Introduction
In February 2012 I received notification my U.S. green card application had been approved. At that time, we were actually in Messina, on the Northeastern corner of Sicily. We were in the midst of our travels through Europe. Alia wanted very badly to be back in the U.S. and rejoin her family. However, I tried to make the point it did not seem a good idea to put an end to our trip, all of a sudden, just to run back to Madrid and get the green card. Indeed, we continued traveling through Europe for several more month, eventually reaching as far East as Cappadocia (in Central Turkey), to finally turn around and rush back to Spain in one last month, going through Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Hungary, etc. On Friday, July 20th 2012, we left Budapest with only four days left to cross Austria, the Alps, into Cinque Terre, continue to Monaco and Southeastern France, to finally reach Madrid for my interview at the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday, July 24th. Those four days were quite another adventure!
I passed my final interview for the green card on July 24. After more than two year, we were finally able to go back to the U.S. Alia was ready to resume and finish her forestry studies at the University of Montana in Missoula. She only had one year left! Alia flew back to Missoula on Sunday August 26 2012. I, however, had to stay a couple of more months in Spain to wrap up a few issues, before I could finally go back to the U.S. During those last months in Spain, Alia kept calling me from Montana, asking when I was going to come.
On Tuesday November 6th 2012, I was finally ready to take my flight. However, I had thought I would not tell anything to Alia: it would be a surprise! I thought I would just show up one day: I would just knock on the door and there I was back to our new home in Missoula!
My flight, however, was only to Seattle, so I had to figure out how to get, on my own, from Seattle to Missoula. Once more I thought of the internet and posting some advertisement on Craigslist - Rideshare. A couple of people replied offering some ride. I finally got a ride from an Australian going hunting to Plains, MT. However, another guy by the name of Jeremy had also offered a ride. He even said he was not even thinking to ask for gas money. Next, is a message I wrote Jeremy telling my ordeal ridesharing and hitch-hiking from Seattle to Missoula.
The Story
Hey Jeremy!
Thank you so very much for your message. I am writing finally from Missoula. I finally arrived yesterday night (Thursday night). It was a bit complicated, but the whole trouble was worth it. As I was explaining in my message, I wanted to give my wife a surprise. I could have told her to come pick me up. I guess it was not very sensible to have her pick me up from Seattle or Spokane, but I could have told her to pick me up from Silver Dollar (Haugan) ...
At the end somebody had offered me a ride from Seattle to Plains, MT. It was not exactly what I needed, but it was still OK. Plains is very close to Hot Springs and I have a very good friend there. I thought I could stay in Hot Springs and hitch hike from there to Missoula on the second day.
I got to see your message, Wednesday morning, right before leaving to the meeting point for our ride to Plains. It was rather complicated to switch plans. On one hand, I wanted to arrive to Missoula as soon as possible to give Alia as less time as possible to figure out I was actually on my way here, on the other hand, I had not been able to find a place to stay in Seattle, so the sooner I could leave the better.
I felt bad to miss out on the ride you were offering, but it didn't seem sensible to let this other people down at the very last minute.
The ride to Plains ended up being more complicated than I had expected. They arrived to pick me up rather late. As a consequence we got into Montana late in the evening. It was too late to try to get to Hot Springs. I was dropped off at Silver Dollar close to Midnight. I had some hopes I would be able to ask somebody at the gas station to give me a ride to Missoula. However, it became clear very quickly, the place was dead for the night.
If there was no chance to get a ride, at least I needed to try to get some sleep. Unfortunately, the guy at the gas station, Patrick, was a real asshole and did not allow me to stay inside the station, in the convenience store. Wednesday night was freaking cold up there and it had been possible to die from hypothermia. As he kept insisting I should go as far as possible, I remembered I had a very good down coat in my suitcase. I got it out, put it on and was feeling pretty warm, so I even thought of laying down on my suitcase and try to get a couple of hours of sleep. That Alaskan-style down coat was like being wrapped in some bear skin!
I thought I would be able to get a ride pretty soon once there was light again. I was wrong, it became impossible to hitch a ride to Missoula. Everybody seemed to be going the opposite direction towards Idaho. It was really disappointed. Actually, I have had really good experience hitch-hiking in Montana. As a matter of fact I met my wife, Alia, hitch-hiking, thanks to the guy who gave me a ride from Lakeside (up in the Flathead) to Missoula. From my experience, hitch-hiking in Montana works much better that most other places. For example, we tried quite a bit in Southern Europe and it sucked hard core.
However, this time in Silverdollar was really bad. Even worse considering it was freezing cold, with lots of snow and I was freaking tired from not having slept in the last two days: First sleeping in the airport, in Seattle, after a 20-hour flight from Spain, and then sleeping on my suitcase, outside of the gas station, at freezing temperatures.
Worst of all, the asshole in charge of the gas station kept bitching about me and even called the cops on me. Even if I stayed away from the convenience store, he just did not wanted to see me around. Fortunately, the cops did not do anything.
At least, at the Silverdollar hotel and restaurant they were very nice. They had seen me desperately trying to get a ride all through the morning and they were starting to feel pity for me, I think. They started trying to help me and trying to find somebody who could give me a ride to Missoula. However, for some weird reason, anybody who showed any interest turned to be going direction Idaho. At that point it was mostly the women working at the bar who were asking anybody going to Missoula willing to give a ride that poor guy outside, in the snow. Finally some man came out and asked me if I was the guy looking for a ride to Missoula. "Yes!! I am trying to get to Missoula!". "Well, I can give you a ride to Missoula". "Awesome! Where shall i go, what shall I do?". I guess I was desperate and was still wondering if it was for real, if it was going to work out. The thing is the guy was weird as shit! "Well, my truck is over there, give me five minutes". "Where?, your truck is where? I can't see it! I can't miss this one". The guy was gone. I went to the hotel lounge, where they had allowed me put my suitcase: "I think somebody is going to give me a ride!". "Oh! we are so happy for you!". "Yeah! me too!". I run out, but could not see the guy. Finally, I found him messing around his.... truck? That was the weirdest thing ever: it was a crappy pick-up, full of crap, pulling a boat with the biggest pile of crap ever! The guy told to get on, but I was very confused and really did not know how to do it. There was so much crap on the copilot's sleep there was no way to find some sit there. I could only lay on all that crap.
We finally left, so it really seemed like I was finally to make it, ...or, maybe not? I was really not sure if that four-wheeled piece of crap was going to make it to Missoula. The thing did not even have side windows. I was laying on a pile of crap, so my body was lifted, horizontally, several inches over the seat. Actually, my body was at the same height as the side window, so I was holding for dear life, hoping I will not fly off at the first curve!
Well, we made if over the pass and finally reached Missoula. The guy first stopped at some place to have some food. He asked me where I wanted to be dropped off. I tried to tell him, but he made it clear he was not going to bother to go off of his route. We were going down Reserve and I could not see what was my cross-street. I finally told him to drop me off at Rossauers. I still had several blocks to walk to my place, but I least I knew where I was, ...well, sort of. It was really dark and I could barely see anything. I stopped a few cars asking for directions. I had been out of Missoula for a few years, so I could not remember very well. Dragging my suitcase was a real pain. The people who stopped could tell I was desperate. They tried hard to help me: "Are you Russian?". "No, not really". Finally, I reached our place. I walked across the lawn and came close to the window. I could see Alia sitting at the desk in the living room. She looked so sweet! I finally knocked on the door and ran away quickly to hide. She, however, sprung to the door and barely gave me any time. She suspected it could be me. We were together again!
On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 10:16 PM, Jeremy Watson wrote:
Hey,
Just checking
to see if you ended up getting a ride over to Missoula. I will be heading
that way Friday morning. If you are still looking for a ride let me know.
not worried about gas money or anything just wouldn't mind a little company and
hey, it always is nice to help someone out.
Jeremy
