Distinctly Montana Magazine

38 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 5 - 2 0 2 6 ing role of oil and gas extraction as another kind of "producer" has overwhelmed some communities. Quiet countrysides adja- cent to the highway have been turned into clanging, gouging job sites that reek of wealth…while it lasts. Some see jobs; others see despoliation. Along 200, it is up close. It is all told in the towns—real Montana towns as in lumber towns, farming towns and oil field towns. It is the Montana Highway Department, of course, that stitches all those communities together, facing the daunting 700-mile- long maintenance challenge. It is ice, snow, potholes, worn-off paint, patched-over bump-bump expansion joints and frost heaves, mile after endless mile. Ed Hanson has been "puttin' band aids on tire ruts" for eight years with the Montana Department of Highways, working a section of blacktop out beyond Winnett, laying down fresh over- lay with his crew. "What with budget constraints it's the best we can do. You might get a few more years out of your road, but…I dunno." His voice trails off as he waves in another load of mix for his paver. As summer gives way to winter, his crews will switch to snowplows and sanders. He's been seeing more summer trav- elers on 200 mixed in with heavy truck loads pounding the pave- ment enroute to the Bakken fields. "See more cyclists and tour- ists these days because, well, anyone can drive an Interstate." He gestures to the wide-open vista of prehistoric mesas and bluffs that surround his work site as if to support his observation. Motorcycle enthusiasts love 200. Its smooth curves, unsurpassed scenery and light traffic draw them from all over the nation. "Out here I feel like I'm my own boss," says Glenn Steinberg, from Seattle, Washington. Each summer he leaves his job as a dental technician, burns up his vacation time, leaves his wife and nine- teen-year-old daughter behind and becomes a "road warrior" on his Harley Davidson. "Gotta watch it out here, though. Some of these remote towns don't have high octane gasoline blends and most modern bikes need that. Stopped at one small town and had to ask this guy, I mean a real logger, big dude, where I could get some premium grade. He just smiled and said there was a gas station down the road that had some 'booster' that would work, but I'm going, like, noooo, not for my bike." MICHAEL J. OBER

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