Is This ZMM Narrators Bathtub? Olive Hotel, Miles City MT
"And baths. In a beautiful old enameled cast-iron bathtub that crouched on lion's paws in the middle of a marble floor, just waiting for us. The water was so soft it felt as if I would never get the soap off."
The Olive Hotel may not be the Miles City hotel that is described in ZMM, but it does fit the Narrator's poetics in the passage above. And I would here add this Antique Room and this Tub is just waiting for you. For any Pirsig Pilgrim, this is a do not miss! You have to remember that the Narrator was used-to the high mineral content of Minneapolis water. I am not sure why the water at the Olive was so soft. I can't imagine that the Olive had water softeners in 1968, but perhaps they did. Or perhaps the city water, probably from the Yellowstone River, is fairly “soft” already. To my recollection, the water was fairly soft when I was there.
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(Photo = 105-0506 ...... ZMM Page = 083 ……WayPt = 097w)