On one of my hitchhiking episodes (Labor Day Friday, 1979) I needed to get from Cody to Twin Bridges, MT. My buddy drove me to the intersection of Hwys 287 & 191 out of West Yellowstone. It was mid afternoon, the weather was perfect; cool & clear.
As I thumbed 287 along Hebgen Lake, traffic was slow. I finally got a ride with 4 self-imposed hippies in a van. Nice folks, shared a beer with me. They dropped me at the entrance to Beaver Creek CG. By now it was late afternoon and was getting dusky.
The traffic seemed to all but stop as I walked toward the Quake Lake visitor center.
I was only ablut 100 yds west of the CG entrance, no traffic. As I walked, I heard gravel crunch under tires behind me. Looking back, I noticed a pickup, with a topper, stopped leaving the CG entrance.
Curious, I watched the truck for a minute, then walked a few steps, then realised the truck was still just sitting there.
While watching, I waved, both hands overhead, in greeting. No response. I walked a few more steps, turned back again & heard two weird "zing" sounds. I look down and was bleeding from my chest/stomach area. I dropped to my knees in shock. Looking up, the truck was pulling out of the CG road and coming toward me, slowly.
I jumped in the shallow barrow pit and laid as close to the ground as I could. After they passed, and a few minutes of waiting, I got up, afraid to assess my injuries. I didn't seem to be hurt badly but it seemed like a lot of blood.
The sun seemed to set quickly, shadows grew long and not many cars were traveling that stretch of road. And of those that were, no one seemed interested in picking up a hitcher with blood on his shirt.
There is almost no shoulder on this section of road, I was standing a good foot & a half inside the white line & the few cars going by appeared to not realize I was even there.
After walking a way, a pickup stopped with a young man & his girlfriend on their way to Dillon for the festivities. (This was the same weekend that the fighter jet crashed into a grain elevator in Dillon during the air show)
They realized my peril and drove me to the Slide Inn.
A call was made to the authorities, an ambulance was dispatched from Ennis & in a little over an hour I was riding to Ennis for treatment. The ambulance attendant was Ron Handlos, first certified PA in Montana. I would later get to know Ron well as my employer provided health care provider.
In Ennis, the Dr may have had a toddy earlier and was hesitant to treat me. He sent me on to Butte.
In the ambulance, Ron determined the shot hit my upper left chest area, and concern for collapsed lung. I seemed physically stable.
OK, here's where it gets a little comical. Once in Butte (St. James) the x-rays showed no internal damage, no damage to organs or major blood vessels.
The bullet, a .22 caliber, hit a rib high in my chest and the bullet followed that rib to my left shoulder-blade area, not far under the skin. The bullet was fragmented and the pieces lay in the muscle just below the shoulder blade.
Treatment? They gave me a tetanus shot & covered the entrance hole with a band-aid.
I hitchhiked once after, From Fairview to Bozeman, just to prove to myself the other incident was not the norm.
As I thumbed 287 along Hebgen Lake, traffic was slow. I finally got a ride with 4 self-imposed hippies in a van. Nice folks, shared a beer with me. They dropped me at the entrance to Beaver Creek CG. By now it was late afternoon and was getting dusky.
The traffic seemed to all but stop as I walked toward the Quake Lake visitor center.
I was only ablut 100 yds west of the CG entrance, no traffic. As I walked, I heard gravel crunch under tires behind me. Looking back, I noticed a pickup, with a topper, stopped leaving the CG entrance.
Curious, I watched the truck for a minute, then walked a few steps, then realised the truck was still just sitting there.
While watching, I waved, both hands overhead, in greeting. No response. I walked a few more steps, turned back again & heard two weird "zing" sounds. I look down and was bleeding from my chest/stomach area. I dropped to my knees in shock. Looking up, the truck was pulling out of the CG road and coming toward me, slowly.
I jumped in the shallow barrow pit and laid as close to the ground as I could. After they passed, and a few minutes of waiting, I got up, afraid to assess my injuries. I didn't seem to be hurt badly but it seemed like a lot of blood.
The sun seemed to set quickly, shadows grew long and not many cars were traveling that stretch of road. And of those that were, no one seemed interested in picking up a hitcher with blood on his shirt.
There is almost no shoulder on this section of road, I was standing a good foot & a half inside the white line & the few cars going by appeared to not realize I was even there.
After walking a way, a pickup stopped with a young man & his girlfriend on their way to Dillon for the festivities. (This was the same weekend that the fighter jet crashed into a grain elevator in Dillon during the air show)
They realized my peril and drove me to the Slide Inn.
A call was made to the authorities, an ambulance was dispatched from Ennis & in a little over an hour I was riding to Ennis for treatment. The ambulance attendant was Ron Handlos, first certified PA in Montana. I would later get to know Ron well as my employer provided health care provider.
In Ennis, the Dr may have had a toddy earlier and was hesitant to treat me. He sent me on to Butte.
In the ambulance, Ron determined the shot hit my upper left chest area, and concern for collapsed lung. I seemed physically stable.
OK, here's where it gets a little comical. Once in Butte (St. James) the x-rays showed no internal damage, no damage to organs or major blood vessels.
The bullet, a .22 caliber, hit a rib high in my chest and the bullet followed that rib to my left shoulder-blade area, not far under the skin. The bullet was fragmented and the pieces lay in the muscle just below the shoulder blade.
Treatment? They gave me a tetanus shot & covered the entrance hole with a band-aid.
I hitchhiked once after, From Fairview to Bozeman, just to prove to myself the other incident was not the norm.
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