# Looking for a Town Like Big Whiskey/Shinbone/Rio Bravo/Appaloosa **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-town-like-big-whiskey-shinbone-rio-bravo-appaloosa/467604 "2008-10-12T18:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_T.Chance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_T.Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_T.Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-town-like-big-whiskey-shinbone-rio-bravo-appaloosa/467604/1 "2008-10-12T18:38:05Z")
I’ve always been a huge fan of westerns, and I now think I know why: I was born 120 years too late. With that in mind, and in all seriousness, are there any towns in the United States that still have that frontier feel to them? I’m not talking about a western-themed town, but a still-vibrant, tiny speck of a town where one can still operate a five-bed hotel with a restaurant and bar downstairs. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-town-like-big-whiskey-shinbone-rio-bravo-appaloosa/467604/2 "2008-10-13T12:48:42Z")
Speaking as someone who has toured Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and the Dakotas a fair bit, there’s a lot of towns that have that feel to them. Durango, Colorado comes to mind. Ouray CO is like that as well. Heck, there’s many little towns in that general area that remind me of Westerns. Small towns in Wyoming also have that feel, and are a bit less touristy than that Colorado ones. Just head over to that part of the world and start touring around. Doing it on a motorcycle makes it especially fun. You’ll find what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-town-like-big-whiskey-shinbone-rio-bravo-appaloosa/467604/3 "2008-10-13T14:48:22Z")
Get just one block off the main drag in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and you are instantly immersed in the 1880’s. It’s the real thing too, not a touristy setup. It doesn’t hurt that most of the citizens are Native Americans from the Pine Ridge reservation. I was on a long trip, but made myself take a half-hour time out and I drove all around the backstreets there. Cool beyond words. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-town-like-big-whiskey-shinbone-rio-bravo-appaloosa/467604/4 "2008-10-14T01:15:24Z")
Nothing personal, but if you knew where they were, then you and others would come and then they wouldn’t be that way any more. But, yeah, they’re out here.