Red Lodge, MT - Norris Hot Springs, MT

Transitions are always my favorite. 

Beartooth is not one to disappoint. 

It starts out... like the rest of Montana. 

That whole “pretty but stagnant” theme. 

Then you keep climbing... and start to get some perspective on the thing. 

When you think you’re as high as the tops of the mountains, you keep heading skyward. 

Rodney and I spend the morning leap-frogging other travelers as we each stop to take pictures of our experience. 

Families in minivans. 

Mother-Daughter duets in rented Jeeps. 

It becomes a little game to recognize one another with cutesy waves and acknowledgments.

Enjoying just being. 

Every once in a while you see a local... strapping skis to a backpack and heading for a peak.

They still give a nod, but it’s the only time you’re left feeling like a tourist.

Until you reach Yellowstone. 

The worst part about hating tourists is knowing that you are one. 

You can be a “good tourist”, but in a place that exists for visitors, it’s relative. 

The Bison are like cruiseliner staff after a long summer. 

They know their best option is to entertain you.
There is no genuine.

There is no wild.

Animals are smart, they’re just outgunned.
Mutiny isn't really an uprising, it's just certain death.

It’s at this moment that I think of Rodney.

Where would he be, if I hadn’t brought him here? What kind of insanity have I committed?

I have to stop thinking about it directly.
I stopped for curry in Cooke City (or was it Silver Gate), so I'm pretty much guruAFRN.

Our brains have to make some sense of the chaos.

And then break it to us slowly.
Mine is struggling.

I’ve been wearing the same outer clothes for what feels like forever. 

I change my underwear. My undershirts. But the uniform remains the same. 

I’ve got other shit to worry about. 

That’s a less ego-centric way of saying, "I have more impactful things to think about than fashion"... or “your hobbies are worthless to me”.

“Sell me this pen” should have been “Sell me this waistcoat”.
Good luck in 2018. 

Describe a successful, well dressed man. Not a dude in a waistcoat...

Now, a bear in a waistcoat.

Sales is fun. 

It’s like psychology, only you don’t sell drugs. 

Usually.

Fashion is fun, too.

One of my favorite things to do is play dress up. Usually I dress up as a salesman.

Long story short, I bail on Yellowstone. It’s just too much to handle, emotionally. 

There’s bison, and a bear.
But mostly, the worst parts of society, and myself, staring back at me.
I can't be bothered with the camera. I'll have to go back in the off-season.
Maybe.

After a quick refuel, I look up a hot springs to stay at and Rodney and I turn our backs on our emotions for the evening, and commit ourselves to the distraction of self-care.
Paddling at things straight-on isn't going to work until the water slows down.