Brydn's 2003 Travel Journal - Montana: Little White Crosses

Brydn's 2003 Travel Journal - Montana: Little White Crosses

Page 56

My pick dies and I end up back in Helena, Montana.


7PM, Room #107 Helena Inn, Helena, Montana,
It's 90`+ outside. I get a tow to Helena through AAA on back of a tow truck. The driver immediately gives me a diet Pepsi which I sip the entire 1 hour ride. He talks about the NASA shuttle accident, working on jets, Montana politicians making tons of money, living in Arizona, Mexicans he dislikes and on and on. He says the little white crosses along side the road were where people have died in car wrecks. He says the American Legion may keep a log of the names. He gets plenty of first hand looks at the wrecks, being a tow truck driver. We unhook my truck at a Sinclair gas station. He takes off. I fill my radiator with water from the hose. I had pulled out the thermostat just before the tow truck picked me up. You know, like a bad tooth; "if it don't work, pull it." Bad idea! I don't get off the lot before I overheat. I get lost only once and I make it to Motel 6. Checking in, the dude is sympathetic to my car troubles. He give me the "handy cap" room on the ground floor; no tub, lots of floor space, no microwave, ten channels of TV and HBO. Megan encourages me over the phone to get rested up and get breakfast in the morning. I shower and fall asleep watching a current action movie about a cop in the future. I sleep like a rock until 5:30pm. Tonight's special; 2 two boiler makers, a beer plus one can 'o chili. I wake up to watch a show on HBO about 2 virgin lesbian Jews. I watch it until last part. It makes me wonder why they'd waist the extra film if the girls had sex about 1/2 way through the movie. I get up and going by 7am. I call Checker auto parts @ 7:30am. Dude says they open at 8am. I figure out where and how to get there with the phone book map. (Yeah, I went to "Kollege," cutting the pages out with my McGyver knife.) I work out the Scottish tune "Cooper at Night" into a "Computer at Night" song. I walk off to Checkers in a clean "KPAM" radio tee-shirt and the same damn dirty jeans I've worn for 2 (two) days. I should have brought my hat! I walk around aimlessly, not knowing where I was going. "Check out time is 12 noon," a plus.