______________
When I met Lenny (aka my brother Kurt) in Plentywood, Montana, the first words from his mouth were, "Look at my back tire and tell me if it is ok or not".
The answer was.... not!
It was worn right down to the wear bars and beyond in some spots which prompted the following conversation.
"Ummm, Lenny, I think you need to make an appointment somewhere to get that tire changed."
"Bah, it looks about the same as it did when we left for BC last year. Who cares? Let's go!"
That conversation prompted me to (a) envision him blowing a tire on the interstate and wiping out right in front of a semi (which of course would mean that I would no longer have anyone to share hotel rooms with and would have to pay full price myself!!!!) and (b) to start obsessively checking his back tire every time we stopped anywhere. In fact, I was leaned over at the back of his bike so often that it looked like I was praying toward Mecca three times a day.
So there we were..... me without my glasses and Lenny with no tread on his back tire.... bombing across Montana at 75 miles per hour. I was out in front so I was considering calling our trip...... "The blind leading the bald!" (and to those who say "Don't both of those words describe you?" I say .... ha ha... very funny!)
Eventually (after driving past Mindy's road - sorry again!!!) we made it Belgrade and Gallatin Speedway for the stock car races. The races were good! Tons of fun!
The next day we headed to Deer Lodge, Montana. When we got to the hotel there, I again checked Lenny's tire only to find that cords were starting to show. So it was completely worn out and we were a long way from anywhere that could help us (more about this part of the story tomorrow).
So that is where the "prison" part of our story comes in. Now, it would not be unusual for a Pippus male (or female for that matter) to be found in jail (some of my cousins are regulars), but this time we actually got to leave of our own accord.
Our purpose for being in Deer Lodge was to go to the "Old Montana State Prison". Think Alcatraz without the island. It was very cool (especially to Lenny who works in corrections with young offenders) to look around the prison and to see how things were back in the early to mid 1900s. In fact, the prison first opened its doors on July 2, 1871. Here are some shots......
It was very interesting. If you are ever in Deer Lodge with a worn out bike tire and nothing else to do - I highly recommend it.
The other aspect of the prison was a car museum. In fact, it is rated as one of the top 10 car museums in the states. It, too, was very cool. (No pictures of that though.... you know what cars look like).
So, having been sprung from prison, we started to make plans to get Lenny's tire changed.
However, that story, a couple more bad decisions by us and some nice people who helped us along the way will have to wait until tomorrow.
Believe it or not, it gets worse!! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment