From the U.K. to the Hi-Line

"Just turned into a rat race. It was taking me an hour to get 15 miles to work," Jim said.

Montana also happened to be where Anita's late father, who was a fisherman, dreamed of retiring.

Montana was chock full of small towns, the kind Anita had lived in for a nostalgic portion of her childhood, the kind she wanted to move back into.

The couple visited Havre during Christmas of 2009 while living in Denver. Their daughter Theresa was married to a native Havrerite. Jim and Anita came up to visit the couple before they were scheduled to deploy overseas, and to see the in-laws and grandchildren as well.

They were in the Atrium Mall when they saw an advertisement for a bar that was for sale. They looked at a few other bars before settling on the one at 37980 U.S. Hwy. 2, about 10 miles west of Havre.

There was a lot of work to be done to the bar.

Jim and Anita said they threw out boxes, junk and more junk. They cleaned walls and floors and fixtures. They added a salad bar and square tables covered with tablecloths that looked like they were taken from a '60s diner. They set up an officer, where Anita orders food and coordinates functions for holidays, graduation parties, weddings and fundraisers.

The bar sits on more than six acres and has a house attached to it, with more than enough room to accommodate everyone when all the kids come by, they said.

The thing about talking to Jim and Anita is they often answer exactly the same at the exact same time.

When asked what they liked most about living on the Hi-Line, they both simultaneously blurted, "the people" like it was a no-brainer.

This became evident not too long after they purchased the bar.

"A river run through one year," Jim said. "They brought their graders and their tractors. There were so many guys here - I thought. 'where did they all come from?'"

"They're just great people. Great people," Anita added.

Jim said they had only been on the Hi-line for one year when the area flooded.

The guys who helped were guys who'd been at the bar, Jim said: Dean Donoven, Jared Gomke and Scott Kloppenburg.

"Dean went and brought his grader out of Kremlin. Well, he gets stuck in the ditch with his grader. Scott then drives him all the way to Kremlin and they bring the tractor to pull the grader out. And then they kept on working, funneling through the parking lot so the water ran out," Jim said.

The only thing they don't like about the Hi-Line is the mosquitoes and the flies. Some years are worse than others, they said.

Jim and Anita said they are done moving. Despite some family members on both sides thinking they are "crazy" and "nuts" for having moved out here, they say they have found Jim and Anita Stevenson said Montana is where they want to die. Both in their 50s, they lived in London, Scotland, Florida, California and Denver before moving to the Montana Hi-Line in 2010. They are not moving anymore

"I'm done," Jim said. "I've told the guys, 'When I kick the bucket, you can bronze my behind and stick it out there in the parking lot.'" He pointed toward the front parking lot on the other side of the Walleye Tavern wall.

The Walleye Tavern bar is long and polished. A small television is attached to the back wall, and a larger one, hanging all the way at the end, was blasting a rerun of "In the Heat of the Night" until it was turned down.

Anita was born in Spokane, Washington, to a British mum who had married an American Air Force man. By the time Anita was 6, her father had died and her mother had taken Anita and her siblings to the United Kingdom, where Anita's mother believed they would have a better life.

"Totally wrong about that, bless her heart. She regretted it from day one," Anita said, in her Scottish accent.

In 1980, Anita met Jim in a London bar called the Havlock, which Jim was managing. Anita was looking for a job. Four years later they were married and living in Scotland.

The couple began talking about moving to the U.S. before they married. It took about 10 years before the entire family was on U.S. soil. The major hang-up was money. The couple didn't make a lot, so it was hard to save up for the expensive move. Scotland didn't have a minimum wage then. Jim was making the equivalent of $2 an hour in the '80s.

Jim was sponsored by Anita's uncle in Florida, and he left Scotland first. By 1994, the family of four was reunited.

Jim worked as a printing man for two decades.

The Stevensons left Florida and Jim worked at a graphics company in the Salinas, California area for the next 12 years. Then they moved to Denver after the California company closed their doors, where he worked for another printing company.

It started in Denver.

"I always told my co-workers in Denver," Jim said, "'One day I'm going to buy a bar -'"

"'- 75 miles north of Butte, Montana," both said, laughing.

"We were close," Anita added.

Jim, who speaks with the accent of a native Suffolk, Londoner, said, "I always wanted to get a pub in America - it's in my blood."

To Jim and Anita, Montana represented relief from the rat race and breathing room in a world cluttered with traffic jams and assembly-line restaurants and stores.

"When we first got there, it was awesome." Jim said of Denver.

"Then it became L.A.," Anita chimed in. "Just turned into a rat race. It was taking me an hour to get 15 miles to work," Jim said.

Montana also happened to be where Anita's late father, who was a fisherman, dreamed of retiring.

Montana was chock full of small towns, the kind Anita had lived in for a nostalgic portion of her childhood, the kind she wanted to move back into.

The couple visited Havre during Christmas of 2009 while living in Denver. Their daughter Theresa was married to a native Havrerite. Jim and Anita came up to visit the couple before they were scheduled to deploy overseas, and to see the in-laws and grandchildren as well.

They were in the Atrium Mall when they saw an advertisement for a bar that was for sale. They looked at a few other bars before settling on the one at 37980 U.S. Hwy. 2, about 10 miles west of Havre.

There was a lot of work to be done to the bar.

Jim and Anita said they threw out boxes, junk and more junk. They cleaned walls and floors and fixtures. They added a salad bar and square tables covered with tablecloths that looked like they were taken from a '60s diner. They set up an officer, where Anita orders food and coordinates functions for holidays, graduation parties, weddings and fundraisers.

The bar sits on more than six acres and has a house attached to it, with more than enough room to accommodate everyone when all the kids come by, they said.

The thing about talking to Jim and Anita is they often answer exactly the same at the exact same time.

When asked what they liked most about living on the Hi-Line, they both simultaneously blurted, "the people" like it was a no-brainer.

This became evident not too long after they purchased the bar.

"A river run through one year," Jim said. "They brought their graders and their tractors. There were so many guys here - I thought. 'where did they all come from?'"

"They're just great people. Great people," Anita added.

Jim said they had only been on the Hi-line for one year when the area flooded.

The guys who helped were guys who'd been at the bar, Jim said: Dean Donoven, Jared Gomke and Scott Kloppenburg.

"Dean went and brought his grader out of Kremlin. Well, he gets stuck in the ditch with his grader. Scott then drives him all the way to Kremlin and they bring the tractor to pull the grader out. And then they kept on working, funneling through the parking lot so the water ran out," Jim said.

The only thing they don't like about the Hi-Line is the mosquitoes and the flies. Some years are worse than others, they said.

Jim and Anita said they are done moving. Despite some family members on both sides thinking they are "crazy" and "nuts" for having moved out here, they say they have found their resting place. They have some family nearby, great friends and a growing catering business that isn't letting up any time soon.

Word has gotten out that Anita's shepherd's pie is to die for. At least one reporter for the Havre Daily News will attest to that.

Other crowd favorites are the prime rib, the burgers and the sloppy jim, a mishmash of ham or beef, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles between a toasted 8-inch hoagie, cut in half.

"Comes with a side," Anita added.

It only took the Stevenson a few weeks to get used to the train running on the tracks on the other side of the highway. As for the flatness and lack of brush, Jim said it's advantageous.

"The more I can see, the better."