My Road Trip
I'd have posted this yesterday, but I fell asleep at 8 PM and woke up at 7 AM this morning -- we arrived at my place yesterday morning at 7 AM and I had work at 8. This, plus the very little sleep I got in the car -- for some reason I kept falling asleep at the wheel and Jackie spent most of the day driving, so I felt bad -- had me nodding off at work a couple times.
Day One
So: Thursday morning, March 22nd, both of us had work. By that morning, I had all my stuff packed and ready to go. I went to work, took a short lunch, took some cash out of the bank on the way home, reported the leak in my bathroom -- again -- to my landlady, dropped off my car at the garage and picked up the rental*, loaded my stuff into it and did a little cleaning so polymorphism could stay here and watch the cats for part of my absence. Jackie arrived a little faster than I expected, so I didn't get to finish the pilot of The Riches before we loaded up her stuff and left.
The rest of the day was just driving and talking, so some highlights:
I learned Jackie doesn't know who Charlie the Tuna is; she appears not to have watched nearly enough TV in her life, though she's probably under the impression I've watched way too much. Clearly, about this she would be wrong. Anyway, this derailed a conversation about animal mascots for food who encourage the target demographic to devour their species. She had even bought some of "Charlie's Snacks" from Starkist, and had only absently wondered who the hell Charlie was. I suppose it's not that important, and certainly not that interesting, so I embellished a little and credited Charlie as the fishermen's double agent in the event that came to be known as the Great Tuna Massacre of 1984. She seemed dubious. She also questioned my distrust of Charlie's character, since he's a fictional character.
I know he's fictional. Really, I do.
We drove through Fargo, ND at about 2 AM. It was... about as exciting as you think. It was about this time that Jackie expressed disinterest in seeing the World's Largest Twine Ball. Since I didn't know where in Minnesota the Twine Ball is, I didn't push the issue. I now see, however, that we could have gone.
Day Two
More of the same, with some sleeping, at least on my part. Jackie did not warn me that she is the lightest sleeper west of the Mississippi, and due to my music and very quiet singing, the noise of the road, my occasional failure to stay on the road (the road farts in the shoulder are loud at 90 mph!) resulted in her barely getting any sleep. Being kept awake by my singing along with "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" did not further convince her we should go see the twine ball. I felt really bad about it, but she seemed alert enough and ready to drive when it was my turn to start nodding off.
Around 10 in the morning, we arrived at our first destination: Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Nothing in the park save an overlook of historic Medora, ND (Roosevelt's childhood home) really tied any of it to the great Bull Moose, but it was still really cool. There were deer, buffalo, prarie dogs, some fantastic views and an informative-yet-sadistic hiking trail, though that last was probably due to the fact that I'd forgotten hiking and walking are two different activities. Still, the hiking (we did three of the four trails the park has to offer) was a lot of fun, and I saw the first signs of just how unstoppable my copilot is. More on that later.
About two hours after we crossed the border into Montana, we stopped in a town called Forsythe, which was significant for two reasons. One, it was there that I took the last picture in my Day Two Flickr album, and two, it was there that we left I-94 and traveled through Montana on the partially-scenic State Highway 12. After a bunch of ranchers' backyards, beat-up shacks and trailer parks generously calling themselves towns, we got near enough to see the Rocky Mountains, and between them on the horizon and driving through a much smaller mountain pass the name of which I can't seem to confirm, the drive to my cousin's house in Missoula was nothing but extraordinary.
I saw a number of vistas that made me want to say "The Big Valley!" but Jackie hasn't seen much MST (and probably hasn't seen The Big Valley, but neither have I), so I only said it a couple of times.
We pulled into Missoula at 8 PM, recieved a warm and hearty welcome when we arrived, and Jackie, who didn't get any sleep in the car, went almost immediately to bed while I stayed up and told stories on our family with my hosts until the wee hours, which I don't get to do with them nearly enough. That has to change, and soon. Just as soon as I figure out how.
Day Three coming soon...
Day One
So: Thursday morning, March 22nd, both of us had work. By that morning, I had all my stuff packed and ready to go. I went to work, took a short lunch, took some cash out of the bank on the way home, reported the leak in my bathroom -- again -- to my landlady, dropped off my car at the garage and picked up the rental*, loaded my stuff into it and did a little cleaning so polymorphism could stay here and watch the cats for part of my absence. Jackie arrived a little faster than I expected, so I didn't get to finish the pilot of The Riches before we loaded up her stuff and left.
The rest of the day was just driving and talking, so some highlights:
I learned Jackie doesn't know who Charlie the Tuna is; she appears not to have watched nearly enough TV in her life, though she's probably under the impression I've watched way too much. Clearly, about this she would be wrong. Anyway, this derailed a conversation about animal mascots for food who encourage the target demographic to devour their species. She had even bought some of "Charlie's Snacks" from Starkist, and had only absently wondered who the hell Charlie was. I suppose it's not that important, and certainly not that interesting, so I embellished a little and credited Charlie as the fishermen's double agent in the event that came to be known as the Great Tuna Massacre of 1984. She seemed dubious. She also questioned my distrust of Charlie's character, since he's a fictional character.
I know he's fictional. Really, I do.
We drove through Fargo, ND at about 2 AM. It was... about as exciting as you think. It was about this time that Jackie expressed disinterest in seeing the World's Largest Twine Ball. Since I didn't know where in Minnesota the Twine Ball is, I didn't push the issue. I now see, however, that we could have gone.
Day Two
More of the same, with some sleeping, at least on my part. Jackie did not warn me that she is the lightest sleeper west of the Mississippi, and due to my music and very quiet singing, the noise of the road, my occasional failure to stay on the road (the road farts in the shoulder are loud at 90 mph!) resulted in her barely getting any sleep. Being kept awake by my singing along with "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" did not further convince her we should go see the twine ball. I felt really bad about it, but she seemed alert enough and ready to drive when it was my turn to start nodding off.
Around 10 in the morning, we arrived at our first destination: Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Nothing in the park save an overlook of historic Medora, ND (Roosevelt's childhood home) really tied any of it to the great Bull Moose, but it was still really cool. There were deer, buffalo, prarie dogs, some fantastic views and an informative-yet-sadistic hiking trail, though that last was probably due to the fact that I'd forgotten hiking and walking are two different activities. Still, the hiking (we did three of the four trails the park has to offer) was a lot of fun, and I saw the first signs of just how unstoppable my copilot is. More on that later.
About two hours after we crossed the border into Montana, we stopped in a town called Forsythe, which was significant for two reasons. One, it was there that I took the last picture in my Day Two Flickr album, and two, it was there that we left I-94 and traveled through Montana on the partially-scenic State Highway 12. After a bunch of ranchers' backyards, beat-up shacks and trailer parks generously calling themselves towns, we got near enough to see the Rocky Mountains, and between them on the horizon and driving through a much smaller mountain pass the name of which I can't seem to confirm, the drive to my cousin's house in Missoula was nothing but extraordinary.
I saw a number of vistas that made me want to say "The Big Valley!" but Jackie hasn't seen much MST (and probably hasn't seen The Big Valley, but neither have I), so I only said it a couple of times.
We pulled into Missoula at 8 PM, recieved a warm and hearty welcome when we arrived, and Jackie, who didn't get any sleep in the car, went almost immediately to bed while I stayed up and told stories on our family with my hosts until the wee hours, which I don't get to do with them nearly enough. That has to change, and soon. Just as soon as I figure out how.
Day Three coming soon...