Sunday, August 30
With my data now secure (operable operating system or not), and the horse in the care of competent professionals, I ran a few last minute errands, and we left for Montana around 3 p.m. We wouldn't get too much distance because we were leaving so late, and our delayed departure meant we wouldn't be able to take a day to weave through Yellowstone on our way up, but at least we were on our way. A day earlier, it felt like we'd never get out of Los Angeles.
I hooked up the Tomtom gadget that my dad bought me for Christmas, and we had a lot of fun with that. We chose the British lady as our guide.
Our drive out of California and up through Nevada was disconcerting because the smoke from the fires seemed to be following up. In fact, we saw smoke all of the way into Las Vegas.
We ended up taking my dad's advice to stay in Mesquite, which is basically the last town before the Utah border. My girlfriend, who had never really been in Nevada before, didn't know what to make of all of the slot machines in the hotel lobby. It is a surreal state to be in.
An hour or so after falling asleep, my girlfriend woke suddenly and started babbling some nonsense, then fell back asleep. I found that I couldn't fall asleep again. The sounds of the night (well, the very loud air conditioner, mainly) kept me awake. I ended up only sleeping two hours, with a good 12-14 hours of driving ahead of me. Ugh.
I hooked up the Tomtom gadget that my dad bought me for Christmas, and we had a lot of fun with that. We chose the British lady as our guide.
Our drive out of California and up through Nevada was disconcerting because the smoke from the fires seemed to be following up. In fact, we saw smoke all of the way into Las Vegas.
We ended up taking my dad's advice to stay in Mesquite, which is basically the last town before the Utah border. My girlfriend, who had never really been in Nevada before, didn't know what to make of all of the slot machines in the hotel lobby. It is a surreal state to be in.
An hour or so after falling asleep, my girlfriend woke suddenly and started babbling some nonsense, then fell back asleep. I found that I couldn't fall asleep again. The sounds of the night (well, the very loud air conditioner, mainly) kept me awake. I ended up only sleeping two hours, with a good 12-14 hours of driving ahead of me. Ugh.