DATELINE: alberton, mt                                                    

Author: Andy

Two fun facts about deers, highways, and Montana. We learned these from a local an hour after they would have come in handy.

If you see a deer in the road, you are supposed to come to a complete halt rather than try to avoid it. This runs counter to the instinct most of us would have on a 75mph interstate; the last thing you would ever want to do is stop, particularly in the passing lane. But here in Montana, especially at night, the chances of getting violently rear-ended are much less because you are typically the only car on the road for many many miles.

The other lesson concerns what to do if you do hit a deer. Apparently it is customary to stop your car, get out, and drag the carcass onto the shoulder. As it worked out, the idea of doing this didn't even cross our minds. I would go so far as to say that dragging a decapitated deer around was the last thing any of us was inclined to do.

We soldiered on and found lodging in the lovely town of Anaconda. The problem was that both motels in Anaconda were closed for the night. We went into a casino (there's lots of little ones in montana) to use the bathroom. We met a very nice guy running the place who explained the aforementioned deer rules to us. He also explained that we were out of luck finding a hotel within 20 miles with an open check-in counter at that hour of the night. Exhausted, we parked in a nearby parking lot and slept in the minivan.

We stopped off in Missoula to use the free wi-fi at a random super 8. Karl had to make some calls to deal with the car situation. Our left front headlight is smashed to pieces, and there is even deer hair embedded in it. We're gonna need another new minivan. Karl arranged for us to pick one up in Spokane.

We had pizza for lunch. We've been laughing a lot.