Parking Recreation

I hadn't noticed until a friend in Missoula pointed it out, but locals aren't what you'd call "good at parking."  I don't even think it's a blatant disregard for the lines in the lots and on the sides of the streets, but rather seems like the lines just don't register in the Montanan consciousness.  I mean, usually they get close - they're going vaguely diagonal in the same direction, but they aren't putting their car actually between the lines designated for a car.  This works just fine in the winter months when you can't really see the lines, but seems weird the rest of the year.

So when I drove into the local super market parking lot on Wednesday and noticed that they'd repainted the lines, I wondered out loud to myself if having fresh, bright, new lines would make a difference.  And then I parked facing right at this.

Maybe they let the dog park?

When I came out of the store that car was gone, but when I took my cart to the cart corral this guy pulled in a few spots up from me.  Nice and centered from left to right, but front to back not so much.

As I was driving out, I saw this one. Soooooo close and yet not.  It seems like it takes some extra attention to back into a spot, just not attention to where that spot stops and starts.

Yes, that is the view from the super market parking lot.  The Bitterroot Range in its springtime glory.

Let me say that none of these particular cars were parked up close to the building and that this parking lot is huge, so the drivers weren't really putting anyone out.  I'll also say that the majority of the cars are parked reasonably within a designated spot and that most of the time it doesn't look like that taking-two-or-more-spots-because-my-car-is-more-important-than-society's-rules-and-common-courtesy douchery.  It just seems like you see a lot more careless parking.  That's some kind of freedom there, boy howdy.

Note: I was not driving while taking any of these shots. The car was not in motion and I impeded the progress of no other drivers or pedestrians.