Got to peace out of Bozeman and head over to Broadus. John-Hanson and I decided that when discussing population sizes of host cities, we would only refer to them in terms of Austin, NV. Broadus was approximately 2 Austins. On day 17, I was partnered with Mason Atkins and dedicated my miles to Carol Machado (John-Hanson’s mother) and to Ang.
Let me talk a bit about Mason. Mason is from Oxford, Mississippi, and he SOUNDS like it! Major Southern accent, which has made it pretty funny to watch as he interacts with the locals of Montana. He gets the “you’re not from around here, are you?” quite often! Mason went to Auburn and was a star of the drum line there, which is cool as hell. He also blew me away one night by talking about his own mental health. I think that his ability to lead by example and make himself vulnerable allowed the rest of the 4K men to feel comfortable talking about their own mental health. Oh, and he’s one of the team trainers. Pretty cool freakin’ dude.
We ran by one dude’s house and cattle ranch (I guess), only to have his TWO dogs come out to greet us! The man came and retrieved his runaways and told us he recognized us from the news, and that he appreciated what we were doing. 
The day was really interesting. Mason and I talked a lot about his Native American heritage, because we ran through two different Indian Reservations. I had never been on a reservation before. We talked to a woman about what we were doing and she told us about her son who killed himself at 28. She explained that suicide is an epidemic nationally, but it’s even worse (somehow) on reservations. As if Native Americans haven’t been through enough! Which brings me to my point: when you read this, think about the land you’re standing on. Odds are, our ancestors did unspeakable things to pry this land away from its rightful owners. Seeing as there’s no chance this country will ever pay reparations under current management, the least we can do is be cognizant of how this country was built. I know it’s 4th of July SZN, but the hard truth is that the foundation of this country was made of dead slaves and dead Native Americans. Just something to reflect upon.
I was featured on the news on the way into Billings, by the way! The guy asked us all who wanted to be interviewed and when no one said anything, I was like “yeah sure I’ll do it!”
John-Hanson and I felt like seeing the locals so we went to a local bar, where we actually got recognized from the news by a patron, who purchased us a drink! I love these small, Austin-like towns. Overall my review on Broadus is pretty positive. 4/5 stars.
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