My Misadventure with Sara and Old Man Winter

So on Thursday morning 11/17, Sara (the other full season WWOOFer on the farm) and I decided to hop on the road down to a place where she had a chance of getting a house-sitting gig and caretaking for their sheep for the winter. It's in Alder, MT, which is a tiny town of 100 on the other side of the mountains from Big Sky, and a two-drive from Wilsall.

The drive was tricky through a couple of mountain passes but the scary weather was all out in the distance so we did well. She got the job - the woman is amazing, lives in a beautiful converted one-room school house, and the sheep are so cool - they're like dogs but silent.

And before we left town, we stopped at the little town cafe and they hired Sara on the spot as a waitress to start in two weeks. So we're both over the moon about the success of this little trip .. except that it's clear a storm is about to rage so we have to get back on the road.

We get back on the road just as the blizzard starts rolling in. We stopped off half way in Norris to ask if we should stay there but it was only like 3 o'clock so we decided to get on. We get to 10 miles outside of Four Corners (a Bozeman suburb) and I could not get control of the truck up a mountain road, fishtailed all over, and skid off the shoulder. It was scary but all slow motion and thankfully, no driver behind me! 

By then, it was almost dark and we had no cell signal so we thumbed it and a passing school bus stopped to pick us up. We hopped in the bus to Boz and then the bus driver couldn't get going up the same road. He revved it hard and the back of the bus fishtailed right into my truck. He was skidding off the road too so we stopped and tried to call for help but he had no radio. We got out shovels (thank god I had one in my truck) and started to dig him out, he got some snow chains, and finally after a terrifying hour in the blizzard, we got moving.

On the bus

We eventually made it back to Bozeman safe and sound, thanks to the hardy bus driver and Our Hero Dan.

I had, of course, left the truck up on the mountain road and called AAA right away for a tow out.  However, they said they wouldn't tow an unattended vehicle...  So we stayed the night in Boz and the next morning Dave came out, drove us to the truck, gave it a jump and we waited for a tow out. The tow truck guy got us out and when the snow and ice finally melted off, I could see a a bunch of dents in the truck from where the bus had hit it - one big one at the back - and scrapes along the driver side from the bus. Had anything been inches different, it could've desrtroyed the wheel well or the gas tank.

After the truck was back on the road, we headed straight to an auto parts store to get snow chains and an emergency kit.

Scoreboard:

Montana Mountain Roads: 1, Liz: 0