New Year's Eve finds me in a hotel in Columbus, Montana. The roads have been icy and hazardous since I left Idaho, but I have managed to get this far by just taking it slow and easy.
I normally make a point of not driving past early afternoon on New Year's Eve due to the spike in drunk driving on this day. I rented myself a smoking suite for the night, brought in a few pipes and tobaccos, and picked up some beer at the store next door. I am pretty much set for a quiet, peaceful end to the year.
I really haven't any desire to note the passing of the year in a noisy crowd of drunken strangers. A quiet evening in seems far more desirable to me. Besides, smoking in bars is not permitted in Montana any more but I can smoke as many bowls as I like here in my suite.
Speaking of which, I rented a room in Rocker, Montana last night. I knew it was going to get extremely cold and just didn't want to spend the night in my truck. They have a nice little lounge with friendly people. As it was getting brutally cold outside I opened the door to my room and told my fellow smoking bar patrons that they were free to use my room to go and smoke instead of standing outside freezing.
Several of them accepted my offer, and a couple of them even bought me a beer. The hotel owner also bought me a couple of rounds.
Tomorrow I will head out at a reasonably early hour and try to knock out as many miles as I can. My goal is to reach the truck stop near my destination as early on Sunday as possible. I don't think that will be too much trouble as it is only 830 miles from here. The weather will be the biggest issue.
I'll worry about that tomorrow, for tonight I will just relax, enjoy a few bowls, a few beers, and perhaps order in a pizza later.
I normally make a point of not driving past early afternoon on New Year's Eve due to the spike in drunk driving on this day. I rented myself a smoking suite for the night, brought in a few pipes and tobaccos, and picked up some beer at the store next door. I am pretty much set for a quiet, peaceful end to the year.
I really haven't any desire to note the passing of the year in a noisy crowd of drunken strangers. A quiet evening in seems far more desirable to me. Besides, smoking in bars is not permitted in Montana any more but I can smoke as many bowls as I like here in my suite.
Speaking of which, I rented a room in Rocker, Montana last night. I knew it was going to get extremely cold and just didn't want to spend the night in my truck. They have a nice little lounge with friendly people. As it was getting brutally cold outside I opened the door to my room and told my fellow smoking bar patrons that they were free to use my room to go and smoke instead of standing outside freezing.
Several of them accepted my offer, and a couple of them even bought me a beer. The hotel owner also bought me a couple of rounds.
Tomorrow I will head out at a reasonably early hour and try to knock out as many miles as I can. My goal is to reach the truck stop near my destination as early on Sunday as possible. I don't think that will be too much trouble as it is only 830 miles from here. The weather will be the biggest issue.
I'll worry about that tomorrow, for tonight I will just relax, enjoy a few bowls, a few beers, and perhaps order in a pizza later.
