We never had no speed limits. Generally, our Interstate speed limits fell into these historical periods:
[ul]
[li]Early: When the 55 speed limit was Federally mandated as a condition of getting Interstate funding, violating the speed limit cost $5. It was payable on the spot in cash and didn’t go on your record (unless you were being really stupid).[/li][li]Middle: The Reasonable and Prudent Experiment is probably what you’re thinking of. For a while in the 1990s (?), the law said that the speed limit on Montana Interstates was whatever was `reasonable and prudent’ for the conditions (traffic and weather). If you were going 90 on an empty, dry road, most officers would let it pass. But it was, in the end, up to the officer (unless the judge smacked it down in court). That wasn’t very popular, especially when the tourists got hold of the false idea that there’s no speed limit in Montana.[/li][li]Current: The speed limit for Interstate highways in Montana is 70 in the daytime, lower at night. This limit is enforced about as well as it is anywhere else in the nation. Driving according to conditions is also the law, so going 70 when it’s blowing sleet will get you in trouble.[/li][/ul]As to how fast you can go… well, how fast can you go anywhere else? There are probably more wide, open highways in Montana, but, in the end, it comes down to what you can get away with.
Damn. I’ll just go speed at Deuche Autobanhs again… (but still, only few sections has left…)
So, are your cows sane?
Yeah, but the sheep are starting to act weird.
Minor correction - Speed limit on the three interstates is 75, not 70. Slower in Urban (HAH!) areas, not at night.
Go Cats! (first time in 16 years I’ve been able to publicly say I graduated from MSU and not get ragged about the most recent game.)
Still no snow in Bozeman, Helena, or Missoula. Gonna be scary if this keeps up.
Ever been to the Testicle Festival? What’s it like?
(… do a google search).
I went to a Testicle Festival once. You know how many ways there are to make chili? Yeah, well there are 3 more ways to cook Rocky Mountain oysters. And yes, I’ve seen a crock-pot of testicle chili. It was advertised as being sooo good, it would grab you by the balls, and they called it “Great Balls of Fire Chili.”
Original, huh?
Dislcaimer: I have never actually partaken of this particular delicacy, I grew up on a ranch and knew just too much for my own good. ::shudder::
I did live here during the Mad Cow brouhaha, and I never heard of Montana cattle being affected. Maybe they were, but not that I ever knew.
I’m not a rancher, but I do live in an area where ranching is big (Eastern Montana), so if Mad Cow was detected, it would have made all the local papers.
How often does Lolo pass get shut down by snow?
Three groups a day is crowded now.
How are things in Great Falls these days? My Uncle still lives there, although I’m not sure for how much longer (smack is bad, m’kay?) and like I said, I may end up going back in July.
My girl said that Downtown was getting pretty bad before she stopped visiting… lots of closed places (Jacks Pets Shop… used to have Monkeys in the window) and random crime.
I heard that the steakhouse that refused Ted and Jane was Sir Scott’s Oasis in Manhattan. I’d call that an urban legend, though, especially since I used to live in Manhattan, but I never heard the story until after we moved to Minnesota.
I’ll have to tell the Gallatin Gateway story to my dad when I see him next.
I remember that swimming hole well. IIRC, there’s another one in Madison Campground. It would take all the sense of discovery out of it if they told you about them in books.
Derleth, wasn’t “Reasonable and Prudent” also the rule back in the “even earlier” period? That’s what I learned in Montana History class (which I took during the “late early” period–speed limit signs had a “65” sticker covering the “55”.) Once the federal law was repealed, I think that things reverted back to the laws of the individual states, which in Montana’s case was the old “reasonable and prudent” law still on the books.
Wow, no snow in Bozeman? I can’t believe it! I really can’t! This is the place that has the occasional white Memorial Day! What the heck is going on here?
Am I the only person born in Montana who really doesn’t care for skiing at all? 
Where in Montana are they called prairie oysters? I only heard the term “Rocky Mountain oysters” as a kid.
This relates to another thread that I recently participated in: Are there any towns left where you can call another number in the same town by dialing the last five digits of the telephone number?
Thank you, Montana Guys. You’ve been very helpful.
Yes, it was Sir Scotts in the rumours.
I remember it being Reasonable and Prudent back in the '60s.
I don’t think there are any towns left with 5 digit dialing. There were some up untl about 6 years ago but now we even have to dial the area code for in-state town to town calls, which is pretty stupid considering all of Montana has the same area code.
Not often. But it’s an interesting place to be at 3 am in a bad storm.
The Montana Department of Transportation has a pretty good web page that shows road conditions in pretty close to real time. You should check it out. It even has web cams on some of the passes.
Unfortunately, I can’t remember the URL off the top of my head.
Any opinion of the asbestos-poisoned town of Libbey? (or is it Libby?) I believe the entire town has been designated a “Superfund” site, and the EPA is attempting to clean things up. Ever been there? (My friend in Livingston is about to publish a book about how the company that owned the vermiculite mine knew the town was being poisoned for more than 60 years, told no one, and did nothing. End shameless plug for Montana friend.)
Ever run into a Grizzly Bear in the backcountry?
Had dinner in Livingston with Tom and Meredith Brokaw?
Gone riding with Peter Fonda?
How many hollywood types have you come in to contact with, during the course of your travels around the state? I understand that many of them own property/ranches up there – my friends’ landlord is Jeff Bridges. They hang with a number of writers/actors/creative types, so upon visiting them, I got the opportunity to meet some very interesting characters. The obscure authors I liked the best.
Well, our family went to Yellowstone Park a lot when I was a kid, and I think we saw three bears over that time. Granted, I wouldn’t call the places we usually went in the park “backcountry”. I do still have my “bear bell”, though–a large jingle bell that you wear so that bears hear you coming (bears don’t like to be surprised!) I think that Mom bought them as much to entertain us kids as to scare away potential predators :).
My parents are good friends with the people who own the ranch where The Horse Whisperer was filmed, and I was there many times when I was young. Too bad I didn’t like the movie more–the scenery was certainly a memory-jogger. I even recognized a few of the extras! Oh, and a beef commercial was filmed in Manhattan c. 1989…the long version featured the back of one of my classmates’ houses. I guess those are my brushes with fame in Montana. I think my dad, a bricklayer, did some work on Peter Fonda’s ranch once. I don’t think he met anyone famous there–if he did, I probably wasn’t impressed at the time :).
My dad also was one of the men who did the stonework in the terminal at Gallatin Field (Bozeman’s airport). Just a little Doper trivia for you.
Do you have to dial the area code just for calling in-state long distance (numbers that were 1 + 7 digits), or do you have to do it for calls that do not require the “1” as well? If even Montana has local ten-digit-dialing, that’s got to suck. There’s no hope for the world. You can never go home again. sigh
A lot of that vermiculite was shipped to a processing plant in NE Minneapolis. They let kids play in their waste piles, and people from the neighborhood also took it to spread in their gardens, etc. It’s really a tragic story.
I get to Libby a couple of time a year for work. It’s a dying town - they just lost one of the lumber mills. Mining’s history in Montana is one of rape and leave the mess behind.
Haven’t run into grizzly bears in the backcountry but have had one encounter with a black bear and cubs and several with moose. The moose really scare me, particularly when fishing willow bottoms.
I haven’t seen many Hollywood types, it’s not something I would pay attention to. I also tend to avoid cappucino cowboy places, fern bars and fancy restaurants.
I did buy Tim Cahill a drink one time and played golf with Clint Black’s brother. I know a few outdoor writers (John Barsness, Pete Fromm) through friends. Good people.
Basically, beyond a 30 mile radius is 1-406-###-####. It does suck, and I do a lot of calling at work.
Bear bells are usefull, particularly when differentiating black bear scat from grizzly scat. Black bear scat is smaller and contains mainly berries and other plant matter.
Grizzly scat is larger, may contain hair and bone matter as well as berries and generally has bear bells in it.
Hey, Whistlepig, did you hear about the tourists down in Yellowstone a few years ago who were spraying their children down with bear repellent? They evidently believed it worked like mosquito repellent.
For those who don’t know, bear repellent is serious pepper spray. It might work on a bear if sprayed directly into its face at close range, but then again it might not. If you’ve sprayed it on your children, not only are you torturing them, but the first bear who comes along is going to think, “hey, spicy! I haven’t tried that variety yet…”