EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a seven-part series.

DAVID HORSEY
EDITORIAL CARTOONIST

DISPATCH FROM LOLO HOT SPRINGS, Sept. 19 — I am riding through a forest of skinny lodgepole pines and thick ponderosas on a fine black horse named Buff. We are on the daunting Lolo Trail where Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery struggled with snow and starvation as they sought a way through these endless mountains.

I’m almost ashamed of myself as I think of those wet, cold, malnourished men who rode here during those September days 200 years ago. Today, the sun is bright and the sky is blue. I’m not wearing a jacket but I’m still feeling a little too warm. The three-egg omelet I had for breakfast is not giving me any sense of deprivation (nor is the memory of the rack of ribs I had for dinner last night or the Montana-sized prime rib I had the night before). [...read more...]