From: bowman@montana.com   
      
   On Mon, 29 Dec 2025 13:30:40 -0000 (UTC), Lars Poulsen wrote:   
      
   > I am confused. Until today, I knew only of Saratoga Springs in   
   > California, but the revolutionary war reference does not work with that.   
   > Google tells me that there are also Saratoga Springs in New York and   
   > Utah. So which of these is where you grew up? The battles must have been   
   > in New York. And they also have a race track. So if you grew up there,   
   > how did you get to the Wild West?   
      
   Yes, Saratoga NY. The area has a lot of history. Lake Champlain lies   
   between NY and VT but also extends into Quebec.  It was a natural conduit   
   for the French troops during the French and Indian Wars so there were   
   battles at what became Fort Ticonderoga, Lake George, and Fort Edward.   
   Fort William Henry is at the south end of Lake George and was captured by   
   the French with the Hurons killing the surrendered British forces. James   
   Fenimore Cooper's 'The Last of the Mohicans' is a fictionalization.   
      
   The British followed the same path. Ethan Allen captured Ticonderoga, the   
   British recaptured it but abandoned it after the Saratoga battles.  There   
   were two battles at Saratoga. Gates had relieved Benedict Arnold of his   
   command but Arnold ignored Gates and arguably turned the second engagement   
   around.  This led to a strange monument.   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Monument   
      
   Part of the British strategy was to push down the Hudson and cut New   
   England off. Historically NY and other areas were not British colonies but   
   were won by Britain in wars. There were cultural differences that played a   
   part in the Gates/Schuyler/Arnold feud.   
      
   Ther was also a sideshow at Bennington. The various battlefields and forts   
   were fun to visit. In my day Bennington also had the attraction of   
   Bennington College which was all girls at the time. IT was only 21 miles   
   from RPI although Rt 7 had been designed by a lost cow.   
      
   afaik, all the other Saratogas were named after Saratoga NY. Supposedly   
   the name came from a Dutch settler trying to speak Iroquoian. The Mohawks,   
   the local branch of the Iroquois Confederacy were the local bad asses and   
   the reason Uncas was the last of the Mohicans.   
      
   How did I get to the West? After I graduated I got a job with a NY company   
   that was in a project with a company from Springfield, MA. They offered me   
   a job so I moved. Ultimately that company went bankrupt but several of us   
   moved to New Hampshire and started another company. Except for a brief   
   period when I lived across the border in Maine I lived in NH for about 10   
   years. I was getting a little burned out with software and NH was becoming   
   increasingly liberal due to the influx from MA, so in '88 I loaded what   
   would fit into my pickup, gave the rest away, and headed west, destination   
   unknown, as long as it had mountains.   
      
   Mostly I wandered around all over the west. I came up the west coast and   
   it rained. I visited Fort Clatsop in the rain and understood why L&C's   
   crew bitched about everything rotting. I went to the Earth First! Round   
   River Rendevous in the Okanagans. It rained. I headed east and when I got   
   to Montana it stopped raining. I liked the area, went down to Arizona for   
   the winter, and applied for a Forest Service volunteer slot in western   
   Montana.   
      
   It was all carefully planned :).  My ex and I talked about that Christmas   
   Day. She retired from Columbia and it retrospect her career path looks   
   like it was carefully planned to get her there. It wasn't either.   
      
   Like picking Linux distros there's a lot of luck involved. Maybe some   
   people plan their lives but I'm not sure I believe it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)