After driving 12 hours yesterday, we stopped overnight in Miles City, Montana. On National Public Radio on the drive, we heard about this 100 year old bar that is worth seeing. As we got off our horses and slapped the dust off of our chaps, we noticed the Montana Bar was full of cowboys. So, the Trout and I mosied up to the brass rail on the bar and ordered two Bloody Mary's to wash the dust out of our throats. I immediately started choking as the pepper in the "Mary" was a big surprise.
We then looked around and everyone was looking at us since we were 'not from here'. One old cowgal started telling us the history of the bar and then a cowboy told us to have a seat and we learned a lot more. I was reading the brochure when I read that the men's room has a unique porcelain urinal and a marble-walled stall. The cowboy said I could go in to see it, but I told the Trout to just go and take a picture.
Looks like the floor has not been cleaned in 100 years either.
The longhorn steer in the middle was from the early 1900 trail drives from Texas to Montana. The beautiful wooden back bar arrived in Montana from St. Louis in about 1913. This was quite a unique experience. There truly are real cowboys in Montana and each of them has a story to tell.
