Hospitality a hallmark on the Hi-Line

Once a year we pack up a U-Haul truck and make the 550-mile trek to Sidney for our working vacation - peddling bratwurst at the Richland County Fair. This means chugging along the long, very long expanse of U.S. 2 known as the Hi-Line.

It's a monotonous journey for the most part, though there's a certain beauty to this windswept land, where you can see freight trains stretched out in their entirety and grain elevators stand as sentinels. Dilapidated farm houses are a reminder of the past; new wind turbines outside Cut Bank are whirring beacons of hope for the future.

The thin ribbon of gray highway takes us from small town to small town, and while the endless wheat fields are mesmerizing and the big sky is breathtaking, it's really the people along the Hi-Line that make the trip worth taking.

This time around, I made notes of the various slogans I saw along the way, starting in Havre, where a local pizza parlor sign exclaimed: "Havre - It's the People!" In Chinook, a grain bin welcomed visitors with "Howdy Partner. Welcome to Friendly Chinook."

And by the time we got to Malta at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night, to the little downtown motel where the kindly proprietor was waiting up for us because we were "the last folks in for the night," I saw a sign that said "Glad you called. Come again."

Of course I already knew that hospitality is a hallmark on the Hi-Line. Twice in the past I've relied on the kindness of strangers along the highway, and twice these Hi-Liners went above and beyond the call of duty.

In 1991, the year we moved from Sidney to Whitefish, I was driving my husband's pickup, full of furniture, when I broke down between Saco and Malta. I had our two young daughters with me and was supposed to meet Tim (who was already working in Whitefish) at a motel in Havre, where we were going to switch vehicles and he'd take the pickup back to Whitefish.

Breaking down was bad enough, but as we sat there one of those infamous Eastern Montana thunderstorms rolled in from the West. Within minutes we were in a downpour, with lightning flashing and thunder booming. This was the era before cell phones and I wasn't sure what to do next.

Then I saw a pickup pull up behind me and a young cowboy asked if we needed help. This angel of mercy hauled all of us to Malta, where he found us a motel and a good mechanic before going on his way.

About five years ago my daughters and I were on our way to Sidney for the fair, this time in a used Pontiac Grand Am, when the engine blew just outside of Poplar. Someone guided us to a nice mechanic who loaned us a minivan at no charge to get to Sidney.

The guy took down my name and when I asked if he wanted a credit-card number as assurance he said, "Naw, that's OK. I know you'll be back for your car."

I lived in Eastern Montana for a good many years, long enough to know that hospitality isn't just for show in those parts. It's the real deal. Maybe it's the wide-open spaces that make people seem so valuable, even treasured over there. Everyone matters, and that's comforting, especially out there on the open road.

My hat's off to the Hi-Line. We'll be back again next year.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com