One thing about Montana is that the summer days are long. As I type this at 5:20 am the sun is just starting to come up and it is light enough to see without artificial light. It will stay light until almost 10:00 pm.
Last evening I drove into town to meet Elaine and Jim and Jeanne and Rob for dinner at the Derby Steakhouse. We had a wonderful dinner and visit. We had a nice table in the Casino portion of the restaurant. Normally you would think that would not be good, but it was wonderful. We were the only people eating in that area. So we had a nice quiet area to visit and it was much cooler back there vs in the regular portion of the restaurant which was very busy and much noisier. So we had a delightful meal. Everyone’s food was outstanding.
After dinner, I made a quick trip over to the KOA to see Elaine and Jim’s spot and to give them some things from my trailer that I thought they might want. Then I made a run to Walmart to stock up on some groceries we were needing at the house.
On my way home it got me to thinking about Jennifer and my dating days and the places we would go necking. With it staying light so late it was always a task finding a spot where you could have some privacy. While I won’t share where those spots were, I passe by a couple of our favorites on the ride home last night and it had me crying and chuckling at the same time. As kids we used to love that it stayed light so long. As young adults wanting to go smooching not so much.
Last night as I was driving up Woodville hill I had a cow moose with a very young and small calf cross the road in front of me. I fortunately was using my Smith Driving skills and was watching for them. I had to come to an almost complete stop to make sure they crossed without hitting them.
The calf was just barely able to jump the guardrail as they moved up the East Ridge. I was concerned it might not be able to make it over and that it would panic and turn around and dart back into the traffic lanes. Thankfully it did not and thankfully traffic was very light last night.
That also brought on a another driving memory from the summer of our wedding. I can’t remember if I shared this memory before (and if I did Oh well). We had been working late on some wedding preparations, I don’t remember what those preparations were but it was late when I was driving home. It was around midnight or 1 am. It was a full moon night and for some reason (I don’t remember why) I was driving my Mom and Dad’s old 1970’s three door Mercury Grand Marquis. It was actually a four door, but it had been wrecked and became a three door (but that is a different story for another day). Anyway it was a big old boat of a car, it was the car my Mom drove around after she dropped the school bus in town.
Well as I was driving home I saw headlights off in the distance that looked like they were in my lane of the interstate. So I started slowing down, as I thought maybe someone was drunk and was driving down the interstate the wrong way. There had been a wedding reception at the Elk Park Fire Hall earlier that night so that scenario was totally possible.
Anyway as I get closer I could see that the car was definitely in my lane of the interstate, so I really start slowing down and as I get within a couple hundred yards I could see this person standing next to the car and they were picking through their long hair. The car is all smashed up (almost like it had rolled over).
So I pull up and I holler out the window, asking if they were Ok. The person turns out was a young man with long hair and he said he had hit something. Now this is on a large straight section of road with nothing to hit for quite a ways. So I am thinking this guy may be drunk or high. Anyways he says what he hit is laying back a few yards. Again, there was no other traffic on the road, so I back the old Mercury up and point the lights down into the ditch/field and there is this large cow elk laying in the ditch. Now she looked like she was just bedded down for the night so I pull up a little closer and she jumped up and jumped over the interstate fence and took off.
What had apparently happened is that this guy worked as a waiter at a restaurant in town. He had gotten off work and was driving from Butte to Great Falls to see his girlfriend. As he was driving a whole herd of elk had run out in front of him and he had hit this cow right between her legs and she had rolled up on the hood of his car and over the roof smashing the roof right down to the hood. His car was a small car something like a Toyota. Anyway the windshield and door window glass had gotten all over him and was stuck in his hair and clothes. Fortunately he did not have any other injuries other than being in shock. Well this was pre-cell phone days and it was late at night. So I had the guy get in my car where it was warm and we drove to the house and I called the Highway Patrol and then drove him back to the accident site. It must have been a slow crime night in Butte because when I got him back to the car, one of the Butte cops was at the car. He was a old family friend, so I left the guy with him and came home. The poor guy was understandably pretty shook up.
Anyway was overall it was a very nice evening.
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