Another pattern I look forward to exploring along US Highway 2 this summer are the many town signs that greet you or lure you off the highway into the small towns along the corridor. The penguin at Cut Bank plays into the older tradition of the town being mentioned in national weather news as having the “low tonight is in Cut Bank, Montana” since its old air base there meant that its temperature got out into the larger news feeds of the wire services. It stands at the fork of old US 2, which passed through the heart of town between the courthouse and Great Northern depot, and a later “bypass” US 2. Few signs along the Hi-Line are so catchy as the Cut Bank penguin–but to the east in North Dakota and Minnesota are numerous giant signs–from buffalos to Paul Bunyon–so well discussed years ago by Karal Ann Marling.