BY THE TIME you read this, I would have been five days in Montana.
I would have given away a Filipina bride in Ronan.
I would have taken in the views, the mountains, and the lake/s.
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I’m writing this article on the day before I fly to Missoula (Airport #19 in my airport count, series of 2021) by way of Dallas Fort Worth.
When I have returned to California next week, I would have totaled 22 airports in my count.
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On my own, I never would have made Montana a destination.
And then again, I wouldn’t have planned Alaska either.
But after Alaska, there’s an urge to check off the 50 states of the United States.
Oh, too make love in all the 50 states of the US! Haha.
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How come Montana?
Well, when I visited Vancouver in August, I stayed with a family who had a sister on a fiancée visa in the US.
My Vancouver friend said that it would be fun to have me around for the wedding in Montana.
Would I be interested to go?
I said, if I will be invited, I will go and join her in Montana as she gives away her sister.
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But my Vancouver friend is still a Filipino on permanent residency in Canada; not yet a Canadian citizen.
She needed a US visa.
It turned out, there’s still a US ban on non-Canadians going to the US for non-essential travel.
And a wedding is, to say the least, non-essential or discretionary.
Long story short, she cannot come.
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Will I still go?
The question is not about money.
Obviously, I can afford it.
The question is not about time.
Like, where else will I have to go during this pandemic?
My motto, and hashtag: #havevaccinewilltravel.
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So, the essential question is: How well do I know this woman/bride to fly to Montana?
Like I know Adam and Eve! Haha.
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I know her sister from my second visit to Vancouver in 2017.
And I have been to Vancouver thrice after that.
The sister is a fine, generous woman.
I was witness to the bride’s sister’s engagement in Vancouver—when my Indian friend Adam proposed, and she said Yes.
But I missed their wedding for some reason.
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When I visited Vancouver in August, I spent at least seven of my 28 days with this woman, and her family.
So it was easy for me to say Yes when she suggested the wedding in Montana.
But I’ve never talked to the bride/fiancée herself before.
In fact, I’ve never directly talked to the bride until just before I bought my air tickets for the trip.
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My concern is that it’s about an hour drive to Ronan (where she lives) from the Missoula Airport.
Would she be able to pick me up?
How long can I stay?
Because it’s about $175 cheaper if I stayed for 10 days than if I just flew in for the wedding, and leave on the day after the wedding.
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I was also thinking, I would never ask people to take me to the airport on the day after their wedding!
And I definitely would not take an Uber ride that’s more than half an hour drive.
Granted that they have Uber in those parts.
I mean, have you been to Montana?
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Anyway, because I am a great person (charming and all), the bride and I became instant friends.
I mean, if I give you away on your wedding, and I’m the only Filipino in your bridal party, we better be friends! Haha.
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The fiancée/bride has convinced her groom to take me sightseeing after the wedding.
I insisted on ‘after the wedding,’ because I understand that the days leading to the wedding would be tensed and intense.
Thus, my extended stay—for a week!
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My new friend, the bride, is also a little worried that I might find their part of the world boring.
Because, well, I am an L.A. guy, cosmopolitan, and very well traveled among the bigger cities of the world.
I assured her I would be fine in a simple Montana farm.
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I’m not sure what awaits me in Montana.
How rural or provincial they are in Ronan.
But I will deal.
And if the bride and the groom are not joking, they said they already have a local fireman for me to date.
I just laugh out loud at that.
But at the back of my mind, I’m smiling.
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And the little flirt in my heart is hopeful.
I mean, if a country boy in Alaska fell for me, why not a fireman in Montana?
“Hose me down, Officer. I’m on fire.” Haha.
Hmmm, I think my new motto should be: have vaccine, will flirt! Haha./PN
