As many of you know I live in Bozeman, Montana which is situated in a valley completely surrounded by the Rocky Mountains, we are also surrounded by four national forests and Yellowstone National Park is one hour away. Bozeman is a tourist town, in the winter we get tourist from around the world. For Bozeman has two ski resorts, and people come to yellowstone in the winter to snowmobile, in the summer they come by, car, plane, motorcycles and motor homes larger than a greyhound bus. It is amazing, to see all the different llcense plates, we get a lot of people from texas and florida. Our quiet town of 30,000 is bustling with tourists now, and I always feel a little sad in the summer because so few black people come and this is one of the most beautiful states in the country. I know many of you think it is a hardship living in Montana, it is not, my town is a college town, with a symphony, great doctors, for they move here to ski, and bozeman is a town where 80 percent of the population has at least one college degree, in the summer there are rodeo's, Indian pow-wow's, fly fishing, our town has it's own hot springs and it cost $7.00 to use it, it has 4 pools, we have three rivers that come into bozeman, a creek that runs through downtown, and the friendliest people in the world. Ah, did I mention buffalo? We have a western ghost town 45 minutes away, you can go panning for gold, and also go mining for sapphires. And yes we have electricity, cell phones, etc. So do think about coming to Montana one of these days. It is fabulous, I pray my Bishop will let me stay in Montana forever.

Because we are in the mountains the humidity is in the low teens. And it gets warm in Montana, in the month of July it is in the high 70's and low 80's and my favorite thing, there are no roaches, because the altitude is so high;-)

Please visit our state's website

www.visitmt.com

And do come and visit, Joy, Denise

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2003

Answers

Somehow I sense that Montana will be host for an upcoming 5th District Episcopal Meeting :-) Knowing the unusual visonary leadership of Bishop Bryant and the tireless Montana pubic relations firm, aka, Rogers & Rogers, this idea is not far fetched. How is Max Baucus these days? QED

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003

Bill that means so much to me that you know my great senator! Max Baucus is wonderful, fighting hard for all people in America since is the ranking democrat on the finance committee, he is an incredible senator, we are pretty laid back in Montana and everyone calls him Max instead of senator. And our former governor Mark Racicot is in charge of the Bush for re-election campaign. He was a great governor for our state and though he is a republican he championed a lot of democratic causes in our state.

It would be wonderful if the fifth district could have a conference in my town, we do get a lot of international conferences in Bozeman, because of the locale and Bozeman, has its own airport, we have 4 airlines that fly in. It is a great town with a mixture of celebrities that live here, Ted Turner has a ranch here, Michael Keaton, Tom Brokaw, etc. and working people. People are moving here left and right. And because of what is happening in California and oregon we in Montana are watching very closely, because people are moving from california and oregon to montana, which means higher property taxes for Montanans. So Bill as an economist you understand well how one states financial problem affects other states.

One of my dreams is to have a "Rural Church Conference" in Bozeman, I started a support group for small and rural churches in our denomination a year ago.

And the response has been overwhelming, I get lots of emails from other denominations that need help and support and we even have a church in India that is part of our support group. So my dream is for our denomination to be a leader in supporting rural and small church initiatives, and in terms of Bishop Bryant being progressive, I agree, it is an anointed man, I just want to get him and Dr. Cee here to fly fish and relax.

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003

I have had the opportunity to drive through Montana on my way to Michigan from Seattle. I understood why Montana is part of a group of states called the Big Sky conference (for those who follow sports). All of that blue gorgeous sky was amazing. And at night... all those stars twinkling was just awesome. Even the lighting storm I saw one night was amazing. Montana is large, beautiful with really nice scenic areas. It was a bit scary too though. (I didn't have a good car and prayed everyday that my car didn't break down on the road. All those houses 10 miles off the road? Who would see me and save me?) Overall, it was a fun drive.

I drove through Butte and Billings; I didn't get to visit Bozman. Nevertheless, Montana was one of the most memorable states on my trip to MI and I comment to many people about my visiting Montana. I would like to come and visit again. This time I'll have to rent a better car so that I can take full advantage of the speed limit. ("Reasonable and prudent"? To me that's at least 90 MPH!) haha!

I think that many of us take don't take advantage of visiting many US cites, areas and states because there isn't a large population of blacks. Just because there aren't a lot of us doesn't mean that the place is formidable or has nothing exciting and memorable to offer. I remember when I told people that I was planning to drive through Montana. They started giving me warnings about renegade NRA groups who could shoot me from the side of the road. I told them that the same thing could happen to me outside of Montana, except those particular NRA groups are called "gangs".

But seriously, I think that many people miss the opportunity to travel to many places becuase of perceptions of what they think things might be like rather than finding out (or learning about) how things really are. Everyone has a life goal. One of mine is to touch at least all 7 continents in the world and visit at least every state in the US at least once. I am happy to have already put a check for "I've been there" on the state of Montana. I have a feeling I'll be going back there in the future so that I can hear one of Rev. Rogers' sermons. :)

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003

My wonderful sister I am so glad you have visited Montana. You went to Butte and Billings, Bozeman is between butte and billings, and is far more beautiful than butte or billings. You are right about perceptions, to be honest I never thought about Montana until I took a position as a United Methodist minister, I did not even know where Montana was, people think we live in tents, or that the militia is on every corner, they are not and this is a friendly state. I would love for you to come and hear me preach! I love preaching it is my joy and I always sing, because before I became a minister I was a professional singer, we have so much fun in my church.

So let me know when you are coming through Montana again. Aren't the mountains breath taking. And by the way we have an A.M.E. church in billings. Joy, Denise

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003