I confess to having gushed about Red Lodge, Montana, during my annual “sanity break” these past two weeks. It happens every summer, but this year I’ve been more enamored of this quaint little mountain town than ever before.

For those who didn’t mind reading about mountain trout and/or the Cascade Fire, my sincerest thanks. Now, as I return the swamp that I’m proud to call home, and with apologies to David Letterman, I offer one last blast from Red Lodge: My Top 12 Reasons for Loving Red Lodge, Montana (Ten is Not Enough).

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One of the greatest joys a father can have is seeing a son grow up to share some of his passions. In my case, both my sons share my love of fishing — coastal fishing for specks, reds and flounder in Louisiana and fly-fishing for mountain trout in Montana.

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 And that’s a good thing.

I awoke this morning to the sounds of local farmers setting up their tables and tents on 12th Street just off Broadway Avenue in Red Lodge, Montana, as if it were just another Saturday. As if there weren’t 10,000 acres of national forest burning less than 6 miles West of here. When I opened my bedroom window — I’m staying in town for the first time, in a beautiful 19th-century, second-story apartment above that same corner — I could barely smell the soot and smoke from the Cascade Fire. Or maybe I’m just getting used to it.

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RED LODGE, MT — The continuing downward spiral of state Sen. Derrick Shepherd has not caused a ripple out here in Red Lodge, except among the small contingent of former south Louisiana residents who have moved here in the past 20 years. That’s only fair, I suppose. The nearly 10,000 acres of national forest that are burning a mere 6 miles west of this cozy mountain town have not grabbed any headlines in New Orleans.

The Cascade Fire, as this blaze has been dubbed (investigators suspect it was started by an unknown camper near a campground known as Cascade), has hit Red Lodge much the same way that a hurricane in the middle Gulf affects New Orleanians. Everybody hangs on every word from the people in the know, hoping for good news. Folks here, however, much more so than those in New Orleans, have a healthy respect for nature … in ways too numerous to count.

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