End of the 48, Day 2
HELENA (7/5) -- First off, what's with the title?
Well, at the end of today, I have knocked off all of the Lower 48 -- although I want a better look at Utah; Four Corners just doesn't cut it.
The day started off with a visit to Pullman (population 24,675), the Pac-12's smallest and most distant outpost. The Washington State campus reminds me of WVU's, as it's perched on a hill overlooking the town. But as the Morgantown campus seems squashed onto the hillside, the rolling plains of Eastern Washington make the hills a little more manageable.
Then we dashed over the state line -- literally, only 8 miles -- to the University of Idaho campus. For a school whose mascot is the Vandal, the UI campus seemed graffiti-free, from what we saw.
On the way back to Coeur d'Alene and the interstate, I had to chuckle at a town called Tensed. Yes, you'll find Tensed churches, a Tensed community center, etc.
For lunch in the antiquing haven that is CdA, we stopped off at the Iron Horse, where I had a taco salad, and Chad apparently had a meat loaf dish to die for. (I thought the sauce was a bit too sweet.) It was then off to Montana.
Despite the images of sportscars testing out the no-longer-unlimited-speed-limit highways of Montana, signs for the first 10 miles noted to watch out for potholes. And while the speed limit is now 75 -- though I had the cruise on 80 -- I'll still scratched my head as to why a 19-mile work zone should require a speed limit of only 55. As straight as everything was, surely everybody could've handled, say, 60?
We stopped off at Missoula so Chad could gloat over Marshall's long-ago championship-game victory over Montana. (Of course, Chad forgot that the Griz won the first match-up in Huntington the year before.) Then it was on to Helena.
The game pitted the two most recent cities we had visited, so several Osprey fans made the 90-minute trip -- apparently, they couldn't fly -- and watched a pretty good game. Despite a first-inning 5-3 outubrst, the pitchers calmed down, and Missoula ultimately won the game in 10, 7-6.
I had two highlights of the game. The first was getting the ticket staff to agree that, even as a WV state employee, I qualified for the $3 government employee ticket promotion on Tuesday nights. The second was when I uncovered a player's autograph on the Wendy's ad, qualifying me for -- not free food -- but a water bottle. Eh, you take them where you can get them.
Tomorrow will be a slow day, as Great Falls is only 90 minutes north of here.
Well, at the end of today, I have knocked off all of the Lower 48 -- although I want a better look at Utah; Four Corners just doesn't cut it.
The day started off with a visit to Pullman (population 24,675), the Pac-12's smallest and most distant outpost. The Washington State campus reminds me of WVU's, as it's perched on a hill overlooking the town. But as the Morgantown campus seems squashed onto the hillside, the rolling plains of Eastern Washington make the hills a little more manageable.
Then we dashed over the state line -- literally, only 8 miles -- to the University of Idaho campus. For a school whose mascot is the Vandal, the UI campus seemed graffiti-free, from what we saw.
On the way back to Coeur d'Alene and the interstate, I had to chuckle at a town called Tensed. Yes, you'll find Tensed churches, a Tensed community center, etc.
For lunch in the antiquing haven that is CdA, we stopped off at the Iron Horse, where I had a taco salad, and Chad apparently had a meat loaf dish to die for. (I thought the sauce was a bit too sweet.) It was then off to Montana.
Despite the images of sportscars testing out the no-longer-unlimited-speed-limit highways of Montana, signs for the first 10 miles noted to watch out for potholes. And while the speed limit is now 75 -- though I had the cruise on 80 -- I'll still scratched my head as to why a 19-mile work zone should require a speed limit of only 55. As straight as everything was, surely everybody could've handled, say, 60?
We stopped off at Missoula so Chad could gloat over Marshall's long-ago championship-game victory over Montana. (Of course, Chad forgot that the Griz won the first match-up in Huntington the year before.) Then it was on to Helena.
The game pitted the two most recent cities we had visited, so several Osprey fans made the 90-minute trip -- apparently, they couldn't fly -- and watched a pretty good game. Despite a first-inning 5-3 outubrst, the pitchers calmed down, and Missoula ultimately won the game in 10, 7-6.
I had two highlights of the game. The first was getting the ticket staff to agree that, even as a WV state employee, I qualified for the $3 government employee ticket promotion on Tuesday nights. The second was when I uncovered a player's autograph on the Wendy's ad, qualifying me for -- not free food -- but a water bottle. Eh, you take them where you can get them.
Tomorrow will be a slow day, as Great Falls is only 90 minutes north of here.