On the roadside about twenty miles outside of Buffalo, MT, a herd of cattle, walking on the street. Maybe 30 of them, mostly black angus to my non-expert eye. The stroll was apparently not planned, as there were several men in trucks scratching their heads and, I think, trying to get the cattle onto a truck. Hell if I know, though, I was whizzing by at 70 mph.

The speed limit is 80 in much of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana, but kiss my accelerator, I am comfortable at 65, feasible at 70, and willing to pass at 75, but I am not driving at 80 mph all day.

Skipped breakfast and wanted a caffeine pill, but after crossing the border ("Welcome to Montana!") the first two rest areas were closed. Isn't that illegal or something? I stopped at the third rest area, 200 miles into the morning, swallowed a wake-up pill, and peed, and noticed the sign on my walk to the building: "Rattlesnake area. Stay on sidewalk." I stayed on the sidewalk.

Couldn't see much of anything. It was cloudy all day, with a near-constant mix of snow and rain coming down, blocking much view of the mountains or scenery. As we were approaching the start of the pass, an electronic sign offered these words of encouragement: "Wind gusts ahead. Expect 60 mph side winds. Gusts currently 45 mph." So it was not a relaxing drive, but hey, I made it to Missoula, MT.

For a hundred miles or so I saw a phenomenon I'd never seen before — fairly heavy snowfall, but driving at 65 or 70 mph was just fast enough that the snow was caught in the car's airfoil effect, so the snowflakes never hit the windshield. I was driving in a sometimes heavy snowstorm with my windshield wipers off, because the windshield was dry.

All the snow in the air, though, severely limited visibility, and recent reports of big Interstate smashups danced in my daydreams. I drove two stretches of 10 miles or so with my hazard lights flashing, an idea that came from the truck I could barely see a quarter-mile ahead of me. Good times! And still a few locals with gun racks on the back window flew past at 80.

When I was a kid, Montana mounted little white crosses at the side of the highway wherever there'd been a fatality. Guess they still do that, and it's an effective reminder of the danger, though the cross symbolism seems the opposite of inclusive.

There were far fewer white crosses on the side of the highway, though, than when I was a kid. Fifty years ago, I remember counting the white crosses for a few hours, and there were hundreds. Yesterday I saw perhaps fifty, all day — which means, Montana is removing the white crosses after some set amount of time, and it must not be much time. The white cross is a short-term memorial.

Still only able to see a short distance through the snow and rain, I never knew when the mountains had been passed. Lots of steep upgrades and downgrades, and then just when I thought it was over, another sign that says, "Chain-up area ahead." Why do the Rocky Mountains have to be so gol durn high?

Christian stations were more than half what I could hear yesterday, and the hate-talk successors to the late Rush Limbaugh. On one station, the host spent an hour talking about how he's been unfairly censored by Facebook for posting untrue statements ("as if Facebook knows anything about The Truth!"). On a 'morning zoo' show, the running joke was about "blue idiots," basically dumb things Democrats say and do.

In the mountains, radio stations fade away before Bohemian Rhapsody can finish. In a flat area, though, imagine my surprise at hearing Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and Democracy Now for almost half an hour.

Here in Missoula, checking in at the Clark Fork Inn (no website), they told me the wi-fi was out and offered me a $5 discount. For a moment the thought of watching television or hell forbid, reading a book, floated across my mind, but fuck that shit. I canceled and found myself a room at the local Motel 6. So much for mom-and-pop hotelling it, but I was tuckered.

At Motel 6, the guy checking me in was black — the first non-white face I've seen in person or even driving a car since Sunday in Wisconsin.

I haven't seen a cop since Wisconsin, either. There are signs every fifty miles telling me to click it or ticket, stay sober or be pulled over, and what seems an *inordinate number of billboards urging people to report their suspicions of human trafficking. But there's been no sign of any highway patrol (not that I'm complaining).

If traffic flows smoothly and nobody's fender bets bended, I'll see the Seattle skyline this afternoon.

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"Cats are resilient," someone told me when I worried that my high-strung rescue cat with a history of abuse might not survive the move. Hoping that's true.

In both the first two hotels, I opened the door of her carrying case, and she came out for a few minutes but crawled back inside — and she hates the carrying case. Last night, she came out, hid behind the fridge for a while, then jumped onto the bed to be petted and (finally) ate and pooped and at the moment she's rolling around on the floor asking me to rub her belly.

Now, of course, I gotta shove her back into the carrying case...

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And now, my internet history from yesterday, minus the porn…

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Out of appeals and with the National Labor Relations Board against them, ironically-named coffee shop chain is forced to recognize union

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Donald Trump, John Eastman and the Silence of the Justice Department

• Trump • Trump • Trump • Trump

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COVID-19 coverage for the uninsured is ending

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LiveJournal is currently serving as one of several platforms for Russia’s “covert social media propaganda efforts.”

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Aw, fuck.

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One-word newscast, because it's the same news every time...

• cops • cops • cops

• homelessness

• Republicans

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There will probably be no updates for a few days at least. Things are gonna be hectic.

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♫♬ Sing along with Doug ♫

"Seattle" — Perry Como

3/30/2022
Tip 'o the hat to All Hat No Cattle, Linden Arden, ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, Captain Hampockets, CaptCreate's Log, John the Basket, LiarTownUSA, Meme City, National Zero, Ran Prieur, Voenix Rising, and anyone else whose work I've stolen without saying thanks.
Extra special thanks to Becky Jo, Name Withheld, Dave S., and always Stephanie...
Cranky Old Man