Greetings,
Back from the land of my birth: Fort Benton, Jah-tana. Put a thousand miles on the Dubmobile. I took the long way home
Wheel it back to July 12…
Finished up Smile Jamaica, Saturday Night Stylee from SLC north on a hot evening jag to Idaho Falls. Nice to have late night sun to cruise to. Heavy duty bass tunes to keep me awake without caffeination. Every. Step. of the Way. Bunk for the night. Get in to a Super Full Moon dark sky about Midnite. (213 miles).
Straight up I-15. Sunday Morning. No road rage here. 6am and I am up. As Bob sang, “Sun is shining and the weather is sweet. Makes me wanna move my dancing feet.” In Jah-tana in July, the Sun is up at 5am and sets after 11pm.
Caffeine + bass = caffabass. Better set the cruise control or Johnny Law will give I the Hairy Eyeball.
A heinous drive in the Winter. Until my fams started having Xmas in Jah-buquerque, New Jah-xico a few years back, I got stopped at the Monida pass 3 times in 20+ years You have two choices when the Roads on I-15 get shut down between Spencer, Idaho and Lima, Jah-tana. Or as I call it the 30 Miles of White Knuckles at 25 MPH.
- Live like a refugee with thousands of other Snowbirds from Canada, long haul and livestock trucks and other Holiday travelers in the school gymnasium in Lima (population 227)
- Hope to Jah you can get a hotel room in Dillon, Jah-tana (-50 miles back over brutal roads) or worse Butte (-112 miles).
***
Summer is a different story than White Out Jah-tana
I cross the Continental Divide a half dozen times, half a dozen rivers. Spring Wheat is a carpet of green. Winter Wheat starting to turn golden brown.
Jah-tana Runnings:
- Wind my way till Butte, Jah-tana. (Hastings chain book/music/movie spot in any Metro city of the Big Sky state.) Lots of cheap rock catalog stuff: Black Sabbath, Alice and Aerosmith for $5. New Beats Antique. (205 miles)
- Headed for the People’s Republic of Missoula for two days of cratedigging and bookdigging (Rockin’ Rudys, Ear Candy Records). Saw the new Planet of the Apes movie. Good but the Hercules trailer looks better. North of $300 at Rockin’ Rudy’s. Lots of buttons, magnets and T-shirts. Added to my Dylan and Drake bootleg collection. Took three clerks and the owner came out as they rang me up. I am known as a “whale” in the Cratedigging biz. Lots of great used stock I read about in Rolling Stone and Mojo. Bob & Gene, Cheech and Chong. Some Missoula reggae, The New CSNY reissue. Ear Candy: Bombay Disco and a group called Kadavar. Checked everywhere but no Vinyl for I’n’ I to be had in Jah-tana. The vagaries of cratedigging. (118 miles)
- One day back in my old University town, Bozeman, Jah-tana. Main Street stroll: Cactus Records, Vargo’s Jazz and Books. A beer at the resurrected Rockin’ R
- Not finding good luck in Bozeman lately. The Anchorman 2 and American Hustle Soundtracks was about it. Funny story buying Bob Marley and Johnny Cash Tee shirts in the mall. More to come…(202 miles)
Then home to the Hi Line (North Central Montana) through Helena (the Capitol) and Great Falls. 35 miles to the Birthplace of Jah-tana: Fort Benton. (225 miles).
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica 