Smalley's circus memories

From the Flathead Valley, it’s two hours to the Koot, four hours to the Mo, and nine hrs to the ‘Horn. The Crick is three hours; the ‘Root four hours; the Madison seven.

And that means if you’re gonna fish Montana, you can expect to spend lots of time behind the wheel.

Driving alone to a fishing destination always provides me with plenty of opportunities for thinking. 

Sometimes fishing stuff  like which flies to use.  Sometimes practical stuff like how to rebuild my basement staircase.  Sometimes nostalgia stuff, like memories from when I was a kid.

A while back I noticed an MSN.com story that Ringling Bros circus had planned to retire their performing elephants due to pressures from groups alleging elephant abuse.

One time, when I was a kid in Iowa, Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus came to perform at nearby town.

My dad was very big on the “I want you to see/do this (thing) because it won’t be around forever.

For example, we once took a small trip in Pullman cars behind a steam locomotive before they were retired by the railroad.

In the case of the circus, I think we arrived early that morning to see the circus unload from the circus train and watch the elephants help raise the tent poles.

What I do remember clearly were the banners on front of the sideshow freak tent (we didn’t go). 

Midway hawkers were selling small glass bowls with a single goldfish.  Other hawkers were selling small lizards with safety pins threaded through their bellies.

When pinned to a shirt, the lizards (we didn’t buy one) squirmed and whipped their tails around until they died.

I remember one guy performer in the big tent who climbed a pole, then balanced on the lighted glass globe on top on one finger! 

Sure, there were the usual clowns (I hated clowns) and wild animals (roaring, cages and whips) and dogs walking on two legs and beautiful ladies (from a distance, maybe?) riding elephants.

But my biggest memory of the circus was the pocket knife my dad kept handy—just in case the tent collapsed, we could cut our way out!

Hopefully we Montanans won’t be feeling the same about floating the Smith River as my dad felt about me seeing Ringling Bros circus perform in a traveling big top.