From: Billings
To: Rock Springs (Hopefully)
3:00pm:
Laura and I left Rocky at about 12:15pm. Laura insisted that it was
cheating to ask a friend for a ride to the interstate. So we walked
all the way to the 27th street I90 exit, approximately 5 mi. We
"thumbed" at the exit for awhile. Not sure what to do and getting
impatient we started walking and made it as far as S.Billings Blv when
a man in a van stopped and said he could at least get us to the next
exit. The man was friendly and said he can't help but pick up hikers
because he has done some walking in his day. We were droppeod off at
the King Ave exit where we walked while thumbing again until a truck
stopped. The man in the truck was heading to Big Timber, he was an
industrial contruction worker. The job allows him to travel often and
see many things but is also the reason he and many of his fellow
workers have lost their families. The guy in the truck dropped us off in
Laurel our current location. We got some Subway here and let Laura's
sugar glider eat and stretch.
*For anyone who does not know what a sugar glider is: A sugar glider
is a small mammal of the marsupial family. They look similar to a
flying squirrel. Durring this trip it lived in a cydrical cage made
out of green wire mesh with a chalk bag inside. This cage was strapped
to the outside of Laura's backpack most of the time.
5:30pm
Currently we are in a truck on its way to Worland. Before I tell you
that story I must mention the coolest ride we recieved so far. Just
outside of Laurel we were picked up by a truck pulling a big trailer
(a scrapping truck). This guy is a scrapper as in scrap metal, not a
fighter. He also runs a antique shop. I found out he was related to
the roomate of a good friend of mine(michelle).This guy got a degree
in photography and was a photographer in the Navy many years before
coming to Montana. One of the first things he did was hand us some
hand warmers and tell us to put them in our pockets. This guy had a
chance to work for National Geographic but turned it down as he had
heard too many stories and known too many people that got diseases or
ran into other disasters doing photography for National Geographic.
He was very impressed with Laura's sugar glider. He was headed toward
Red Lodge so he could only take us to the junction at Fort Rockvale
but he was the coolest old guy I've met. From the junction we walked
a ways and were picked up by a pastor heading to Worland.
*Laura's Observation:
All people that picked up hitchhikers warned us about people
that picked up hitchhikers. A Great Irony.
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