Montana
Kilted vlogger makes journey across Montana
GREAT FALLS — If you decide to be a travel vlogger, you have to do something to set you apart from the hundreds of others. If you’re Paul, that means leaning into your Scottish lineage.
“I thought, well, that would make me a little bit different to the other 10,000 people,” said Paul, the content creator behind Paul Wheel Drive on Youtube.
So for nearly four years, Paul has been wearing a kilt.
“Just gives me a bit of an idea, people who are trying to follow me on YouTube,” Paul said. “…Oh, yeah. He’s the guy with the kilt.”
Paul is a van life vlogger, which is exactly what it sounds like. He films his life living out of a 2003 Volkswagen Winnebago Rialta.
“It is my accommodation, my home, my recluse, the whole thing,” Paul said.
Paul has traveled around the world twice, and four years ago decided to drive around Australia, creating YouTube videos to help people learn tips and tricks when traveling on the road. Every video ends with the same information:
“How much in fuel, how much in accommodation, how long it took me to get there and how far it really was,” Paul said.
After three years touring Australia, Paul got a six-month Visa and decided to help Americans out.
“I really didn’t find much in the way of tourist offices. Not in California anyway,” Paul said, “So I thought, ‘Well, that definitely reminds me why I came here, to make up what I had made in Australia for Americans.’”
MTN News
If you’ve ever wanted to strike out and do some van living on your own, let the man with the kilt show you how. It’s not always pretty, but that isn’t the point.
“The real joy of travel isn’t being at a place, although, you know, there’s obviously benefits of it,” Paul said. “It’s just the travel itself.”
Even if that means living in a 22-foot, 20-year old RV that Paul finds is plenty big enough.
“I think it’d be fine for two [people], but I’ve never really had two to be traveling with,” Paul said. “But, like, for one it’s just perfect.”
If you want to try this for yourself, Paul says to rent the house and the equipment, and if you are with a partner, prepare for a somewhat rude awakening.
He noted, “Now, they might have been married for 20 years and think they know each other really, really well, but suddenly when you’re in this room, it’s just like, ‘Get out of here, get out.’”
It’s not financially viable. It’s not especially luxurious, but it will give you memories and experiences that last a lifetime and are priceless.
Click here to check out Paul’s channel on Youtube.
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Clark Fork River has long been a defining feature of Missoula, shaping the city’s culture, economy and outdoor lifestyle.
The river is so closely tied to the area that it helped inspire the well-known book and film “A River Runs Through It.” But local conservation advocates say its importance goes far beyond scenery.
“Without the Clark Fork River, Missoula would just be another town,” said Lisa Ronald, Northern Rockies associate conservation director for American Rivers. “We wouldn’t be the River City. I think we’re known in Montana as Missoula the River City, and it’s really because of the Clark Fork River and its central role in business, in economics, in recreation, that really makes Missoula the town that it is.”
Carmen Murill, a field organizer with Wild Montana, said the river is deeply woven into daily life for people who live in Missoula.
“A lot of us would wonder what to do on a beautiful or a rainy summer day,” Murill said. “I mean, it’s really a lifeforce of town. And I think it’s pretty unique that Missoula, as a community is living and breathing on both sides of the river. It’s really like two downtowns but connected by the Clark Fork.”
Conservation groups say protecting the river begins with community involvement.
Advocates encourage residents and visitors to spend time outdoors, whether on a trail, in the woods or along the river, and to learn how they can become better stewards of the environment.
MISSOULA — Sam Forstag edged out Ryan Busse to secure the Democratic nomination in Montana’s 1st Congressional District.
Busse conceded the race to Forstag on Wednesday morning. Forstag had trailed behind Busse Tuesday evening, but he made up ground as the votes were counted into the early hours of Wednesday morning. The other two candidates in the race, Russl Cleveland and Matt Rains, are sitting at third and fourth, respectively.
Forstag leads in close race for Montana’s 1st Congressional District
Forstag spent eight years as a wildland firefighter, including four as a smokejumper, and he’s been vice president of the local National Federation of Federal Employees union. Last week, U.S. House of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, held a rally in Missoula to support Forstag’s campaign.
He told MTN on Tuesday that his campaign has been for the working class.
“We got a whole lot of people here that have been working their tail off to finally get some working-class representation in Washington,” Forstag noted. “So proud of everything we’ve done and so grateful.”
Forstag further noted he wants Montanans to be able to afford groceries, have universal free childcare and restore and expand Affordable Health Care Act subsidies.
“Hearing people’s stories and struggles and commonalities in the ways that we’re all fighting in the system that does not serve us so often, and the government serves corporations and the richest people in this country more than working people. It has been frustrating and saddening, but it has also inspired so much hope in me, like the fixes we can actually make,” he told MTN.
The 1st Congressional District covers much of western Montana, including Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman. It is currently held by Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, who chose not to seek reelection.
By securing the nomination, Forstag is slated tol face off against Libertarian candidate Nick Sheedy and Republican candidate Aaron Flint in November.
Brian Miller won the Democratic primary Tuesday for the U.S. House seat in Montana’s eastern district.
The Associated Press called the race for Miller, an attorney in Helena, who fended off a challenge from state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, a longtime legislator from Box Elder, and Sam Lux, a farrier from Great Falls.
In the Republican and rural eastern district, any Democrat will be an underdog, and Miller will face off against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Downing, who was unopposed Tuesday.
Libertarian Patrick McCracken is also running.
In the primary, Miller took 58% of the vote. Lux took 27% and Windy Boy took 16%, according to the Montana Secretary of State’s website.
In April, Windy Boy paused his campaign amid “serious sexual abuse” allegations raised by the Montana Democratic Party — but Windy Boy restarted his campaign and later called the allegations “political attacks.”
Miller is representing the victim of the alleged abuse and her mother, although he said he didn’t take on the role until after Windy Boy initially suspended his campaign.
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