“‘Montana’s my home now—Missoula. You come up there sometime and see God’s country’” (17).
"... I took a walk down by the Mississippi River and watched the logs that came floating from Montana in the north—grand Odyssean logs of our continental dream….The bus roared through Indiana cornfields that night; the moon illuminated the ghostly gathered husks; it was almost Halloween. I made the acquaintance of a girl and we necked all the way to Indianapolis.” (95)
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Kerouac didn't go as far north as Montana in On the Road, but I was curious to see how beautiful the state is--and it is beautiful. In the East when I've heard something about Montana it was typically derogatory or a reference to how 'nowhere' it is. I can understand dismissing it as a conservative state, but if anyone ever tells you it's a waste of space or something similar, then all I can say is that they are, frankly, full of shit.
I arrived in Missoula late at night and noticed a chill in the air, which I welcomed after the afternoon heat of Utah and Idaho. I came to the home of an awesome individual who offered a place for me to stay before I headed west over to Seattle. The next day I spent a few hours digging Missoula in all its eclectic and surprisingly hip glory, diversity and culture which the city can probably thank the University of Montana for. Friendly people, a busy yet uncrowded city, and a cool summer day gave me a phenomenal impression of the city and of Montana as a whole. I continued west on 90 and stopped at a massive used bookstore in some mountain town, but left with nothing save good pictures. I enjoyed my brief time in rugged Montana, and I understand why some people like "cowboy" in On the Road can consider it God's country.
