The Big Sky Country - Some day

While I was still a "strapping young buck" back in 90's India, I was very much aware of the more well-known cities and states in the USA, thanks to all the American TV I was consuming in those days. New York, Philadelphia, California, Chicago, Florida, Texas... these were all general knowledge back then. But sometime around the turn of the century, I came upon the name "Montana" the state in the USA that's also known as "The Last Best Place", "The Treasure State" and more affectionately, "The Big Sky Country".

I first heard of Montana through the movie "The Hunt for the Red October", where one of the Russian naval officers aboard the submarine "Red October" wished to start a new life in Montana after defecting over to the USA. In fact, towards the end of the film, his dying words were "I wish I'd seen Montana." That line stuck with me.

Back then, I didn't make too much of Montana. I did see a few landscape pictures from there, but then I'd seen those from all over the world. It was only much later that Montana sprung up again in my life. During my relatively short time in the USA, I lived in Pennsylvania, in a town on the outskirts of Philadelphia called Exton. It was a quiet town and there were large farms in and around the area. It was my first experience of large open country. I then began to understand how grand Montana must be like when you mix in the Rocky Mountains. Sadly, I didn't get the chance to visit the place. But, the idea was etched into my brain: "I really should visit it someday."

Fast forward a couple of years, I landed in South Africa. Johannesburg felt more like a run-down Chicago in the city centre. But I first lived in a town called Randburg which was more of a suburbia. Later, I moved in with my fiancé in Krugersdorp which as it happens turned out to be a little Montana - farms, open plains, horses, cattle, the Magaliesburg mountains in the immediate distance, and generally beautiful scenery. About a 3-hour drive to the South was the town of Clarens which turned out to be even more like Montana, with the spectacular Drakensberg mountain range - the highest mountain range in South Africa - in full grand view!

Have a look for yourself:

One of my visits to Clarens in 2025

Around 2024-2025, I spent a good deal of my free time playing a specific PC video game called "FarCry 5". Surprise, surprise - the setting of the game's story was in Montana! This was obviously a fictional version of Montana, but they had done an amazing job in trying to replicate the natural beauty of the place! Having now done what was essentially a virtual walk-around in Montana, I absolutely fell in love with the place! Now the idea of visiting it was changed to: "I'd love to retire there someday!"

Not too long afterwards, my fiancé and I started watching the hit TV show "Yellowstone" - the setting of which was also in Montana, which we hadn't known before we started watching it. Now things were getting a little eerie! There were too many references to Montana in my life now. Is God telling me something, or am I reading too much into it? I honestly don't know.

But very recently, something amazing happened. My fiancé quietly shared with me that a ranch was something she'd love to live in. Apparently she too desired to live in open country with a grand view of mountains, open plains and valleys. So now it wasn't just my dream. It's our dream! We both dream to live in a place like Montana some day. Seeing as we live in a beautiful country already, I do believe that this is very much possible. And who knows? Maybe someday we might actually get to "The Big Sky Country" itself!

Enjoy some pictures from Montana below!

Here's to Montana!