I believe it was in January of 2002 when I got dropped off at the Flying-J Truckstop on the east side of Billings, Montana. I began to walk east on I-90 and walked past the intersection of I-94 and I-90. I continued walking on I-90 up that big hill due south. I probably walked several miles and got into ranch country. By now it was close to sundown.
I noticed this big culvert that ran underneath the interstate, so I walked down into the ditch and put my backpack in the culvert. I found a water tank nearby and walked to the tank and there was a hydrant, so I filled up my water bottle.
I gathered some sticks and anything that would burn and made a fire in the culvert. By now it was dark, so the light of the fire could be seen by anyone driving by--and it threw off some good heat, too. I think it got down to 27 degrees F that night, so it was good to get warmed by the fire.
Within a half hour this pickup pulled off the gravel road a hundred yards away and drove down to the culvert. This man got out of the pickup and asked, "Hey, what's going on?"
"I'm just passing through. Heading south tomorrow," I replied.
"Sounds good." He walked back to his pickup and drove off.
A half hour later, that same pickup drove back down to the culvert. Two men climbed out of the pickup and walked to my fire; one man was holding a plate of food in his hand.
"We thought maybe you could use something to eat," the older man said.
"Hey, thanks," I said. I was very grateful.
We spoke for a while warming ourselves at the fire. I began eating my hot supper--it really hit the spot. The older man was the father of the younger man. They had a ranch up the road.
I then said, "The Lord really knows how to provide."
The older man just shook his head and smiled. They stayed for a few more minutes and then walked back to their pickup and drove off into the night.
After my meal, I found a piece of plastic styrofoam and laid it on the concrete and rolled out my sleeping bag on top of it. It is very difficult to sleep on a slab of cold concrete--there needs to be some insulation between your body and the cold concrete. I remember I tried to sleep under this bridge on I-90 east of Butte, Montana one March or April, but I didn't have any insulation on the ice-cold concrete: I didn't sleep at all that night. We learn through experience.
In that culvert, I had a fire and some insulation to sleep on and I had a hot supper, so I slept well that night.
The next day I headed south into Wyoming.
[Originally published by Digihitch.com]
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Here is an email that Glenn Lewis ("Longwalker" - this is the name he used on the hitchhiking website Digihitch.com) sent me back in 2009. He also sent four photos of the underside of a bridge on Interstate 90 just west of Rocker, Montana (near Butte).
I slept underneath that bridge back in 2007. I also wrote my name and website on a concrete girder underneath the bridge: "Tim Shey - wallsofjericho.50megs.com - 25 July 2007". When I saw Longwalker's name and the website Digihitch.com, that is the first time I had ever heard of Digihitch. I became a member of Digihitch in 2009 and began to write and publish hitchhiking stories on that website. The name I used on Digihitch was "Sawman". Here is Glenn's email:
"Here are a couple of pictures I took from under the overpass. It's a shame I missed you passing through Montana. I left Wichita a week ago last Sunday. I got sun burned that first day and didn't see the sun again for at least a week. I caught rain all the way through Nebraska, Wyoming and when I finally got into Montana I got frightened by this bright light in the sky. I'm in Sisters now doing my laundry (yeah). I'll probably take 20 west to the 101 then south (plan subject to change without notice). Maybe when I leave the NW I'll see where you are then and try and find you."
Have a great day
Glenn
Hitchhiking Stories from Digihitch
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