West. Day 32.

July 10, 2016

Simms to Augusta, Montana

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Short miles into Augusta.

The view from Wagons West, Augusta, Montana.

With two-story facades on cowboy-themed, touristy buildings, Augusta's Main Street looked like a set for an old western movie. My home for the night, Wagons West Motel and RV Park was at the east end of town, but I cruised through to sight-see. I felt like an extra in Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles.

Funny how the prairie loomed abruptly at the west end. As I turned around, I noticed a shady park tucked behind a row of weathered stores. Maybe an alternative to the open field of the RV Park?

It was the Augusta American Legion Rodeo Grounds. A grandstand of wood bleachers edged a dirt arena beyond a handful of picnic tables, a swing set, and a water pump. Deep green grass forewarned of automatic sprinklers. A small wooden pavilion had walls to block the wind, but the inside was littered with dirty paper plates and empty beer bottles. I picked up what I could and tossed them into an almost empty metal barrel. An outhouse building with a row of open holes in a long 1 x 6 board, separated by narrow sheets of plywood, was not clean.

Wagons West was an easy choice.

From my B'76 journal:

7/10/76

Rode 84 miles today from Scott City [Kansas] to McCracken fantastic day – we didn’t get to McCraken until 8:30 – just made it for dinner.

We stopped in Ransom City at “Alice’s Restaurant” and got a tour through their Co-op Grain Elevator. Very interesting. We got to talking to this farmer in Utica and we learned a lot about farming in this area. They grow about 1 million bushels of wheat and the US only uses about 300,000. The rest is exported. We learned a lot of things.

We got a free candy bar from the grocery store in Ransom.

Also, we got a free comb and nail file in a little town, too. (Brownell)

McCracken is where they filmed the movie “Paper Moon.” Strange.

Big Dave at Alice's Restaurant. 1976.

Me, a farmer's wife, and Loree. The woman hailed us down and invited us in for lemonade and cookies. 1976.