Here's a quick snap of Missoula, Montana as seen during our climbout yesterday. You can see the "M" I climbed to in the lower left on the side of the mountain. As I've been had multiple Montana overnights this trip, I can start some comparisons. Missoula seemed vibrant, active, and up-and-coming. Then I landed in Helena last night and went for a walk this morning. It has a very different feel. It looked stuck in 1987.
I walked a little over a mile to the capitol building. The homes along the way were not very inviting looking. Rusty chain link fences formed perimeters around the yards. Bicycles and toys littered the yards, unchained without fear of being stolen. The landscape changed for about two or three blocks nearing the capitol, but the rest of the town had a very . . . depressed feel.
Sidenote: Look at the size of that sky! I've been told it's bigger here.
I got stuck behind a train at one point for a few minutes as it kept backing up and rolling forward, hooking up to more cars presumably. I wasn't sure if it was ever going to end. This town is just not very active. For all the time I was waiting there for the train, only two vehicles were waiting at the crossing with me. Montana is in interesting place, though. I picked up a local paper yesterday morning to read on the plane. It said more residents voted for Governor than for the President of the United States. Interesting. Apathy? Disillusioned? Who knows, but I think Helena is one of the two Americas the news keeps talking about, and it's not the one I have been living in.
It's a town that seems to have been forgotten in time. This is a picture from a neighborhood park. I remember playground equipment like this from my youth, but it was all scrapped, deemed hazardous, and replaced with fancier, plastic fortresses with ziplines and bouncy bridges. Not in Helena. And I wouldn't be surprised if some local just carried that slide from their yard over to the park when their kids became too old for it.
Almost a week after the election, I'm learning a little bit about the rest of the country. Infrastructure is definitely something Helena could benefit from, but I could see how a larger city like LA gets first pick since there are more people. I patiently await the day that LAX has a more efficient traffic flow or the ambitious Green Line metro extension, but in the meantime, how much does it cost for a seesaw?
I got stuck behind a train at one point for a few minutes as it kept backing up and rolling forward, hooking up to more cars presumably. I wasn't sure if it was ever going to end. This town is just not very active. For all the time I was waiting there for the train, only two vehicles were waiting at the crossing with me. Montana is in interesting place, though. I picked up a local paper yesterday morning to read on the plane. It said more residents voted for Governor than for the President of the United States. Interesting. Apathy? Disillusioned? Who knows, but I think Helena is one of the two Americas the news keeps talking about, and it's not the one I have been living in.
