August 10: Wolf Point, Montana

     The State of Montana has placed white crosses in locations where a traffic fatality has occurred on highways all across the state.  I've seen hundreds of them in my two weeks in this state.  Sometimes there are two or three or up to six of these simple white crosses in a single location.  Sometimes the crosses have been decorated with flowers or ribbons or dolls or toys, sometimes not.  This is just a personal observation, definitely not proven by a certified statistician, but I have been through three Indian Reservations now and the frequency of white crosses seems to be much higher on the reservations.  The frequency of broken glass from beer and liquor bottles on the shoulders of the highway is much higher as well.
     I have another unscientific observation.  U.S. Highway 2 has got to have the highest ratio of "Oversized Loads" as a percentage of all motorized vehicles in the nation.  Most of these trucks are carrying farm machinery.
     Now I will try to bring some cohesion to the previous two paragraphs.  This morning, a big oversized load carrying some kind of harvesting contraption came up from behind me.  It, like most cars and trucks, whenever possible, moved over a little bit for me.  When it moved back into its lane, I noticed that the contraption extended well over the shoulder.  If a car had been coming in the opposite direction, that oversized load could not have moved over and it could easily have taken off my head.  Pure adrenaline might have kept me going for another quarter-mile or so without a head, but blood would have been spurting out of my neck arteries like the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel.  I would have expired somewhere just short of Nashua, MT and a brand new white cross would be erected in my honor.
     The thought of this macabre scenario got me to singing the Warren Zevon classic Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner--at least the first verse which is all I could remember.
     A little later I saw two vehicles that drive ahead of an oversized load--the ones with flashing lights and signs that say "Oversized Load."  Then a third one slowed down beside me and the driver said, "you better move over to the other side; we have a 25-footer coming.
     I complied and then stopped and waited.  Seriously, it was monstrous, and I don't have the slightest clue what it was.  My best guess would be that it was part of a jumbo jet or something military-related.  The flatbed truck had extenders to accommodate the width of this object and you could clearly see it rocking from side to side.