The Glendive Tractor Beam

Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
544
Has anyone else experienced the Glendive Tractor beam? I once thought the phenomenon was a myth, perpetuated by college buddies, beer, and bad decisions. Now I am pretty certain it is a naturally occurring set of physical laws that heavily influence the geographic location one will encounter issues on a western road trip: Glendive Montana.
It started in college, a buddy coming back from a summer internship in Missoula shelled out a transfer case in an S-10 blazer and had to spend 5 nights In Glendive waiting on the repair. Not long after another set of buddies hit a deer and totaled out a Honda civic just out of city limits. They spent atleast 3 days in town before they were able to buy a replacement hoopty and make their escape.
For awhile I thought it was funny, I’d go through Glendive 3-4 times a year, sending pics to those buddies to rub it in. One day my luck changed however. Immediately following the harvest of my first MT mule deer I blew a brake line and had to limp into town and fix it in the Napa parking lot. In the last 10 years I’ve logged 2 other incidents, my wife broke her toe while we fueled up on the way through Glendive at the beginning of a 14 day trip, and last summer the one and only time I’ve had trailer brake trouble on our camping trips started in the turn lane going into Glendive.
I would tend to chock most of this up to coincidence, but eventually a neighbor (who isn’t generally prone to bad luck) had his own experience. He was headed out to Kalispel and lost a turbo on his eco boost in Glendive. After a day or 2 not knowing when or if it could be fixed he bought another truck to get out of town.
Sadly those aren’t all of the stories, but by now you get the point. Has anyone else experienced the Bermuda Triangle of the west? If not, what’s your Glendive?
 

taskswap

WKR
Joined
Oct 6, 2021
Messages
537
Mine was Lodi, NJ. It's a tiny, Detroit-beat-up-ish square mile of a town in NJ that contains absolutely nothing of interest other than houses and cracked concrete sidewalks. But EVERYWHERE you drive around there, signs will tell you how to get to Lodi. 3, 46, 95, GSP - there's a sign for Lodi on every major road, somewhere.

All roads lead to Lodi.
 

nodakian

WKR
Rokslide Sponsor
Joined
Aug 24, 2017
Messages
635
Location
Dickinson, ND
I go through there 3-4x per year and usually stop for gas, and I've done some jobs in town. No mishaps so far, but now I'm paranoid.
 

stank.243

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
186
Location
MT
I live in Glendive. Never had any problems here, but Baker usually gets me.
If the tractor beam is real and you break down in Glendive. Send me a PM and I’ll try to help or at least have cold beer available 😂
 

MNGrouser

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 16, 2020
Messages
142
Now you've got me paranoid too! The place we hunt in Montana is near Sidney. When I leave from my home in Northern MN I get to come across on 2 and approach from the north. Never had any issues. My dad and brother live in Wisconsin so, when we carpool using their home as base camp we end up coming across on 94 and do, in-fact, skirt Glendive. I haven't experienced exactly what you are describing but these stories may contribute to your college theory.

The first time we brought my brother out we had a successful hunt and were loading up for the drive home. I took the first shift, dad was navigator and brother opted to sleep in the back seat. Before we hit the outskirts of Sidney--headed south towards Glendive--both my companions were snoring. That road south from Sidney is 2 lane and that is all any of my family remembered. Once we hit 94 east it opened up to 4 lane and I was cruising making pretty good time. The morning was cool and crisp, skiff of snow on the ground. As I'm approaching an overpass, I can see some ice in my lane. I check my blind spot, signal and slide over into the left lane which appears perfectly clear. When I hit the transition from ground to bridge, at that junction spot, the little bump rustled my dad awake. He quit snoring, looked up and started in.
"Jeff!"
"What?"
"Jeff, JEFF, JEEEEFFFFF!!!"
"WHAT!?!????"
Then he dives from the passenger seat towards the steering wheel. Now I'm driving ~80 mph with my left hand and fighting off my dad with my right. He calms then sits back down.
"Sorry. I thought you were in the wrong lane."
"Dad, I am in the left lane, but this is a 4 lane...the left lane is my lane too. Secondly, this is North Dakota. If there WAS oncoming traffic, we'd get to see it for about a hundred miles before impact. Third, You never wrestle the wheel away from the driver."
*brother from the backseat* "Yeah seriously dad, I almost choked you out with my phone charger."
I'm not sure if this can be blamed on Glendive but I'm sure my dad would appreciate the cover.

Given the unit we hunt someone in our group usually draws a tag for Montana. But the year we did not draw any mule deer tags, my dad and I had put in for WY antelope. My truck started making a kind of grinding noise near Spearfish, SD. We pulled over but couldn't locate anything that looked wrong. The noise increased until we get to Gillette when every warning light imaginable went off. My alternator crapped the bed but it decide to fry some electrical components and took them out with it. I ended up leaving it at a dealership and finished the hunt in a rental which I drove home. Two weeks later I did the out and back trip to return the rental and retrieve my truck. Can we chalk this one up to the you-shoulda-gone-to-Glendive theory?

It sounds like you and YOUR buddies made good use of your college years. I developed (and lectured extensively) on my Beer Bell-curve Theory in college. But that is a story for another thread.
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2020
Messages
1,184
I can feel it pull on my body as I sit here at my kitchen table. I tightly grip the seat of my wooden chair with both hands as it is dragged towards the door, the legs scraping on the tile floor. The car keys fly off the peg and into my hand and seconds later I’m rudely sucked into the drivers seat. In a trance I crank the ignition and start rolling. I look down at my smart phone which is running a navigation app… destination?…Glendive Montana. Oh the humanity,!!!.

Never heard of the place until now. Just be glad it’s not Pahrump NV. The town that sounds like a fart.
 

BluMtn

WKR
Joined
Nov 24, 2016
Messages
1,050
Location
Washington
MNGrouser your story sounds like one of my travel stories. Back in the late 70's when I was racing snowmobiles a friend of mine wanted to go with me so we left SE Washington in the afternoon and headed to West Yellowstone. I think it was in the middle of December. We were about 60 miles north of west around mid-night or so on a two-lane compact snow and ice highway, as I was driving the road was pretty rough on my side, but the oncoming lane was clear so I moved over to the oncoming lane. You could see for miles ahead of you and being at night traffic was nonexistent and if there was a car you would see the head lights. So I am driving in the oncoming traffic lane listening to the radio and had my elbow perched on the door and leaning my head against my hand making time trying to get to west. My friend wakes up and sees me in the on coming lane and starts screaming at me to wake up and is trying to grab the steering wheel, caught me totally off guard and we dang near ended up in the ditch before I could wrestle the steering wheel away from him. Scared the daylights out of both of us.
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2020
Messages
1,184
Now you've got me paranoid too! The place we hunt in Montana is near Sidney. When I leave from my home in Northern MN I get to come across on 2 and approach from the north. Never had any issues. My dad and brother live in Wisconsin so, when we carpool using their home as base camp we end up coming across on 94 and do, in-fact, skirt Glendive. I haven't experienced exactly what you are describing but these stories may contribute to your college theory.

The first time we brought my brother out we had a successful hunt and were loading up for the drive home. I took the first shift, dad was navigator and brother opted to sleep in the back seat. Before we hit the outskirts of Sidney--headed south towards Glendive--both my companions were snoring. That road south from Sidney is 2 lane and that is all any of my family remembered. Once we hit 94 east it opened up to 4 lane and I was cruising making pretty good time. The morning was cool and crisp, skiff of snow on the ground. As I'm approaching an overpass, I can see some ice in my lane. I check my blind spot, signal and slide over into the left lane which appears perfectly clear. When I hit the transition from ground to bridge, at that junction spot, the little bump rustled my dad awake. He quit snoring, looked up and started in.
"Jeff!"
"What?"
"Jeff, JEFF, JEEEEFFFFF!!!"
"WHAT!?!????"
Then he dives from the passenger seat towards the steering wheel. Now I'm driving ~80 mph with my left hand and fighting off my dad with my right. He calms then sits back down.
"Sorry. I thought you were in the wrong lane."
"Dad, I am in the left lane, but this is a 4 lane...the left lane is my lane too. Secondly, this is North Dakota. If there WAS oncoming traffic, we'd get to see it for about a hundred miles before impact. Third, You never wrestle the wheel away from the driver."
*brother from the backseat* "Yeah seriously dad, I almost choked you out with my phone charger."
I'm not sure if this can be blamed on Glendive but I'm sure my dad would appreciate the cover.

Given the unit we hunt someone in our group usually draws a tag for Montana. But the year we did not draw any mule deer tags, my dad and I had put in for WY antelope. My truck started making a kind of grinding noise near Spearfish, SD. We pulled over but couldn't locate anything that looked wrong. The noise increased until we get to Gillette when every warning light imaginable went off. My alternator crapped the bed but it decide to fry some electrical components and took them out with it. I ended up leaving it at a dealership and finished the hunt in a rental which I drove home. Two weeks later I did the out and back trip to return the rental and retrieve my truck. Can we chalk this one up to the you-shoulda-gone-to-Glendive theory?

It sounds like you and YOUR buddies made good use of your college years. I developed (and lectured extensively) on my Beer Bell-curve Theory in college. But that is a story for another thread.
This reminds me of something one of my work buddies did to me. I have a habit of nodding off after lunch if it’s a warm day. We’d just eaten and we’re driving back to the shop… I’m in the passenger seat trying but not succeeding in staying awake. He notices this.

He sees a semi truck being towed with the grill facing us, stopped at a light ahead. Instead f braking normally, he rushes up and slams on the brakes just in time to stop. Just when he hit the brakes he yelled “Oh my god!!” His timing was perfect. I awoke to his yell and the sight of a semi grille 20 feet away and coming fast. I had a convulsion and yelled AAAAAHHHH!!! When we stopped my heart rate was about 300 and my eyes as big as dinner plates. He was beet red and laughing so hard I thought he was gonna have a stroke.
 
Joined
Nov 8, 2016
Messages
1,780
Location
Kiowa/Deer Trail, CO
It must be a thing. Blew a clutch on my '99 F-350 west of there, on my way up to the Icebreaker LR shoot in Glasgow a couple years ago. Was able to shift without the clutch and limp into Glendive. The Ford dealer said it would be a week before they could get it in the shop. Luckily I ran into the guy that owns the crane service and an auto parts store. He is a gun guy and felt sorry for me having to miss the shoot. He had me run the truck in his shop at the crane yard and had his mechanic install the new clutch. Was outta there by noon the next day, and got to Glasgow for the final day of the comp. The guy only charged me $1200, where the dealer quoted $1850.....
 

BadEarth

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 4, 2017
Messages
156
Location
Eastern Montana
I live in glendive also. Next time you break down let me know. all I can think is you must live in wibaux or terry and are through town daily😂
 
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
66
Had a transmission fail in Miles City a block from the Chevy dealership, which is a good place to have that issue.... Haven't had any funny business in Glendive. If I were you, I'd find a new route
 
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