Tripping the light fantastic

 Dispatches from the Road by Bill Poindexter

Tripping the light fantastic… 

I’m sending it from my cabin 7:42 AM July 20, I was awoken by my good neighbor, Mr. squirrel, who I think is still aggravated that I am here -but I can’t help it and we all need to learn to live together, I am fascinated by the fact that the squirrels here live in burrows in the ground kind of like prairie dogs, because where I live in Kansas City Missouri, they live in nest in the trees are in the tree trunks. Just a naturalistic observation. Things have shifted up here , things are better in many ways, and I’m happy about that. The light from the sun is threading its way through the pine trees in front of me, feeling the warmth of the sun on my head. My face feels good. I just boiled up a pot of coffee on my jet, boil stove and actually, I’m holding the whole stove in my hand because my fingers are cold. It was a cold night last night and the night before… In my cozy cabin, which I haven’t talked enough about, so I’m gonna talk about where I live while I’m here because I am grateful for having a place to stay while I am alone in the wilderness. The cabin itself isn’t very big I would say it’s probably, maybe 10 feet wide maybe 12 and may be 20 feet long something like that if that is made out of a plywood and then it’s surrounded on the top by metal and around the lower section by metal and the floor is basically plywood that actually needs to be pulled up and replaced just because it’s getting old. There is a little insulation in the cracks but there’s still many places where there’s a little holes so lots of air can get in which I like actually and then I have a window over by my bed that backs up to the Flathead in National Forest, which is only yards away from the cabin and basically I consider that my backyard. Then on the front there’s a little pallet that is my basically my little Front Porch. There’s about a 3 foot overhang and two poles that hold up the overhang in the front of the cabin and then I have a little table in front of my chair and I have a nice view of Woods a little bit of the home bottom ranch, which is about 50 yards in front of me that’s the bar and restaurant that are our neighbors and where I listen to live music most of the time and then I have a view of one of the mountain peaks in glacier national Park, which I have no idea what the name of the mountain is -but it’s really beautiful. There’s basically 9 of us that live here right now.

And possibly a couple more coming. There’s basically a community kitchen outside on the far side of the property that’s not very well-maintained and the refrigerator sometimes works sometimes it doesn’t so I stop storing food in there and there’s no running water, but there is place to store stuff dry goods. Then there is a Kind of a community living room area that has a place to charge our phones or chargers and there is a TV in a couch and a table in there that the younger people sometimes watch DVDs. And then behind that there’s an outdoor shower, which is absolutely marvelous and it’s really beautiful, there’s nothing better than taking an outdoor shower and in my opinion I did a lot when I was up on Martha’s Vineyard the island of Martha’s Vineyard off Cape Cod and after a hard day here it’s just best to get naked and stand in that outdoor shower and just feel the air. My best thing is to do early in the morning -Meditate do yoga and then before it gets warmed up the air go take a shower and then after the shower, you just stand there and steam comes off your body because it’s so cold out still feels so good. The people who live here with me are -as you enter into the camp compound ; Alex, who lives in his RV he is one of the lead bartenders and a really nice guy from Columbia Falls, he’s also a big foraging aficionado in his-days off -right now huckleberry picking he and I get along really well. He’s about 35 really nice young man he’s the one who you might’ve saw pictures of doing a tarot card reading with me or for me. and I will be interviewing Alex in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned. And then the next one is a white Wall tent and that’s Torey. Torey a very nurturing mother type in a very matter-of-fact person. She’s a very strong woman and she reminds me what I’m supposed to do and what I’m not supposed to do as a bartender. In a good way. So we get along well. Then there’s my cabin and then Mike V next-door, I don’t remember Mike’s last name but he’s one of the prep cooks in a really nice guy. He hasn’t been here for a while because he’s been camping car camping at various places around Polebridge and the next-door to him is Ruben who’s a young man who are has a lot of skills and is getting ready to go back to school in a couple weeks. Definitely underutilized basically a dishwasher who would be better off being a bar back but for some reason the owner of the saloon won’t let them be a bar back. I was told by someone else he has Asperger’s I haven’t really seen signs of that but maybe? So he’s been working at the other bar doing a little bar backing on the side, which is good form. And then across from him is Seth who is one of the cooks and he just turned 21 and he actually is a really good cook when I took a few days to work in the kitchen as a prep cook I worked with him and he had a lot he and I got along really well. Across from Seth is one of the new cooks, Mike Jones he’s from Massachusetts a nice guy, describe to me by local is a little rough around the edges… He smokes he drinks he smokes weed a lot it’s already becoming an issue so I feel like his days are probably numbered… he’s genuinely a nice guy, and a hell of a good cook. And then the next one is Katie and Katie is the main cook right now and she has a dog German Shepherd named Kush who I like very much Katie and I are congenial but to me she’s a bit of an instigator and complains a lot and doesn’t like the way how many things are done here… So if you get on her bad side watch out. And I think I’m on her bad side. Then there’s Sam who is the maintenance guy he’s a 20 year old really good guy can’t say enough good things about him he has a dog name, Ollie. and that’s our camp. That’s where I live for the summer. 

Hanging out with locals, co workers, new friends: When I first got up here I met everybody and hung out with a few people and I’ve been invited to some places but I decided not to go. I like to keep to myself and if you know this, you know this about me if you know me, I like to keep to myself especially on my days off only because my days are spent working and having to be “on“ and being very social so I’m talking to hundreds of people a day and by the time I get done with my shift I just wanna go for a ride or relax have a beer or a cup of coffee or something to eat. Ha… 

Here comes a beautiful deer coming through my camp and I can hear the deer calling calling something up and it’s running off now. 

So because I’m working so hard I haven’t been camping as much as I wanted to or doing bikepacking I’m still having issues with the bicycle I brought -in the beginning the front crank arm that holds the pedal fell off four times and I managed to get it secured but I’m not super confident about it and then just the other day I was washing my bike here at my cabin and there’s so much dust here I clean the wheels really well and noticed that where the spokes go into the rim on about 12 of the spokes, there’s multiple cracks 28 in total and there’s a bit of a wobble in the wheel right now that I can feel while I ride. And I’m in contact with the manufacturer of surly bikes to get this bike, the bridge club hopefully replaced or the wheels replaced. As money is tight as I’m trying to save money for the winter and the bike itself I bought last fall but I’ve only been using it for five months after I left Trader Joe’s is when I started to ride the bike in March and that was only like commuting, and I’ve only been using it up here for commuting on good roads, and only a couple small bikepacking trips, not more than a day each and I haven’t been abusing it at all and for it to be in this type of condition with multiple cracks in my rims and it’s it’s actually the surly bridge club like I said and it is if you go to their website it’s supposed to be the ultimate bikepacking bike and I can tell you right now it’s not from all the issues I’ve had so I need to write an article about it. So hopefully the company will come through and I can get two new wheels and feel safe again on the bike. And it’s a huge pain in the butt because not owning a car you are relying on the bicycle for transportation or walking up here. There’s just one road to Polebridge and it’s a fairly busy road and I don’t want to be walking it at night even with lights. I’d much rather be on the bike so that’s a little bit frustrating sorry I needed to vent.

I feel like I’m 100% efficient at the job and I do a really good job. Lanny, a customer at the saloon today told me I made the best margarita from scratch she’s ever had… And as I was walking up to her later on, she said I was lovely and how nice it is to get sincere compliments like that, she was there with her friend/partner George… and they were very kind.If you were to go to reviews of the northern lights saloon like on yelp… You would see my name mentioned a lot. I have people now coming back because I’ve been here long enough asking for me . So from that aspect, this is something I really like to do I mean I could even see my living in a place like this full-time. 

So back to my cabin, I like the cabin it has a bed, a chair, a table, a dresser, a place where I can lean my bike and place where I can hang my gear. It’s very simple. I have to sweep it out every day because of all the dirt and dust but I like that too. I get up in the middle of the night sometimes to Pee in the woods as I hydrate quite a bit. And sometimes I’ll just set my chair out in the middle of the gravel road in front of my cabin and sit outside and do a little bit of writing or thinking, and stare up at the stars and watch the satellites go by in the falling stars in the vastness of the Milky Way galaxy over my head. And at night it’s there is a stillness here it’s completely quiet. There might be the hum of a generator from the restaurant behind us occasionally at night if they have it on. otherwise, it’s completely silent. Occasionally you can hear an animal walking through the thickets behind in the woods, but it could also be just the wind in the trees. There’s only been one grizzly spotted in camp although I suspect there’s been more walking through as well as a mountain lion. I have no fear of nature up here as nature is one with me, and I am one with nature… I feel very Zen like here. And I don’t feel the need to camp every night. I like my little cabin, and I like the comfort of it. I’m thinking of stringing up the Hammock that Kaytee from Colorado sent me… Kaytee has been a long time follower of my writing. I met her in 2020 right at the beginning of Covid when I was on a 21 bike tour of Colorado. I met her in Nederland Colorado at a coffee shop and just decided to stay in touch at that time. Katie was single and had a couple of dogs and now she’s married with a child. She’s a nurse and a very good soul. She’s been very kind to me. She sent me a tent that she wasn’t using, which is my main tent now and she was kind enough to send me the hammock. I think that would be fun to have as my main bed. So I’m gonna do that this week. I’ve never slept in ahammock before so it will be an interesting experience. I always have fantasies of living on a ship, sail boat and sleeping in a hammock so that’s what will be in my imagination. One of the nicest things about where I live is that I can head into the woods quickly just walk behind my cabin and I’m in the wilderness after about 50 yards truly in the wilderness. I can also wire walk or bike down a back road and then I’m on pavement for just a few yards, and then there is a section of words that goes up to Cyclone lake it’s a road that’s not used by public because there’s a gate on it to choose for the forest service people in case of a forest fire or trail maintenance. But I can walk or bike up there last time I was up on it. There was only one tire track. And it’s really beautiful or I can go down the road away from Polebridge and there are multiple camp spots down there and access to the north fork river as well. And then Polebridge itself it’s only just over 4 miles away and then the park itself is only 5 1/2 miles away by road. I can also head straight up the N. Fork Rd. towards Canada and there’s multiple places I can go places like red Meadow Lake, which is extraordinarily beautiful and I can still go on that road and head right into whitefish Montana for resupply. Or instead of turning on that road, I can just head up N. Fork Rd. to route 114 which is trail Creek Road And take a left turn and that takes me up over a Kooteney pass and down into Eureka Montana, which is very close to the border. And I’ve done that ride multiple times in the past when I was on the great divide mountain bike route. And then there’s so many places between here and there that I can camp and explore and want to explore just got to get my bike fixed or a new bike. And then of course there is glacier national Park that I can go into. The Rangers know me, so they just let me go right in now and I can go to Bowman lake Kintla lake, quArtz or Logging… or just head down the inside N. Fork Rd., which is on the east side of the north fork river and take that all the way down to Fish Creek in the West Glacier. It’s an extraordinary ride because about 10 miles of it is closed off two cars so you’re basically inside Glacier National Park in a very remote area and I’ve never seen anybody hike it but I’ve seen a few cyclist on it but it’s just a handful on a nice day. 

Well, miss hummingbird just came up to say hello they do that when I’m out here, they just fly right in front of me and look at me and then fly off.

Lastly, I feel very in touch with nature my new friends are squirrels and the birds and the hummingbird -the deer. Even the mosquitoes and the flies I’m OK with. I like our neighbors, Dan, and Flannery, who own the home bottom ranch, which is the restaurant in front of us and their little white dog name UKI. Who sometimes follows me to my cabin when I walk home from getting food over there. I’ve decided not to cook, so I’m still eating restaurant food and stuff that I can forage in. Yesterday, my friend, Colin , who is a bartender in whitefish who I met early on, was kind enough to do a grocery run for me as he was heading up this way… So I got some staples for here basically cheese, (bikepacking food) summer sausage, some toiletry items and the most important, staple lol Folgers instant coffee… It’s just easier since as I said before we don’t really have a functional kitchen here. And we try to keep food out of our cabins so it doesn’t attract bears or other critters. I did come home one night and opened up my door and there was a either a rat or a big mouse scampering in my cabin, but that only happened once could even have been a young squirrel. It was moving too fast for me to tell.

Right now I’m reading Rachel Carson, silent spring again. If you haven’t read it, you should basically it’s a book about cause and effect that if you put down pesticides or insecticides- what can happen to humans, to plant life, to nature, to water it’s a really eye-opening book written in 1962 by Rachel Carson, and it really explains why people get sick and why animals get sick. What happens when water is polluted to fish just the whole web of life… and really focuses on how bug spray/DDT and other bug sprays can really affect our web of life on this earth… But that will be another article in the future.

And lastly, I was in on bottoms ranch last night having a beer and reading the book and I saw a couple getting out of a car and the ranch was getting ready to close up and they were just coming in for a drink, and it was a young couple young I say probably around 40, the man was tall, lean, had a chiseled face with a sandy brown hair beard. The woman blue-eyed may be green blonde, both had vibrant skin, very beautiful people wearing natural clothing, like maybe a cotton/linen with earth tones, and they said they’ve been on the road with some other people from. I think Oregon on a foraging expedition… And they were taking a week on their own. They were outdoor wilderness type instructors. And they were just taking a little vacation. And we talked the man and I primarily talked and he comes from Russia and but I’ve been in United States over 30 years so couldn’t even tell the accent but there was a little bit of an accent and if you know me you know that I’m a fan of Russian people because I’ve known a lot of Russian people who have had it hard over in Russia and came over to the United States. Primarily Russian Jews, who were refugees. And we spoke a little Russian as I speak Russian and had good conversations and they wanted to know about me and they shared about them and. And I told him my style of writing that is really based on Russian authors from the late 1800s and 1900s in terms of being very authentic in my writing, and not hiding anything and writing about truth. We also had conversations about the war… And but also clarification conversations that 99.9% of people don’t want war and 99.9% of the people in the world are good they just want food shelter, clothing education, a decent job and good health … And I’m very adamant about that war itself is a sickness, and it’s usually manipulated by greed governments and media and hate and has no place in my life.

…so we had conversations about Tolstoy and some other authors. And then as we were settling our bill at the restaurant my new Russian friend, and I didn’t get his name in but I did give him my contact information so hopefully he’ll send me their contact information. 

But he got a shot of vodka, which was very appropriate and asked me if I wanted to share it with him-so I drank half of it. And he took the cup and drank the other half. and I said and I wished him “good health” in Russian

And I walked back to my cabin with a grateful feeling of being alive and being in this location.

I want life to be full of light, hope, love, compassion, goodness with a realistic knowledge of good and bad, and I want to be able to get up and feel the warmth of the sun or the light from the stars as I trip the light fantastic in this new life in this new town, called Polebridge.

If you’ve been a long time reader of my writing, and want to continue to sport my journalistic endeavor I’m grateful, let me know in the comments that you’re reading it. I am going to start doing some interviews starting next Wednesday. The first interview would be with Ross, who I’ve written about before he’s a local singer songwriter Works as a Ranger in the park and used to be a street musician in Paris and I’m going to do a either a video or a possible podcast also but I may just write and take pictures as well. So look forward to that on next Thursday. There are a few posts that I’ve written that I haven’t submitted yet but I will at some point in the future. I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful summer. Thank you for reading my writing/my words. Peace and love from the road Bill Poindexter.

More “what people are saying about this blog”

Jake:

“Wonderful updates, Bill!  I’m glad you’re reading Descartes! I’ve been hung up a lot on the “I am” part of “cogito, ergo sum” myself lately.  I think I’m still agnostic, lol

Glad you found fun work, and that you’re safe and sound.  Miss you at market, tho! 

Hope to talk more soon, keep the letters from the road coming! I’ll share them with the girls and Jess 😁❤️✌️”

Josh:

“Super cool Bill! It’s crazy to think you’ve gotta carry that bear mace everywhere. You have a way with people man it’s cool to read about all the people. I found myself reading it in your voice at times haha. If I walked in a place and saw you behind the bar I’d know I was in for a good time :) “

From Maddie:

“Hey Bill! Busy couple weeks over here with work. Hosted a bachelorette party with 15 women in Ft. Lauderdale last weekend 😅. Taking our time to relax this weekend. 

I actually had a call with someone, like me, getting out of the military soon and trying to figure out life. Turns out he’s back in his hometown - Whitefish, Montana. At the end of our call, he asked what he could do for me after sharing all my lessons learned and advice. I told him go to Polebridge (can you believe he’s never been!), get a bear claw, and have a beer with our friend Bill Poindexter. 

Glad that you are finding peace in your daily routine and relishing the beauty of summer in Montana. I hope your bike situation gets ironed out and the company sends you replacement parts!”

…till we meet again