I’ve had my good eye on Bad Ass Coffee and another shop since I arrived in Dillon a couple of months back.  At first glance, I thought B@ had closed down, because it is not the only business in a small office building.  And, it is not the business you see from the main street as you drive by.  Even though the flop-eared donkey signs are all over the building — it looks like an insurance company has taken over and left the jackasses on the walls and roof to add personality.

Early on in my unsuccessful stalking of this Jackass haunt, I drove through the drive-thru and stopped at the window.  It was pitch black inside … I just knew they had gone out of business.

Only recently did I learn that The Arse  has been open for business this entire time.  They just have a small window of opportunity in their schedule, IMHO.

J.C., Dezi

Well … timing is everything and somehow I can never catch them open … probably because I work from 6 to 6 … well, at least I am on a jobsite during those ours.  Most of Dillon seems to be out working on the same schedule.

Hey Bad Ass!  Please, add some evening hours.  Surely the Montana Western college crowd will support you … I mean you do have Wi-Fi.

So, not knowing this Bad lil’ Ass was right under my nose the whole time, I have been blogging and updating at Safeway because even though it has zero atmosphere,  it has a Starbucks counter (which by the way, closes around 6:30 in the evening.)  WOW … I kid you not.  Some guy just asked me to pull my headphones off as I write this … to ask me if Starbucks was already closed.  It was.

But today was a day of discovery.  I left the Dirty Gig mid morning to drive from Bannack to Dillon to grab hardware for our team of carpenters. So, it was on my way, and I pulled over and stuck my head inside the insurance-looking building.  Sure enough there are some hand-lettered signs/arrows the direct folks to Bad Ass.

Why didn’t you guys tell me you were so cool?  We could be such very good friends.  BAC is a franchise but it still has kind of a funky character. Ha … it is a Hawaiian franchise.  I did not see that coming.  Who puts a Hawaiian franchise in Montana?

When you are Bad Ass you are so good … great Wi-Fi, a nice wildberry frap, and the kind of service I rave about … 6 pings … but I ain’t done raving yet!

I’ll tell you what is so refreshing about Bad Ass – the added bonus of friendly service.  At Bad Ass I ran into the only two happy, smiling baristas I’ve seen in Dillon. I guess it is a case of a small town and a somewhat small labor force filling service positions with non-service speaking employees. One or two of the baristas at cross-town Starbucks are nice … but on one of my first visits, the barista looked at me as I ordered and said, “Really?”  I was supposed to know her shift ended in 15 minutes and not bother her with giving her employer money in return for caffeine treats in order for them to pay her.

Ha … and don’t get me started on the anti-all humankind people who run my hotel, my home for the last 90 days.

I digress … Back to Bad Ass … They won me over instantly.  You see, I walked in carrying a dead lap top and a dubious power cord under my arm.  My reason for stopping in Bad Ass was to seek out any other Apple computer user in this small town.  I have seen only one or two.  The nearest Apple Store is 400+ miles away in your choice of Boise or Spokane.

So I walked in, and asked my bizarre question, “Hey by chance do you know anybody … ANYBODY who has a MacBook Pro with the magnetic cord?” I explained mine was dead.  If I had a good cord or good computer that I might borrow for five minutes, I could test my equipment.

Get this.  The barista was clicking away on her cell phone before I finished my explanation.  And she read out a number … and thirty minutes later, her friend J.C. showed up to help.  So, her friend J.C. knows someone else who has a Mac.  They are trying to track this down for me as I blog … now using my iPad while my MacBook Pro sits cuddled up in a fetal position beside my leg.

The ironic thing … two days ago I gave my friend — we’ll call him “Blue Duck” because he is a Lonesome Dove fan … I gave “Blue Duck” my soapbox spiel about paying a little more for an Apple laptop, but never having trouble with the cords and batteries.  Now, mine has proven me wrong.

Meanwhile, entombed in my dead laptop are all of my photos from a great weekend in The Big Hole.  Hopefully, the laptop will live to fight another day and we’ll get that posted.

Know what I sayin?