Took advantage of the bright, cool morning to do my little walking thing. While out I ran into another of those cute business integrations you see so often in small towns/tourist places. This time it's Buckaroo Bill's Ice Cream Parlor/BBQ Grill. I always wonder which came first and didn't meet expectations.
In this case was it a BBQ place or an ice cream parlor? The sign yields no clue.(Click on pictures to enlarge)
I don't know what the business gurus call this particular form of business integration. Perhaps it's just adding products, but it sure seems like it should have a specific name. For example, Henry Ford was the holy pope of vertical integration. First he built the cars, then he starting acquiring the raw material producers required to produce his car. Horizontal integration would be where you acquire operations involved in the same business. Ol' Harold Geneen of ITT sort of invented conglomeration. But I know of no name for a process where you keep adding dissimilar products in the hope of staying in business. I suggest Desperation Integration. Yeah, that works. (Yet another business principle identified, qualified, quantified, and named. I'll be famous.)
My absolute favorite comes from Houma, La. This is vertical business integration if it has ever existed. Literally catching 'em coming and going.A buddy, Mike E. summed it up best, "The check never leaves the building." What next? I think they should add baby furniture and beer. That'd pretty much cover the life cycle and guarantee success.
Pulled into Yellowstone about 9:00 a.m. with Bobby J and Zelda. As always, the place defies my meager attempts to describe it so I won't.
On Day 4 I stopped at a place near Baggs, WY for lunch. While partaking of their excellent buffalo chili I perused an article in the local newspaper. It was by a guy who'd spent his adult career in the tourism business. In the article he pointed out that something strange happens to people whenever they get away from familiar surroundings while on vacation. These normally polite, thoughtful, and conscientious people, upon spotting an animal, or some sight, will stop their cars, abandon them with all four doors open, and not think a moment about it. It can't be explained he said, but he called them "Tourons," a cross between tourist and moron. He nailed it.
We weren't two miles inside the park boundary before we came to a complete stop. We then began inching our way forward at a rate of approximately 1/10th mile per hour wondering what could possibly cause such a traffic tie-up. After what seemed an interminable period we came upon the cause of the parkjam. There was a large buffalo bull that could be seen through the trees and across a small creek paralleling the roadway. Didn't take a picture because of the trees (and Tourons) hoping I'd have a better opportunity a little later. Bobby J assured me I would and we kept moving (as, and when, the Tourons would allow).
Bobby J proved prophetic once again. Not three miles down the road the traffic was once again slowed to a snail pace with us waiting in anticipation to see what could possibly be in front of us this time.
I was leading and pulled slightly into the other traffic lane hoping to see the end of the snarl when I caught a glimpse of another buffalo, this one on the opposite shoulder of the road coming right at me!
As he came close to me a bus going the other way pulled slowly by him giving me some level of shielding, then the bus was gone and there he was. I took this picture and, as quietly as my bike would allow pulled slightly to the right and away. The bull didn't like me or my bike and gave us a look that said, "I'm about to kick your ass." It was sufficient to generate a further turn of the throttle and a hasty exit. Bobby J, who was behind me, also noticed the evident distaste the beast had for Betsy-the-Kaw and noted he didn't seem to mind his bike at all. Evidently just another four-legged Harley fanatic.
Some other shots in the Park:
Falls on the Firehole.
Evidently there's just something about water falls. This is a small creek flowing into the Yellowstone river.
Some antelope off the side of the road in Yellowstone.
Went through the park into Cooke City where we stopped for a beer and some great nachos.
Picture to the left indicates that some industries are better than others at vertical integration.
Since Bobby J makes industrial diamonds for drill bits, he doesn't find the gas prices as daunting as others. One man's sweet is another's poison, huh?
Leaving Cooke City Hwy212 becomes the Beartooth highway. Charles Kuralt of CBS' "On The Road" fame called the Beartooth the most beautiful ride in America. I won't disagree with him and now have a 1A and a 1B favorite ride. The other is the "Ride to the Sun" in Glacier National Park. The Beartooth:
Heading up.
And then: The Beartooth
(Love that 40X-er)
Rode into Red Lodge about 4:00 p.m. and met up with the Hole in the Head gang. We then moved in mass to the lodge where we are to stay for the weekend. Nice setup and with Wayne cooking my waistline doesn't have a prayer.
I'd shipped my favorite possession ahead for the pickin' and grinnin' sessions with the boys. It's a Larrivee guitar and absolutely the love of my life. FedEx Ground evidently dropped or threw it someway that it actually cracked the neck while in the case.
I didn't notice it right away. I'd loosened the strings for shipment and, when I started tuning it up I noticed something wasn't right in the sound. It was then that Lana B, sitting next to me, said, "Jerry, was there a crack down the neck?" I said, "What? Hell no, there's no crack down the neck." That's when I saw what she was talking about. Down both sides. This is terrible. I insured the shipment, but that doesn't make it good. This was an exquisite instrument, all parts worked together and it absolutely had the finest sound I've ever heard for a guitar. I don't know if Humpty Dumpty can be put back together again. Every fine instrument in the world has a separate sound, something that sets it apart from other fine instruments. We can replace the neck, but who the hell knows if it'll come back together with that sound? This is why I've never shipped it anywhere. I was right not to.
But, what can you do? Feces occurs. Sunk cost, I'll get the neck replaced and move on from here. But I ain't happy.
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