As I type this, it's 2:30 PM Saturday, 16 short hours away from the start of the inaugural Missoula Marathon. Right now there are two things I'm sure of: it's damn hot (100), and my truck is a bonafide piece o' shit. The ol' F-150 has served me fairly well over the past few years, but decided to make things interesting on my trip over here yesterday. Approximately halfway between Belle Fourche and Missoula, I decided to pull into a rest area to take care of some business, if you know what a I mean (I had to take a leak, if you don't know what I meant). Well, as soon as I got to the parking area, my truck died. Just flat out shut itself down and refused to restart. To put it in PG rated terms, I was slightly aggravated. I got a tow truck number from 411 and called the nearest one, 15 miles away in Columbus, MT. By the time the truck got to the rest area, I had managed to get my truck to start and run again (who ever said that cussing and hitting doesn't solve any problems??). The tow truck driver, who was also a mechanic, thought that maybe my fuel pump was going bad, which isn't a problem really because I have two fuel tanks, so all I would need to do is use the other fuel tank. What was a problem, was that the other fuel tank was totally empty, because I had already used it. Isn't that just so friggin ironic?? So, he offered to follow me to the truck stop in Columbus where I could get some gas, and if my truck died again on the way, he would load me up and haul me the rest of the way. I took off and made it as far as the Columbus exit, where my truck died again on the off ramp as I tried to decelerate. I was literally 100 yards from the damn truck stop, so the tow truck drive simply nunged his front bumper against my rear one and gave me a little push the rest of the way. How this must of looked to other travelers in the area is beyond me, but it worked. I filled up my good tank (for 2.99 a gallon I might add, the first time I've paid under $3 for gas in God knows how long) and was ready to resume my journey. The friendly truck driver charged me only $30 for a standard service charge and I was on my way. The rest of the drive was blessedly uneventful.
So, my Missoula marathon experience got off to a rough start....here's hoping that it ends better than it started. And, here's hoping my one remaining fuel pump is up to the task for the return trip on Monday.
I should also point out that Missoula is every bit as awesome as I remember it. Except for the heat....I don't remember it being like this and it seems as if most of the long-time locals don't either. Why now, right at marathon time? Well, probably because Mother Nature is a dirty, dirty hobag who's main goal in life is to piss me off. Or maybe it's global warming. Either way, it's hot. I wonder if they'll let me start running at 4:00 tomorrow morning....
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