What is it like living in Big Arm, Montana? Well, for one thing, there are no stop lights or traffic jams. There is a post office, a restaurant (The Big Arm Marina and Grill), a church (West Shore Community Church – that’s us), a population of a couple of hundred friendly people set on the west shore of a gorgeous lake (Flathead Lake – 28 miles long and 15 miles wide at its widest).
Ah, you ask, “what about winters in Montana?” We are in the middle of one right now. The high for today will be 31 and the low around 20 with about 3 inches of that white stuff called snow. So far this year, we have had a low of 0 a week ago. and currently have 2 feet of snow on the ground. I have heard from some old-timers that it can reach the – 40 degree mark. If this sounds like I am complaining, I am not because I know that spring, summer and fall are coming. It gets so green in the Spring that it ‘hurts your eyes.’ Summer time provides us with fishing, growing a garden and cookouts with friends and high temperatures generally in the 80’s.
What about the people? People are the same regardless of where you live. However, here in small town USA, it seems like there is an extra dose of friendliness and watching out for each other. You are hard-pressed to travel down a back road and meet an oncoming vehicle and not receive a friendly Montana wave.
Least you think that we live in an isolated area, there is a Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s, Safeway, Auto Zone, McDonald’s and a state of the art aquatic center a dozen miles down the road in Polson. And 40 miles up the road in Kalispell, you will find a Costco, Home DePot, Lowe’s, Best Buy, Chic Filet, etc.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that yesterday evening, the Big Arm community had a Valentine’s Day Sock Hop with live 50″s music at the historic 100-year-old one room schoolhouse. I thought that I saw Elvis and Buddy Holly there, but perhaps I was only dreaming.
