The Independence Day Hootenanny started at about 1 o’clock but it wasn’t until much later than that when Rodney Atkins took the stage – we had roughly three hours, mostly raining, to buy beer and pizza before Rodney came on. The guys that came on after the Melissa Lynn Band and before Rodney were just a bit long in the tooth when they played I guess – pretty much all you could hear was the base.
It was a whole ‘nuther story when Rodney came on though – Rodney’s sound guys ran the sound board with skill and ease – you could hear every instrument and could actually hear the words being sung.
Rodney absolutely didn’t disappoint. Everybody knew the words to all of the songs and readily sang along.
I loved the fact that there were a ton of young people there too … singing along and dancing.
Rodney Atkins topped off the day, and even in spite of the rain that moved through that afternoon, it was one of the best Independence Day celebrations in my recent memory.
James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.
Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as “perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history”.
He set three world records and tied another, all in less than an hour, at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan — a feat that has never been equaled and has been called “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport”.
He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay.
He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited with “single-handedly crushing Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy”.
The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track and Field’s highest accolade for the year’s best track and field athlete.
Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth greatest North American athlete of the 20th century and the highest-ranked in his sport.
In 1999, he was on the six-man short-list for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Century.
3 apples, cores removed and chopped into chunks
2 bananas, sliced into 1 inch thick pieces
1 cup of grapes, sliced horizontally
1/2 cup of pitted dates, diced (optional)
Homemade Honey Sweetened Whipped Cream:
1 cup of whipping cream
2 tablespoons honey
Directions:
Peel and chop fruit and dates and set aside in a large bowl (NOT your serving bowl)
In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, whip whipping cream on high speed until peaks begin to form.
Once cream is whipped, add in honey and mix for another minute.
Add whipped cream to your fruit and stir to coat fruit.
Then transfer to serving bowl.
Refrigerate if not serving right away.
Well it had turned out to be a pretty eventful Saturday this time around.
Upon after tooling around in the woods over on Mullan’s Pass, we discovered that we hadn’t even had lunch, so we decided to head over to Parker’s Restaurant for a neat snack.
If in your travels along interstate 90 that you discover that you might be hungry I’ll suggest, and highly, that you consider stopping in at Parker’s.
Located in Drummond at 32 E Front St, Parker’s serves up the best burgers on the planet.
I’ve eaten at a lot of places along interstate 90 from Superior to Billings and no one can fix a cheeseburger like Brent can. I mean these things are incredible, and get this, Brent uses real beef.
When we stopped in on Saturday we ordered up a couple of cheeseburgers and a double bacon cheeseburger for our son (a growing boy you know). We ended up eating in the outdoor seating that’s available because we had our Lab puppy dog with us and dogs aren’t allowed indoors. It was kind of cool to eat outside anyway because the place was already packed. Not only was Parker’s full of folks from Montana, but it was also full of folks from all around — places like Utah and Washington state to rattle off just a few.
Parker’s is the quintessential Montana dining experience. You’ll discover that the minute you walk through the door. Friendly, fast, inexpensive, and oh … the wonderful smell of all of that food. You may have to take a bit of time looking over all of the things on this menu because … there’s a bunch of stuff on there that will most likely keep you coming back time after time after time.
Drummond is a small town with a population of around 200 or so people and is located off of exits 153 and 154 on interstate 90. If you blink you might miss it.
Parker’s is establishing itself in Drummond right along side the The World Famous Bullshippers with it’s honesty, hard work, and friendly disposition.
It’s a dining experience that you don’t want to miss.
Parker’s Restaurant boasts a variety of 135 Burgers! Parker’s also serves up steaks, pastas, sandwiches, homemade soup, desserts and much more. Back in October our son even gave the Frog legs a whirl.
Currently, Parker’s Restaurant hours are:
Monday: CLOSED
Tuesday: 11:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Wednesday: 11:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Thursday: 11:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Friday: 11:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Saturday: 11:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Sunday: CLOSED
If by chance that you and a bunch of your buddies want to pile in all at once for all of the great eats, just give Parker’s Restaurant a call at (406) 288-2333 and let them know.
Over the weekend we had the notion to travel Mullan’s Pass just west of Helena.
It was a nice sunny afternoon with temps in the upper 70’s to low 80’s.
We started out at the bottom along Austin Creek on the east side but had to turn around because of poor road conditions. Though it was dry, the road had various enormous huge ruts that might have been better suited to navigation if we had brought the truck.
We decided to go around over McDonald Pass and pick up the Mullan Road from the west side. The road on that side was much more suited for SUV travel.
There was quite a bit of traffic on the west side, with Quads, ATV’s, and other SUV’s stirring up the dust, along with mountain bikers all decked out in their Italian bicycle pants and back packs.
When we got to the top, we decided to travel down the other side heading east but had to turn around after about 500 yards due to the poor road conditions that our 4×4 truck could have easily handled if we had taken it instead of our SUV.
The original historical placard marking the top of the pass was gone. The only thing that indicated we were at the top of the pass was a Continental Divide Trail marker, and of course, the grade that headed downhill from that point.
Heading north on Blossburg Road from the point of Mullan’s Pass would have taken us 9 miles, traveling between Round Top Mountain and Bald Butte to Marysville.
The adventure was a good one over all. Looking up and down the road, one could just somehow imaging trains of wagons and lines of Calvary with all of their respective settlers, freight, and military supplies, heading west, passing along in the warmer weather months.
I can imagine that the road itself was in much better shape back in the day because it was usually those who traveled the road that kept it maintained.
These days though, it’s all pretty much private property on each side and any regular maintenance is done by the respective property owners and only on very rare occasion.
The railroad, to a certain extent might provide at least some of the maintenance on the west side because it has a materials yard, a short railroad spur line, and a shop located right at the west entrance to the tunnel.
The railroad dominates Mullan Pass these days, with winding bridges and a tunnel. This was the first main line transcontinental route for the Northern Pacific Railway, which opened in 1883, connecting Minnesota to the Puget Sound area.
The tunnel is 330 feet lower than the top of the pass, and is the longest rail tunnel in Montana, even though it was shortened by 400 feet in 2009 (to 3,426 feet).
When the railroad tunnel was originally built in 1883, it was less than 13 feet wide, which provided less than three inches of room (to spare) for some loads. Work done in 2009 widened it by three feet, and increased its height by 5 feet, allowing more air in the tunnel, which helps to keep the high horsepower helper engines from overheating.
The rail line is pretty heavily used. When we were there, we had the opportunity from down below, to watch 5 helper engines cross over the high trestle at Austin Creek, and a rather long train come up the Little Blackfoot River valley from the west and we watched it cross the trestle at Austin Creek from up above.
I think the next time we visit Mullan’s Pass we’ll bring our 4×4 truck so we can do more exploring in that area.
As is always the case, it’s always a great day in Montana when you can walk the trails or drive the roads that our Montana forefathers built way back in the day.
After our Mullan’s Pass adventure, we headed on over to Parkers Restaurant in Drummond for one of Brent’s famous Double Bacon Cheeseburgers.
Captain Mullan and His Road:
The pass was named after Lieutenant John Mullan, the U.S. Army engineer who first crossed the pass on March 22, 1854, and later supervised construction of the Mullan Road, the first road over the pass, in 1860.
Coming in from the west, the Mullan Road continued along the present route through Missoula and along the Clark Fork River (interstate 90) to a point a few miles north of the present town of Deer Lodge at Garrison. Then, bearing northeast (US HWY 12), it ascended the Little Blackfoot River to cross the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains at Mullan’s Pass. The road then went down along Little Prickly Pear Creek to near the Missouri River, straight north and across the Dearborn River (interstate 15), northeast past Bird Tail Rock and across the Sun River.
By modern standards it wasn’t much of a road, but in 1862 it was a key to progress. Specifications called for it to be 25 feet wide, graded to permit wagon passage and with the necessary stream crossings, be they fords, bridges, or ferries.
… on the mountain bikers all decked out in their Italian bicycle pants and back packs.
None of them had bear spray and insisted that soft sided camping was safe. They determined that they would be safe from the bears by making sure to place their food (primarily oatmeal) at least 100 feet away from their tents at night thinking that the bears would be more interested in that instead of them.
I reminded them that regardless of the oatmeal they were still considered food by a Grizzly.
I reminded them of the 65 year old mountain biker that was killed by a Grizzly a few years back (2021) while she was sleeping in her tent near the Ovando, Montana post office, and that I didn’t want to be reading about them in the news the following day, and to stay safe in their travels on the mountain roads.
