Carter Co with the partying Dynamic Duo

Carter County Courthouse

Ekalaka, MT

Pop: 1,360 Established 1917

We cruised in to Ekalaka about 7:30. Hot and tired, we found the courthouse in record time. (tallest building in town) as we clicking the photo, a tractor with hay trailer pulled up along side our motorcycles. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a sign that said;"The Church of..." There were a number of people on the haywagon, but I was busy putting the camera away. They shouted out, come down to the church for a pot luck party and dance! Now, I had been suckered into a church before with the promise of a good time. Turned into a night of trying to get back to the ship I was on with out getting converted to some wierd religion. So, I said. "No thanks, we're going to find a camping spot, get dinner and call it a night". Then I noticed the people in the wagon were drinking beer, in fact they were holding out their hands with ice cold beer in them. I looked again at the sign on the wagon, and it read: The Church of Hank Williams.

We again begged off the invitation, and they told us where the only campground was. We motored over and set up camp. Craig was in the shower when the group came back to offer us a ride to the big event, which was a fund raiser for a young married couple. The husband had been injured in an accident and medical bills were making life difficult. We again turned down the offer of a ride, but I contributed some money to the cause in exchange for two cold beers. It was sunset when we walked downtown and found a great little restaurant that had a bar up front. We enjoyed a good steak, and decided to walk to the Church of Hank Williams to see what was going on. We heard the celebration before finding the location. I would almost bet 3/4 of the town was kicking up their heels at a machine shop that had a sing that boasted it was the Church of Hank Williams. The hay wagon pulled in with another load of folks, and they had a guitar player, accordion, and a fiddle player. I knew we were in for a fun and long night. Here are a few photos of what I remember of our evening. In one of the hard to see photos, there are women's bras and swimsuit tops hanging in the rafters. Don't ask.. I'm not telling.