Music to my ears

So me and the boy were headed up to shoot video of the Night of Lights parade and for the first time ever the “mean streets” of Columbia Falls almost got me, which is to say a car that was making a left-hand turn on a green light insisted that it had the right of way and decided to turn right in front of us as we crossed the street.

Perturbed that we were impeding its progress, it then laid on the horn.

I retorted with some choice words and my favorite salute.

That’s always a great way to get into the holiday spirit.

I have learned over the years that even on green lights and even if you have the little “walking man” telling you it’s safe to go that you should still look both ways or risk getting clipped.

But hey, this was the Night of Lights and people were supposed to be in a good mood, right?

Of course.

Not more than 100 yards later a woman in a car actually apologized for being in the crosswalk as we crossed the street behind her car. I told her no worries. I mean, we’ll take what we can get.

I am no prince of good driving.

When I was in my teens I pulled my motorcycle out in front a pickup and the pickup swerved and almost hit a telephone pole. My grandfather saw the whole thing and my motorcycle went in the barn for the rest of the summer.

When he did finally let me ride it I promptly got into a race with my uncle, who was riding his bike. The race was well over and my uncle was turning around when I plowed into his front tire and whammo!

The bike skidded down the road and so did I. It ripped my pants clean off of me and dug a hole in my knee, but other than that, I was OK.

The bike, however, was toast.

A few years later I did a U-turn in front of another car in almost the exact same spot that I pulled the motorcycle out in front of the truck.

The car plowed into me and destroyed the front fender.

The drivers of the other rig jumped out of their car, looked at the damage and cried, “No cops! No cops!”

Music to my ears if I ever heard it.

I never saw them again.

As for my Night of Lights driver, I hope to never see them again, either.

Outside of that unpleasantness it was a nice parade and you can watch our favorite parts on You Tube.

Just do a search for “Columbia Falls Night of Lights” on the You Tube page. It pops right up.

Chris Peterson is the editor of the Hungry Horse News.