Montana: Wells Fargo: Blindés & Big Sky

Billings, Montana: November 3 2008: Up Interstate 80 to arrive in Billings, its name suggesting Billy and cash (bills), eggs and bacon under Big Sky, and a waitress who expressed disdain for Senator Max Bacchus ("and he got hit with the ugly stick no less") while the local paper predicts his demise ("no Bacchanal for Bacchus come tomorrow") I did get a few moments with a team of off duty security guards for Wells Fargo, that name associated with armored cars, armed cash carriers, Wild West wagons, safe deposit boxes and these days, a major bank and financial player in an unstable American market. These men were cowboy hatted Montanans, fans of firearms and fishing the Missouri River, reading Cormac McCarthy and working on new roofing on their weekends: Henry Cavanugh, 40; John Patrick Huxley, 39 (not relation to Aldous) and Travis Granger, 37.

Guy: Are you all voting tomorrow? And if this is so, for who?

Travis: For the only American in this race, McCain. Think I'm going to vote for somebody who wants to surrender to Al Queda Muslims?

Guy: Are all of you, two, as well, John McCain-ers? [they nod assent]

Travis: But if you talk politics, Sir, you won't get much from those two.

Guy: And why is this so?

Travis: They think politicians are part of the problem. Libertarians them. But I say don't forget the occasional greats. George Washington. Teddy Roosevelt. Though I do agree with these two that if people could take care of their own, they wouldn't need to suckle on the government teat.

Henry: Mister Langgerdoc, can I ask you a question?

Guy: Yes, this is surely why I would like to talk. Do, ask, as you please.

Henry: Well, I noticed you had eggs sunny side up. Do you Frenchies not like omelets anymore? Dennys here serve up some mean omelets, you know.

Guy: What do you think of Joe the Plumber? Is this man a fiction? And Palin?

Travis: Guy when your pipes burst and you're taking water in your bathroom like the engine room of the Titanic, you think Joe the Plumber is going to seem a made up character?

Henry: As for Palin, let me tell you something Guy, she talks the small town talk but she doesn't walk the small town walk. I knew her type in high school. They were the ones snitching to the deans of discipline while running for homecoming queen.

Guy: And what of you, John Patrick are you a pro-Republican?

Travis: John here isn't "pro" anyone, Sir. He's bitterly clinging to his guns. That is, if his wife don't get those too what with the lawyer she got.

John Patrick: Mister Langerhanguage, you married?

Guy: Indeed, yes, I am to leave for my plane as my wife is coming to New York.

John Patrick: Well....that's great, for the record, I'm Canadian. Originally. Calgary. You do me a favor Mister Langerhanguage, when you get back to France, don't talk up the American Rockies for whitewater rafting. In four months, I'm disappearing myself from this country before it goes belly up into the Great Depression Two and takes these Travis and Henrys and Wells Fargoes with them. You just make sure to tell your French friends at home look me up in Calgary, okay? I'll fix them up with French speaking camp guides. You hear me?