August 2018 10 Traveling for the DAY OF THE COWBOY Gresham, OR – Missoula, MT 534 miles The odometer on my 18-year-old truck reads 299,981 miles, so I picked up a rental car for the month of June and on June 4th I headed down the highway on a road trip to promote the NDOC and to meet some of its dedicated volunteers and supporters, in person. The first day took me north through Washington and over into Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. I had never been that far north in Idaho or Washington before, but now I can tell you the country was breathtaking. My goal was to make it to Missoula, Montana, that night and to meet up with NDOC Montana volunteer, Ted Valentiner, and his wife Linda the next day. Before leaving home, I reworked my itinerary over and over in an effort to parse my driving so that I wasn’t behind the wheel more than 500 miles a day. But, some days, like the first day and the last day, it had to be more. Linda, Ted, and I met for lunch at a quaint barbecue place in downtown Missoula called “The Notorious Pig BBQ.” They had driven three hours themselves, from their place in Whitefish, Montana called “The Old Wagon Wheel”. We took some time to get better acquainted; then we talked about the National Day of the Cowboy and some strategies for enlisting more support for the bill in Montana and for finding the right sponsors for it. Sometimes we line up sponsors and they don’t or can’t, follow through on their commitment, so we try to look at legislators more closely now before we decide which one to approach first. Ted and Linda had to head back home but not before we had our picture snapped in front of one of Missoula’s buildings listed on the National Historic Register, the Gleim House, which we learned was originally a ‘female boarding house,’ the euphemism for a brothel. I decided to trek around Missoula after lunch and look for the mayor’s office to see if the mayor had any legislative recommendations for us. My GPS was trying to trip me up because when I put in “Mayor of Missoula,’ it gave me a restaurant named, “Cinco de Mayo.” Finally, I just looked around for a building that seemed formal and went in. It turned out to be the courthouse but someone there directed me to the building they thought was the mayor’s office which turned out to be the Missoula County Commissioner’s Office. I gave them my NDOC speech and a few brochures anyway and asked them where the Mayor’s office was. Luckily it was nearby but unfortunately, the Mayor was not in, so I gave my NDOC briefing to his staff and left a message that we would like to know if he could refer us to a legislator he thought would be a good choice for our bill. Next day, I got an email from the Mayor with a suggestion for whom to contact, and Ted and Linda will follow up on that. Missoula, MT – Medora, ND 600 miles The distance between stops was too far, so I spent the night in Miles City, Montana and arrived in Medora, North Dakota the next day. I was there to meet Rick Thompson, the Executive Director of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame and to talk with Senator Rich Wardner (701-483-6918 office), who assured us he would sponsor the NDOC bill in the North Dakota Legislature in its 2019 session. I spent the remainder of the day in Medora going through the Hall of Fame, attending Joe Weigand’s Theodore Roosevelt presentation, and chatting with Doug Ellison at Western Edge Books, Artwork, & Music, where everything in the store is western related. I was a guest at the Medora Musical Theater that night, held outdoors in a spectacular mountain setting. The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame celebrates the National Day of the Cowboy every year. Medora, ND – Sturgis, SD 210 miles I wanted to meet Francie Ganje, a well-loved South Dakota radio personality in Sturgis, who has been telling people about the National Day of the Cowboy for twelve or thirteen years. On the way to Sturgis, I stopped in Spearfish, South Dakota to see the High Plains Western Heritage Center which I had heard so much about. I met the new director there, Karla Scovell, and we chatted some about the history of the NDOC bill in South Dakota, which seems to have been pushed aside some years ago in favor of an awkwardly worded bill (or resolution) promoting a magazine. It’s a little unclear as to what actually occurred and whether or not that bill did, in fact, pass both the house and senate, but some folks I spoke with in South Dakota and North Dakota would like to see the situation corrected and gave me some suggestions on people to contact who could help get South Dakota in sync with all the other states that have passed the National Day of the Cowboy bill. It was a pleasure to finally meet Francie Ganje in person, after leaving the museum in Spearfish. She hosted me at her beautiful home in Sturgis (also on the Historic Register). There I met two of her friends, who were on their way home to Hawaii, so of course; I gave them my NDOC pitch and asked for help in getting a bill sponsor there. The next day, Francie was kind enough to interview me about the NDOC on her radio show at KBHB Farm Radio. She then took me to Deadwood, so I could call on the owner of the casino there, in hopes that he would be willing to help us get the NDOC bill passed. Did I mention I had never been in either North Dakota or South Dakota before? Wow! The scenery is incredible. Sturgis, SD – Council Bluffs, NE 545 miles Council Bluffs, NE – Elk Creek, MO 434 miles My next destination was Elk Creek, Missouri, to meet another longtime volunteer and supporter, cowboy Bob DeMitry. On my way to Bob’s, I passed an exit sign for St. Joseph, the “Gateway to the West,” so I detoured. In St Jo, I stopped in at the Patee House Museum, the Pony Express Museum, and the Pony Express Headquarters. I gave them all NDOC information and asked them to contact our bill sponsors, Representatives Love and Ross, and tell them they support the bill. Bob DeMitry has been working on getting our bill passed in Missouri for three years. This was our first time to meet in person. Bob had previously lived in New York and got our resolution passed there a number of years ago. While I was at Bob’s home, we called his main bill sponsor, Representative Warren Love (573-751-4065 office) and left a message asking him to call us back. Bob and I, and his wife Linda talked about the work involved in getting the bill passed and the many glitches that can pop up, like sponsors not getting re-elected, or the bill not getting out of a committee even though it has a senator and a representative backing it. Linda’s lasagna was delicious! continued on page 13 Ted Valentiner in Missoula, Montana Francie Ganje Selfie Sturgis, South Dakota