Squirrel Thoughts

I like Great Falls, a town that often gets a bad rap. It’s one of those towns I feel like I shouldn’t like living in, but I do, in spite of that.

But man, people here GOTS to learn to stop for pedestrians! I don’t think I’ve ever lived anywhere that is so unfriendly toward people getting around on two legs. Granted, the last city I lived in was hippie-dippie Missoula, where more people own bikes than cars and drivers will stop half a mile from a crosswalk just in case there could possibly be someone needing to cross it in the next five minutes.

But Great Falls drivers are the WORST. I’m seriously lucky to be alive to write this at all after the close calls I’ve had — either because people a) didn’t see me running across a crosswalk or 2) my angry reaction when they didn’t stop for me, which may or may not have involved various vocal and physical incarnations of the F-word, could have prompted them to turn around and run me over anyway.

I haven’t quite figured out if people here aren’t stopping because they don’t realize that IT IS THE LAW to give pedestrians the right-of-way when they are crossing at a green light or someone is waiting to cross the street at a marked crosswalk …or if it’s because they are just being assholes.

I do know with absolute certainty that it’s not because drivers don’t see me. How do I know this? Because during winter, I often have no choice but to go running until after it’s already dark. And because I’m not a total idiot, I dress for these runs in attire I know I can be seen in, complete with a glow-in-the-dark neon shirt and a red blinky light.

It looked like this:

I probably don’t earn cool points with many drivers, but I know you can see me when I look like this. If anyone hits me and then tries to claim it was because they couldn’t see me in the dark, I’d know they’re a g.d. liar, considering that this photo was taken from the International Space Station.

So what’s the deal, GF? Why can’t you be cool and just not almost run me over all the time? I’m just trying to get a little endorphin fix. I run on the trail and away from the main roads as much as I can, but I have to cross some major intersections to get there. Give a squirrel a brake, would ya?