Thursday, March 1st, 2012
Oddly enough, it seems that I have stopped at the only Pilot truck stop in the nation that does not have wireless internet. I will not grieve for lost time staring vacuously into the shiny screen. In fact it fits into the theme of the day. Actually it would be just as appropriate to stare blankly at a screen as well, but screens are so limiting.
Starting off early, I left Anaconda behind. The guy that was next to me idling his noisy ass p.o.s. truck left before me, which is just as well. Consequently, I did not sleep as well as I could have, and I am certainly ready for bed. Here are some observations I made during the day.
At one point, I was totally spaced out, but still being with the road. It is like you see what is going on, but your body mind is completely elsewhere. I was alert enough to be sure. Someplace past the Little Big Horn Battlefield, I considered it funny that they actually pay me to do this. For some reason it had not occurred to me at the level of “I am holding a steering wheel and contemplating everything.” The idea of it being work was long gone.
Driving past Little Big Horn, it gave me pause to reflect. Were Americans such a bunch of ethnocentric, mean spirited bigots? Are we still? If our nation is mostly a nation of Christians, I would say we are setting a poor example, and/or ignoring what that Jesus dude said the whole time. Just driving past the site, one can feel the resentment in the earth. Furthermore, it is a monument in the Crow Nation. Why immortalize someone who slaughtered a bunch of people because they did not agree with him/his system? I found it hard to believe that being an American myself, that I was somehow linked to this inhuman madness.
Late into a long day, there is a certain kind of momentum going. You've already been driving for so long. Your body takes a bit of a back seat as your mind takes over. That full bladder? It can wait another 60 miles (and it did). When you do finally stop, it is like hitting a wall. Suddenly not moving at a good speed feels foreign to you. The head thinks you are still going, but the body is stiff and sore from hunkering down in one position for 6 hours straight. Nothing that can't be walked off, which is just as novel.
I found it funny the things I remembered about certain stretches of road. The hill south of Billings is long and more long. I remembered the hill as you turn onto 212. There is a stretch of 212 in Montana that I have a vivid memory of passing a truck driver, who was on his cell phone. I would keep catching up to him at 65 (back then) and I went to pass. I don't think he even looked into his mirror the whole. He was up to 65 some time just before I pulled along side him on the two lane road. In the end, I honked my horn and he slowed to let me pass, still on his phone. I later found out that he could have been going quite a lot faster than he was. I was less patient then.
Today it didn't matter. I had almost the entirety of the east bound drive to myself. In 180 miles, I was passed 5 times, by cars. That certainly contributed to enjoying my spacey time. Road hypnosis is a strange thing, and it leaves you tired in the end. A shower rounds out a wonderful day, which can only be made better by some good sleep, since my brain isn't functioning too well. Good night all.
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