I got to that point in Sioux Falls, SD. In addition, I had a New Jersey plated car and did not want to stick out like a sore thumb. However, in South Dakota and North Dakota, the agencies for the rental company I chose are merely franchisees. They are not corporate owned as they are in the location where I live. Thus, I could not swap it in SD or ND. The closest corporate owned agency was in Bozeman, MT. They were willing to do the switch. However, when I arrived there, I found they mostly had SUVs. With the cost of gas, I was not going to drive a SUV. So, I continued on with my New Jersey plated vehicle. I would only have it until August 12th...

The first activity for the day was the Wild West Fest at the historic Kleffner Ranch. This was just outside of Helena. Because there was no actual address, I could not plug it into the GPS. Therefore, I had to rely on the directions provided on their web site. Unfortunately, I misread them and thought I was going to Townsend, MT. This is about forty miles south of Helena. It was an hour away from Bozeman.

I took the exit for Townsend and saw some very pretty countryside. The views from I-90 were just as pretty though. Here are a few photos from Townsend.

Montana has a reputation for having no speed limits. I will say that on the interstates, the speed limits are frequently posted (75 mph). On many of the rural routes, signs are posted indicating the speed limit is 70 mph. But, I did find some roads along this way with no speed limit signs for many miles.

After realizing I had misread the directions, I went on to the Helena area. I found the Kleffner Ranch. The Wild West Fest was interesting but a little small. It was sort of underwhelming. See the photos.

During lunch, a man with a handkerchief over his mouth approached people at the table. He took out a gun and demanded their nickels and pennies. He said that if they did not hand them over, he would steal their lunches. Everyone got a big laugh out of this and he started handing trinkets to the kids. I called my parents to tell them I just avoided being robbed, then slowly described the events.

Later, I found the bandit and asked if I could take a picture. He called two people who were dressed in period costume and did a mock hold up. These photos are included in the Wild West Fest set linked above.

At one of the displays inside of the Kleffner barn, I read about a Frontier Town historical park nearby. It boasted about having more western displays than most western states. I thought I might try it after Mass since there wouldn't be time to get there beforehand.

There was a "shoot out" which was a thirty minute play from the old west. This gave me practice with action photos. Here are some of the photos. I hope to have the complete set loaded soon.

After the shoot-out, it started to rain. Knowing what happened with my previous digital camera in the rain (sparks came out and it was nearly $100 to repair), I decided to get to my car fast. The rain stopped so I took a few photos of the dark clouds. You can see them from the Wild West Fest photos linked above.

After I had seen all I needed to see at the Wild West Fest, I went to my hotel. I checked in at 3pm, which is probably the earliest check-in I've ever done in my life.

I tried to learn about Frontier Town, but it was not in the phonebook. The hotel clerk had heard about it and gave a vague idea of where she thought it might be, but she wasn't sure. The GPS had it listed as being about 18 miles away. I looked it up online and found that it had been closed in the past. I was a bit nervous about driving that much (with $4/gallon gas) only to find it closed.

The vigil Mass for Sunday was at 5pm at the Cathedral of St. Helena. This is a gorgeous cathedral located in downtown Helena. The Mass was very nice. I was given permission to photograph the inside of the church but they needed to close up fairly quickly after I got started. I didn't have a chance to get all of the stained glass windows or to properly compose the photos. Here is what I have. A volunteer for the church invited me back at 6:30am, but since I had plenty to do the next day, that was not going to be possible.

For a brief time I started driving the route the GPS listed for Frontier Town. But then I decided it was getting late and if they were in operation, they were probably closed by that point. I decided to just find a place to eat dinner.

Dinner was an adventure of frustration. Several of the restaurants were located on a street known as Last Chance Gulch Rd. Most of this can be driven. But the area where several restaurants and businesses are located is just a walkway with a street sign. The GPS kept telling me ot drive on this. I kept passing it by, knowing it was not a drivable street. I kept looking for Last Chance Gulch Rd. Finally, I came to realize it was this walkway.

There was a nice mural on a building in Downtown Helena. Here are some photos.

Dinner itself was not exactly great. I went to a steakhouse restaurant. As I was looking through the menu, I found the building used to be a bordello. It had been several other things (which were honest and legitimate) along the way. The waitresses were overworked. I was not asked about the side dish I wanted. I ordered a salad separately from the meal. Others who had come in after me were being served before me. The waitress was about to give me my meal before the salad. Then the meal came without any sides. I had to ask for them. While there were no apologies done verbally, the waitress intentionally did not charge for the salad. I asked her about it and she said "Don't worry about it. We want you to come back here." That was nice of them. I didn't have the heart to tell her that good or bad, I wasn't coming back because I live so far away.

After dinner I drove around Helena a bit before heading back to the hotel. I saw the state capitol though I didn't take any photos.