Crossed Washington state through majestic scenery, the Idaho panhandle, and the western mountains of Montana. The couple in the MGB with no top needed breaks from sun and wind burn every 200 miles or so. Hit the flat lands of Montana.
Growing up in the east coast I had never seen nor imagined so much flat country, just fields and sky. Traffic was almost non existent. We could have parked in the middle of the road and had a leisurely picnic without disruption. Any approaching traffic could be seen from miles away. My turn driving the MGB...weird sense of not perceiving speed, 60,70,80 miles an hour were all the same in the unchanging landscape. Not even telephone or power lines for long stretches. Hypnotic, had to keep scanning side to side and talking to my buddy and checking the rear view mirrors.
Stopped for lunch at some tiny cross roads collection of a gas station, general store and a bar/restaurant. Had actual raised wooden sidewalks. Well hell, this was the west of the movies. Cowboys with guns. All of us had hair no longer than just brushing our collars, if that, regular jeans and buttoned shirts, a presentable group any where. So we entered the restaurant which was in the front and divided by a wall from the bar area but it had a fairly wide opening connecting the two.
Well we had a big round table and being the place had no wait service grabbed a few menus from the counter guy. While we were getting comfortable and using the facilities a drunken Indian with, swear to God, two black velvet paintings of Elvis, entered and started moving towards us. The counter guy came out and frog marched the Indian with a few salty remarks about having been warned before.
All this while two young fellas at the closest table to the bar entry were giving us squinty once overs. Guess they were to young for adult beverages and resented that fact. After passable cheeseburgers and fries, we had coffee and planned our next leg with an eye towards maybe something interesting ahead. Not for miles and miles and miles. Set out for the next run.
Hours later, did I mention how big Montana is, we came to Chester. Back then a town of about 1100 folks, a few restaurants, 5 or 6 beauty parlors or so it seemed, and grain elevators the dominated Chesters skyline. Nothing else higher than two stories. Flat...turn 360 degrees and the horizon stayed dead level with a hint of mountains way way in the hazy distances as tiny bumps. Found a place for dinner. Family type restaurant. We all needed to make calls home and took turns at the weirdest telephone. Wall mounted with a big sea scallop shell hood thing in an opalescent finish, kind of like an oil slick on the pale pink hood. Ma Bell's strange market research that didn't travel well outside of Las Vegas.
Well dinner was fairly good and evening was fast approaching we thought we'd look for lodging. Bad news the MGB had traveled only a few hundred yards before we had tonpull into a giant parking lot at a food store. Engine overheated from the long leg and never really cooled off. Artist and his gal were driven by the med student to the local garage while my Bell labs buddy and I sat in the inert sports carL No luck for the MGB, nearest place for possible tow and service was Great Falls. My buddy and I settled down in the MGB for a long wait. Pole lights went on and out of nowhere thousands, tens of thousands of insects zoomed in on the two light poles. There wasn't a single tree or bush for them to land on so they hit the dirt. Another surreal vision being surrounded on all sides by this quivering pavement. That was just the beginning of weird that night.
With the dead car we had no radio we took turns snoozing off and on. Saw some headlights approaching us, a pickup truck with a bunch of kids in the back, they slowed down to a crawl passing us. About half a mile down the road then made a u-turn and headed back our way, slowly circled the car, with NJ tags, with the oldest by shouting, “ Hey maw, look at the hippies!”
Ok, remember I mentioned Easy Rider, well an uneasy feeling came upon us. Here we were, two strangers sitting in a parked foreign car by God, with duffel bags and a tent strapped to the tiny truck. They must have had a CB because within a few minutes we had a few more truck visitations along with catcalls. Sport for the locals. A while later two police cars pulled in. Sheriff or what not slowly exited the car with his hand on his pistol as did his deputy on the the other side of us. Approached within ten feet and started questioning us. Who were we, where did we come from and where were we going. Told him all that and he comes back with, “ So you all just picked up and started running all over the country carefree and shit, huh?” Well that straightened us right up and got us to thinking what the hell is going on?
And then he asked for licenses and registration. License we had, nada on the registration. So now he's really suspicious. Asked me what I knew about Joplin. Not being smart mouthed, just tired, I said the only Joplin I knew of was Janis Joplin. Suspicions confirmed, he had two GD hippies both wearing glasses running around in his town with a possible stolen vehicle and up to God knows what. Damn, felt like I should be singing “Proud to Be an Okie from Muskokee”.
Out of the vee-hickle and slowly start unpacking the back of the car. At this point we had two guns on us. Well things looked pretty bad just then but then they got worse. We unpacked the duffels as we were commanded, and out come the girlie things belonging to my friends petite gal pal. Not only were we car thieving hippies gallivanting about the country, we were also degenerates and maybe even kidnappers or rapists.
“Uh huh, sure this little gal went to Great Falls with her boyfriend along with some guy from Minnesota and left you two with this broke down foreign piece of crap”.
My life was flashing before my eyes when there was some radio chatter from the cruiser. At this point we were sitting with our backs to the car, hands laced behind our heads as the the deputy searched the rest of the car, with us hoping the artist buddy didn't have any weed stashed there.
After a bit a State Trooper, guessing at that, pulls up and tells the sheriff the two burglars from Joplin had been caught, and oh, by the way Great Falls confirmed that our friends had asked the local PD about an all night tow service to Chester.
We did finally get the hell out of Chester, feeling there could be a country western song about all this. Uneasy Rider indeed.
I bet that y’all needed a change of underwear after all that!
I bet that y’all needed a change of underwear after all that!
I saw exactly one of those, at Ivar's in Seattle in the mid 70's.
Until just now I assumed it was Ivar's own decor, which was nautical and fishy (in the seafood sense) and included a ship's telegraph.