The Beer Traveller

So in life & this trip I knew there would be many firsts, but this was an unexpected one.  On my way to Big Sky, I pulled into a truck stop in Butte, MT.  As I made a beeline for the bathroom I spotted man, dog, & ‘headed East’ sign out of the corner of my eye.  Upon exiting the bldg, I double checked the sign & sure enough it said East.

As I was tediously scrubbing the bugs off my truck I got to thinking…why not?  I headed over to what appeared to be what looked like one of the many bums we have in Seattle & his not so clean Pit Bull that was built like a brick shit house.  I verified that they were indeed headed in my direction (Wisconsin actually) & informed him I’d be stopping in Big Sky for a few days before continuing on.  In the world of hitchhiking I can only imagine that it must be the mother load to be going halfway across the country & get 1 ride to take you there.

I made some room for Marly the Monster…actually one of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever met & we were on our way.  Turns out Michael was a good guy & had just quit his job, as a Sou Chef, in Ashland, OR to hit up a hippy festival called the Rainbow Gathering.  He was now on his way to visit some family in WI.  After some initial “who are you” questions, the remainder of the trip was mostly silent.  This was due to my exhaustion from driving & his from spending 10 days in the woods.

It wasn’t until I pulled up to John & Danielle’s that I got to thinking “now what?”.  Michael actually gave the lay-up that he would wait in the driveway while I went to talk to my friends.  The look on my friends faces was probably about what my parents will be when they read this.  Now as rude as y’all may think this is, we gave him permission to erect his tent in the backyard.  I may be dumb enough to pick up a hitch-hiker, but no way is he sleeping in the same house.

The next few days were spent w/ me visiting breweries w/ Danielle (John had to work) & orchestrating the showering of both Michael & his beautiful dog Marly.  It was soon time to go & on the road again we were.