Prologue
Whenever Beloved and I visit a new location, we are immediately set at odds with each other.
I'm the kind of person who likes to stop and read the little informational signs and descriptive text put up by museums and chambers of commerce and restroom attendants. Beloved, on the other hand, prefers to comment on a location's visual beauty or lack thereof and move on.
Why My Way Is Better
While visiting Beloved's brother in Wyoming, we took a day trip to Red Lodge, Montana...home of several gift shops, geode dispensaries, and jerky emporiums. We were strolling down the sidewalk when I noticed an iron plaque attached to a building's cornerstone. Beloved walked into the store while I, of course, stopped to read the plaque:
"FOILED BANK ROBBERY SITE: On Sept. 18, 1887, the Sundance Kid (Harry Longbaugh), Kid Curry and others of the 'Wild Bunch' rode into Red Lodge after escaping from jail in Belle Fourche, S.D., and announced their intention of making an unauthorized withdrawal from the Carbon County Bank. They botched the job and Sheriff John Dunn rode off in hot pursuit. After an 80-mile chase, he and his posse captured them near Lavina. The robbers were returned to the Deadwood, S.D. jail, where they again escaped."
Now you see? If I hadn't stopped and read that, I never would have had a giggle at the expense of 19th Century jailors, and I never would have known that Red Lodge's claim to fame was an unproductive visit from the Sundance Kid.
It made me feel instantly connected to Robert Redford.
And even more importantly, if I hadn't taken a picture of the plaque, I wouldn't have anything to blog about today and you would be looking at a blank webpage.
Oh, the agony!
No comments:
Post a Comment