I would liked to have stayed to shoot the shit with the Most Astonishing Young Man but there was majesty to be seen.
It was nearing 3pm and our friend Emily had tipped us off to a bakery that had great sourdough delivered daily at that time. We showed up right on time but unfortunately the delivery arrived at 4pm. We weren’t really sure if this bread was worth an hour delay. Next door was another Emily-recommended Missoula must: Kettle House Brewery. She had suggested buying a loaf of sourdough and walking it over to the Kettle House. We went over sans sourdough.
This was a microbrewery warehouse-y thing right in town. The brewery hosted a taproom which was in the same room as the stills. There was a halfwall separating the stills from the taps. Something about Montana law required taprooms to be licensed differently than bars. In order to drink a pint Jayne had to get a stamp card. Once she drank three pints (card stamped three times) she would have to relinquish her drinking rights for the day at the Kettle House. Luckily we were here just to sample.
With a pint of Bongwater for Jayne and a pint of rootbeer for me, we headed south/southeast toward Livingston, MT and eventually Yellowstone. We made sure to cruise as fast as possible because we hoped to camp in Yellowstone that evening and it was still a fer piece. We stopped twice along the way. The first time was at a rest area where an awesome “supervan” caught up with us. We had earlier passed this sweet BMW van/RV. As they pulled in, I walked up to them with my camera and talked to them about it. The man driving it told me it was a BMW Vixen. It wasn’t a full-sized RV or anything; for he and his wife it looked like it worked well. It had a kitchenette and bed and everything and he said they really enjoyed their trips in it. The most amazing thing about it to him was that because it was relatively small and a diesel, he got gas mileage in the 30s. Add that to the list of things I want now.
At some point we were hungry and after that canister of meat and bread and mayo I ate earlier, I wasn’t really interested in some heavy fast food. There was a bakery advertised on billboards for miles called Wheat Montana. We pulled off at the exit hoping it was nearby and it was right there. Interesting vibe. That close to the highway, I pictured a McDonald’s for whole grain bread but it seemed to be the town hangout for a town that was nowhere in sight. The dining area had old ranchers hanging around sipping coffee and eating fresh sandwiches and behind the counter were the town’s attractive high school girls and over the speaker were golden oldies. Jayne liked her brownie.