Thursday morning, The Great Falls MVD refused to register the vehicle I bought, to park in the driveway of my Montana home, without a Montana Driver’s License.

What’s going on? I own a house in Montana yet they won’t let me register a vehicle because I have an out-of-state Driver’s License.

In 2009, I purchased my first and only home, in Montana. Each time I travel from my temporary rented home in Connecticut I must rent a car in Montana and the expense significantly takes away from the home improvement I am actively engaged in each trip.

I decided to buy a car for my house out there. I need a car of my very own, sitting on my property to drive myself around Montana when I’m there. The Great Falls MVD rep said, I have to register the truck I bought, in the state where my driver’s license was issued. She said Montana Law is, non-residents can not register a motor vehicle even if they own property in Montana.

I cannot foreseeably transport a car over 5000 miles just to get plates. That’s ridiculous.

I can’t imagine why Montana would prevent me from contributing to the economy by purchasing a vehicle, paying fees and taxes… for pete’s sake- I own a house there and pay property taxes in Montana! In fact, Montana is the only state I pay property tax because it’s my ONLY property. There is something wrong with the Great Falls MVD’s refusal to register my new truck and I’m going to find out because I am not going to keep renting a car and I am not going to drive that truck 5000 to present it to my DMV here.

Some immediate questions come to me:

Montana wants me to pay Connecticut vehicle registration fees for a vehicle I will exclusively use on Montana roads?

Montana does not want me to contribute to their highways, police, government, etc..

This scenario seems perplexing. Why would the State of Montana not want me to register the vehicle where it will be used? Why would they want an out-of-state vehicle permanently in-state? Why would they refuse to register a car to a person who own a house there?

She said, If I had lied and said that I hadn’t gotten my driver’s license changed to Montana but that I intended to, she would have registered it.

She said, I can get a MT driver’s license, register the truck, then go back to CT and get a CT license again.

She said, she would issue me a 40-day temporary registration so I could drive away.

My new truck: I can’t sell it with the title still in the previous owner’s name. I can’t register it here when it’s 2500 miles away. I can’t register it in Montana. …

Maybe I should just sell my Montana home and move somewhere else to pay property tax. I am frustrated and feel the need for an attorney.

Shouldn’t vehicle dealers, tax collectors, highway maintenance and patrols and others be upset by this? How does this scenario support Montana?

wkp.us - ...my personal blog

Turning onto Connecticut’s Merritt Parkway, Route 15, near 10pm on a dark night in the rain, I merged into traffic. To those of you in Montana, traffic is when there are lots of cars on the road, right next to you, in front and behind you. All around you are cars; whether in little groups or the whole highway.
Speeding up to the flow of traffic, late at night on this tight, windy, hilly, under-construction, soaking wet parkway … is about 70m.p.h. Yeah, I guess that’s weird that there are lots of cars going that fast, but… 

Here on the East Coast, drivers are incredibly aggressive. They vie for the tiniest space, most often to no real advantage – other than to exacerbate the stress levels other drivers. Ironically, when you glance over to see who’s being so inconsiderate, it’s likely some retired school teacher-looking person. (Old and bitter? – That would suck~!)

So, I was jammed in there, in aggressive ‘maintain my little space’ mode, in the pouring rain, when I thought of what it’s like driving down a lone Montana highway, with perhaps an occasional passing a car… or maybe not.

Right there in the height of the battle for a lane, a feeling of peace came over me with the perspective of knowing an alternative to this East Coast way of life.

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When I get to Montana it takes me about 3 days to slow down. When I get to Connecticut it takes about 3 days to speed up. People live all over the world in so many different ways. Nature is aggressive enough.

On my morning commute to work, when folks are really jamming it down the road, I often wonder if their job is really that awesome.

wkp.us - ...my personal blog

Though I’ve visited Montana a half-dozen times this year, I annually post pictures from my August trip. This year included First People’s Buffalo Jump State Park, The Chouteau County Fair in Fort Benton, Floating the Missouri River and a one in a hundred shot of lightning beyond Bull Run Ranch in Cascade, Montana.

Driving through highway construction zones between Helena and Great Falls I snapped before and after photos of a section of I-15 in Mid Canyon blasted on Monday August 23rd.

The ‘before’ image shows a demolition truck perched above I-15 just past exit 244 and the ‘after’ shows the northbound lanes filled with boulders Tuesday morning.

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WKP’s Montana 2010 Photograph Gallery.

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wkp.us - ...my personal blog

I spent a week of February working on my house in Montana. While I spent most of my time working in the very cramped  crawl-space under the 100 year old floor, I snapped a few pictures while I drove to and fro on material runs. What beautiful countryside America has!

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Dream fly fishing along the Missouri River as zillions of Caddisflies hatch in the evening sun. I snapped this picture after dinner as the sun was setting over Craig, Montana. We spent a glorious day floating the Missouri River from Craig to the Dearborn River.

Just look at the dark cloud of Caddisflies over this Pine tree. Perhaps my favorite photograph this week on the beautiful Missouri River in Central Montana (South of Great Falls and North of Helena)

Read more about Trichoptera at Wikipedia.

wkp.us - ...my personal blog

Here I am at home again.

On the Missouri River from Craig to Cascade, Montana.

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