There and Back Again

By Tim

Montana has many fine attributes. Its interstate restrooms are not among them.

Of the 47 or so rest areas we availed ourselves of today, one had a water quality warning on the bathroom door. Coliform bacteria had been found in the drinking water. Now, I myself have had coliform bacteria in my drinking water when I lived in Jeremiah, Kentucky. It’s a common problem for folks on well systems, especially shallow wells. Nonetheless, it does set one back a bit when a rest area warns travelers about drinking the water.

The second rest area warning was far more dramatic. This was a sign advising visitors to stay on the sidewalks as rattlenakes had been seen in the area. Of all the signs I have seen at rest areas (no overnight parking, curb your dog, etc.) I found that this sign had a very good compliance rate. I know I stayed on the sidewalk. I’m pretty sure the kids did too, but you can never tell. I would advise groundskeepers trying to discourage walkers from taking shortcuts across the grass to try a sign like this.

We logged more than 700 miles today. I had planned on something more like 550, but turns out I had a small oversight in my calculations. Wyoming.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 9:41 pm and is filed under Tim. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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