This is What Enjoying ‘Windshield Therapy’ is Like On Montana’s Backroads
There are many names for what I did Sunday morning. "Go for a cruise", "Driveabout" and "Go see some scenery". I prefer to call it "Windshield therapy".
You start with no destination. And while you're driving backroads you take to turn down roads that you either haven't been on in a long time or have never been down.
Growing up before the internet, smartphones, and 150 television channels, this is what we did for fun as a family. We would sing along with the radio. Dad would tell us stories about the songs. Because that's what he did. And we almost always ended up in some town like Augusta or Monarch at a bar that had fantastic cheeseburgers.
And on this particular Sunday, I was enjoying the rain and fog as I drove down several roads I had not been on in a while. There was zero traffic coming or going.
Very therapeutic.
I used to take these drives a lot more often 20 years ago. But back then it wasn't in a pickup. It was in the fastest car that I could afford at the time. And the drive wasn't for the scenery. It was the search for the best curves and the new high-speed record that I was attempting to sit. I didn't give much thought to critters jumping out in front of me in those days.
I don't know how many miles of backroads are within a fifty-mile radius. But I plan on finding out.
Best tasting cheeseburger in a small town? Asking for a friend.