Here’s something you may not know about me: I spent one summer in my life working on a “dude ranch” in Montana. I worked the night shift, slept in my own tiny little cabin, and drove around southwestern Montana and a tiny piece of Idaho during my few free hours. I had my first car, a Subaru as old as I was, and I had to refill the gas at least three times a week. When you’re working on a legitimate ranch in rural Montana (the Madison Valley, to be exact), you have to drive pretty far to get gas–the closest town, Cameron, only had a bar and a post office. I guess a post office is all you need to be a true town! At least in Montana.
I would take turns driving to Ennis, a nearby, “bigger” town, and Henry’s Lake, Idaho, a tiny resort on a lake, to fill my tank. My first trip to Henry’s Lake was a risk–although I didn’t really have a smartphone in those days (or a GPS), (and this wasn’t even that long ago!) the cell service/internet was pretty nonexistent way out in the boonies, anyway, so I wasn’t sure if I would even find a gas station. Luckily, I did, and I felt pretty lucky to discover this small, quiet, gorgeous piece of the planet!