Loring, Montana
Loring Bar & Cafe
On a resent trip to southern Sask. to attend the Val Marie 2000 Homecoming, My brother Tim and I decided to take a trip down memory lane.We ventured south of Val Marie on No. 4/18 highway. Eventually we came to the junction and decided to head south to the US / Can. boarder. After dodging many of these "Saskatchewan Speed Control Devices", we arrived at Canada / US customs. Feeling lucky that we survived the journey, we peered across the boarder.
What did we see , but a class A interstate highway beckoning us on. Pulling up to the US customs stood a ( some what grayer, but familiar) US customs officer. After the usual formal exchange, we both recognized each other and we proceeded on just as in years past.
As we carried on down
the road the familiar land marks began to appeared. All except the old
familiar cattle gate crossing putting
you in a "open heard
area", where cows have the right of way.
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As we rounded the bend and over the hill, there was Loring... I was surprised to see the bran new Post Office building and even more surprised to see the most familiar land mark in Loring looking so good..
The temperature outside that day was 32 C so it wasn't hard to talk ourselves into wandering inside. Walking through the door it was like stepping back 15 years. Every thing looked the same. The ceiling was still lined with hundreds of signed ( Canadian and US dollar bills) the long wooden Bar, the stools, the pool table. And yes the Rainier, ( cans changed, price changed) but the beer still tasted just as good.
Before returning to Canada, we took the back roads over to Whitewater, Mont. to have a look around. Along the way we were surprised to see all the natural gas production and irrigation pipeline, in areas once only known to the odd cow and the gofers.
This little venture back in time was one of the many highlights of the July 1st / 2000 long weekend.....