My New Year

I spent New Year's Eve driving from Bigfork to Kyle, South Dakota, a journey of about sixteen hours. Yes, I know it wasn't very smart to drive on New Year's Eve, the day of the year with more drunk drivers than any other season. But I had my reasons so you are just going to have to trust me.

The journey started off rough. I had not driven two hours before when I reached for my cell phone to call my parents--only to realize that it was missing. Again. Now I know some of you think I am lying when I say "I lost my cell phone" after a long delay in answering your calls. Well, it really is gospel truth. I really do have the inability to keep track of it. Anyway, no cell phone meant I had no one to call in an emergency and no way for my parents to track my journey. Great.

I was scheduled to stop every four hours to fill up for gas and stretch. These stops are not allowed to extend beyond five minutes. I also took this time to contact home. Now, in the day of cell phones, you can't imagine how difficult it is to locate a pay phone. When you do find one--they really do make you pay. I ended up paying over 8 dollars just to call home three times last night. Ridiculous.

Aside from huge wind gusts that thought it helpful to carry my truck to South Dakota, the weather conditions were pretty mild. The roads were dry except for about an hour driving in Wyoming. I couldn't have ordered better conditions in January.

But things got a little dicey when I entered the familiar territory of South Dakota. I made my last phone call home from Rapid City, elated that I was only two hours from home. Unfortuatnely, those last two hours were without a doubt the most difficult of the 16 beacuse of three things: Kamakazee deer, potential drunk drivers and night riders.

Because I was driving through the Badlands, I knew I would see deer. In fact, I have probably never seen a higer concentration of deer and antelope than that one hour stretch though the Badlands leading into Kyle. But seeing deer is very different than encountering Kamikazee deer. I honestly think that the deer were toying with me for sport and many had a serious death wish. Maybe 2008 was a rough year for the deer population because begging me to prevent them for entering 2009 alive. Of the dozens and dozens of deer I saw, nearly all were standing on the side of the rooad. Furthermore, there pack was split in two--a half a dozen on the right side and a half a dozen on the left. Because of this set-up, I had to constantly dart my eyes back and forth to avoid hitting any. I slammed, and I mean slammed, on my breaks five times. I am a good deer spotter, so I wasn't too close to hitting any of them except one who decided to cross the street and then turn back for another flirt with death. Grrr. I can tell you that I was relieved to survive this first test.

The second test came as I entered into town. You see, I live in a place with one of the highest alcoholism rates in the country. And I was arriving shortly after midnight. I saw every car as a potentially plastered driver looking to come between me and my kids. Therefore, whenever I saw a car coming, I would slow down to about 1miles per hour and pull over the very edge of the road--preferring to make chances with the ditch rather than to a drunk driver coming at me at 70 mph. Thanks to God's grace, I didn't encounter and obviously drunk drivers.

The final unexpected twist reminded me of the uniqueness of my situation. I was just about to round the local landmark--Sharp's Corner--when I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. In the distance, it looked like something was running across the street, but I couldn't make anything out as it was pitch-black out. I thought it was just my headlights reflecting on the water in the street. When I flipped my turning signal on and slowed to turn, a figue came out of the darkness. I slammed on my breaks and was shocked to see a brown and white painted pony gallop past me. On his back, a Lakota man rode hard, hair flowing in the wind. I honestly would have thought I was hallucinating had not he let out a war cry that pierced the dark. He was gone in seconds.

Sometimes, I wonder if my life is real or not. I am sure most of you were sipping champagne or sparkling cider to usher in the New Year. Not me. I was driving past one of Crazy Horse's ancestors. Beat that.