Monday -- Alaska Letters

                Ok, so here’s my update on Day One of Alaska Adventure.  Got to the airport promptly at 6, and Marcus arrived at about 6:30.  Because Marcus is a big shot or whatever, we got to go through the TSA pre-check with the DoD and military people, so I didn’t have to get a full body scan which was cool.  And security was just really fast.  Also, I brought my flat iron (despite the fact that I’ve given it up) to act as a cover for the fact that I was taking my pepper spray in my carry on.  So that was cool, sneakin’ shit around and whatnot.

                Then everything was pretty much normal airport stuff, I had a little time to go grab a chai latte (and a cup of water) which was a bad choice because I had my giant pink tote, a huge North Face, my drag-a-long suitcase and now two cups to carry.  I made it through alright, and even though the boarding lady gave me some flack about my bag not fitting in the overhead, I just took it with me anyway, and it totally fit.  Like I’m gonna wait for all my panties and shit to show up in Dutch whenever it gets there.

                The flight was cool, I had plenty of room because the other lady was in a window seat.  Going up to Anchorage means that there were a lot of fairly salty looking people, and I expect that a lot of them were fishermen.  Got a fruit and cheese plate that had some brie.  I don’t like brie.  And I don’t know if you’re supposed to eat the rind or not, but I did, and I don’t like brie.  No wine and cheese parties for me.

                When we arrived in Anchorage, you could see the meringue mountain tops for miles as we approached, and then as we descended into Anchorage it got really super flat.  It’s like flat right up to the edge of the mountains, at right angles.  Horizontal then vertical.  The trees don’t seem that big around Anchorage either, which is kind of weird.

                So Marcus and I went up to the board room fancy place, which was pretty cool.  They had a Starbucks coffee machine that made your latte, steamed your milk and even made the layers of coffee/milk coffee/milk.  And they had all the flavor drizzles.  And a pancake machine (a machine!).  It spit little pancakes off the conveyer belt.  It was very fancy.

                Downstairs where the lay-people were waiting for their flights, they had on CNN, but up in the board room they had Fox News on.  Interesting much???  I also met a woman who used to be the mayor of Dutch Harbor, and I guess she’s just the world’s most knowledgeable, fierce ladies out there.  So that’s cool.  I don’t remember her name.  Marcus said that when he wants to see old friends, he just goes to the airport in Anchorage.

                Marcus was on the 12:30 PenAir little plane to Dutch, and I was a sure thing for the 3:45, but they had a few seats available on his flight, so when he went to check in, I went too to see if I could get on.  Sometime between when we had the board room ladies call to see if there was room, and when we got down there an hour or so later, I was confirmed on the 12:30.  Which is great of course.

                So we grabbed some sandwiches that said they were Quiznos, which makes me wonder if Alaska just hasn’t heard that Quiznos went out of business…  They were premade sandwiches, but they were pretty good, though I should have gotten the chipotle chicken like Marcus did.

                I guess flight times for PenAir are sort of suggested.  Our flight was for 12:30, but we didn’t even get out on the tarmac until almost one.  But pretty promptly we got in the air, which was cool.  Everyone who I’ve talked to agrees that I’m crazy that I felt more comfortable in the little plane than in the big jets.  But I feel like one of the ends is going to snap off of a big jet, and besides, commercial big plane pilots seem much more willing to take all of us out with him.  I don’t know.  I also had a fairly non-confrontational flight, as far as traumatic, death-defying flight nonsense.

                I got seated right next to this guy who fishes for Alaskan Ocean, doing Pollock.  I didn’t find this out until we all got off the plane and suddenly got chatty.  I guess once we lived through the flight, we could start talking to each other.  It was ridiculously loud, and they gave everyone earplugs, so that probably quashed a lot of talking.  The interesting thing about this guy was that he had no fingers (how does he fish??).  It looked like frostbite amputations, because he was missing every fingertip except his left thumb from the first knuckle on.  I felt very bad for this guy.  He was Alaska Native I think, because before the flight he was talking on the phone in a non-Asian, non-Spanish language.

                Anyway, the flight was not terrible, but it took three times longer than it was supposed to.  It was supposed to be a 2 hour and 45 minute flight, but it took almost six hours.  We got all the way to within 30 minutes of Dutch at like, Crystal Cove, or Cove Bay or somewhere like that, where we were supposed to refuel, but their tarmac was completely shut down.  So we flew all the way back to King Salmon (like an hour away) to refuel there (don’t ask, I don’t know why, and it has been explained to me.).  So we take 15 minutes to refuel, I pee in the tiniest bathroom ever, find out our stewardess (who was on quite the power trip and wouldn’t let No Fingers move up a row even though there was no one there “for weight”.) used to be an EMT/safety supervisor at Westward Seafoods.  Alaska is a tiny place.

                After we fueled up again, we flew back out to Dutch, and circled like three times trying to get a good opening in.  It was really cloudy, so he was dodging pretty good winds and very low visibility.  Finally we landed, but I guess we were this close to flying all the way back to Anchorage.  I would have died.  I was so done being in that plane.  And I finished one of my three books already, and I’m concerned that I’m going to finish them all before I make it all the way back home.

                But once we were in Dutch, Tim met us at the airport, and we grabbed a rental truck, and Tim gave me a phone, and we checked in at The Grand Aleutian.  I told the check in lady about Cooking with Sarah Palin, and she knew Jenna Marbles but hadn’t seen it, and she thought I was just hilarious.  People definitely laugh very easily here.

                We didn’t get into the nice hotel, because there are two concurrent conferences going on, so we went down the street to Harbor View (which involved driving right through a competitor’s fish processing plant, which is weird.).  It’s ok, it’s like a low rate motel.  I don’t have a roommate, which is a relief.  We dropped our stuff off there.  On our way down, we went to the Alaska Ship Supply across the street and grabbed me some ExtraTuffs (giant rubber boots, if I can I’ll bring them home so you can see them.  They are ridiculous.).

                While I was on the plane trying to take a nap, I woke with a jolt and realized that I had forgotten to pack my most essential of all travel items.  This stands as a testament to how much I have changed already.  *sigh*  I forgot my tooth brush.  Oh the humanity!  So we grabbed one of those at the Alaska Ship too.  Alaska Ship Supply is like a non-name brand Wal-mart.  Shit is SO expensive here.  My boots were $106.  They increased by $10 per shoe size.  It was crazy.

                So I put on my boots, and some more pants cause it’s cold, and Marcus and I go over to the plant to see Tim and the Chelsea K before it leaves to go fishing.  As soon as I step out, I gag like three times, because it’s not normal fish smell, it’s this horrible rank like, rancid blood smell.  It’s the most horrible thing ever.  So horrible.  I wish I could bottle it for you so you could smell how horrible it really is.  It’s horrible.  We parked right next to the chum area, so I guess that made it worse.  Dear God.

                We walked around and went to the Chelsea K, which was moored up at the dock.  Mom, forgive me, but it was the world’s longest drop down to the ocean, and I stepped right over it.  God.  I lived though.  The boat is one of our biggest, and most complicated.  Jose (Joe-zay, cause he’s Portugese) is in Portugal right now visiting family, so Chris Franulovich (fran-ula-vi-CH) is running the boat.  Everyone seems super nice, and I got a whole tour.  I didn’t take any pictures, because there are so many giant engines you can take pictures of.  They have the same one as the Alaskan Command, so it was old hat to me.  I got to ask questions about stuff though, because I had already seen the other boat, so I felt like I was being impressive with my knowledge.

                They have like, 20 different screens in the bridge displaying different things.  It’s fairly organized actually.  Jose is apparently a creature-comfort kind of guy, because he’s got an espresso machine in the bridge, he just bought super nice home-theater-style chairs (a whole row of them) for the galley, and made a storage room in the mid-level into a gym.  There’s an elliptical, and a rowing machine (slightly ironic) and a tv in there.  It’s pretty cool.

                After that, I said hi to Tony Donovo on the Caitlin Ann, and that boat is one of our little ones, and it’s pretty cute.  Marcus said I would think it was cute, and it’s true, cause I do, and it looks exactly like what you imagine a boat should look like.  Like a toy boat.  The Chelsea K is the only one in our fleet that was intended to be for Pollock fishing for our plant when it was built, and all our other boats are retrofits from other industries.

                We went and checked out Tim’s office in the plant, which was pretty messy.  Like way worse than Elizabeth’s office ever was.  We have to get him some new furniture (I don’t know if that will happen while I’m here or after), but I’m here to kind of put in the plan, get him some window coverings so people quit bugging him, and help him sort through all the junk in there.  There is a whole row of banker boxes that are completely full, and we’re not even sure what they are.

                After we checked out his office, I got much own truck.  Since the Chelsea K is going to be out for like five days fishing, I’m driving their truck.  It’s very fussy about unlocking and also starting, but it works fine.  I’m a big girl.  We all drove over to The Grand Aleutian for dinner, and it was so incongruous because dinner was SO fancy, with waiters in white button ups and food on platters and whatnot, and we’re all in there in our ExtraTuffs and stuff.  It was very weird, but SO good.  I had a wedge salad with candied pecans, bacon, bleu cheese crumbles and balsamic vinegar ($9) and a bleu and bacon filet mignon (the only kind of steak they really had) with balsamic reduction, bleu cheese compote, and sautéed vegetables.  I died.  The steak was so good.  I didn’t even chew it, it just melted.  It was so good.  $36.  It was RIDICULOUS.  Marcus said I would have to get over it, or just go hungry.  I was so shocked by the prices.

                Dinner was on a little inlet on the island called like, Margot Bay or something like that.  It was beautiful.  Everything was so incredible.  The menu said that all dishes were served with “an appropriate starch, and seasonal vegetables.”  Which just cracked me up, because what in the hell is an inappropriate starch?  Marcus and Tim do NOT get my sense of humor, because they tried to explain to me that you don’t eat potatoes with fish, and that you also have to kind of eat whatever is available in Dutch at the moment.  Which I found extremely patronizing, and I will get them back later.

                Tim told me that the original plan had been to take me straight to the Chelsea K before the hotel, and while I was touring the boat, go and put all my stuff in an estate room and then shove off before I realized what was happening.  But I guess the weather is going to be pretty rough, with 18 foot seas and 30-40 knot winds, so they decided not to make me completely miserable.  And they are going north east pretty far, so it would have been most of my week.

                So yes, that’s all very funny.  I’m glad it did not happen.  But I guess they eat really well on the Chelsea K, so that part would have been nice.

                Anyway, I’m sorry this took so long to get to you, I’ve got to go find Marcus and Tim and figure out what I’m going to be doing today.  I’m throwing on my fishermen’s sweater, because dear God, what else would you wear!  Talk to everyone again soon, I’ll e-mail this as soon as I can.

                LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Summer 2010: BUST!

8/5/10

Despite my not getting up until almost 10, we were packed and out of Fairmont Hot Springs RV park by 10:40. We only got as far as the water park down the street. Aspen and I went on the waterslide, the adults loitered in the pool, and we all sunbathed until I got sun burnt. I got a pretty sweet burn on my chest, but everyone else made it out of Fairmont unscathed.

That was about 1 o’clock. We made sandwiches in the trailer, then continued on to Deer Lodge. We’ve parked and unloaded in the Deer Lodge KOA kampground. Don’t tell Mom, but I saw a little water snake in the river when we were walking the dogs. There’s some good tourism in Deer Lodge. I’m looking forward to the Cowboys, Cons and Cars museum in the old prison, and Mom wants to go to the Grant-Kohrs Ranch. Everyone back in Bertha, the dogs are in the trailer with the air conditioning, and we’re foot loose and fancy free!

As we were pulling in here, we stopped at the Les Schwab to fix Aspen’s quad tire, which got punctured while they were quadding yesterday. They couldn’t sell us one because they don’t carry that size, but the guy fixed it with a patch for free. We ended up buying a patch kit from them, but I love that about Les Schewab that they will just fix something for you. Les Schwab always gets my business because of that home-town style of heling a neighbor in need. Like real America.

At 4 o’clock or so, we pulled into the Grant-Kors Ranch, which is the only National Historic Site that is still working in its field. They have 50 something head of cattle, some of it langhorn, and 40 claves. I guess that’s a lot for one summer. Aspen bought a mind trick puzzle made of two nails, I got a patch for my blanket and Aspen bought a pin for his hat. They also sold the plans for this chair that folds into a step ladder that was invented at the ranch.

The big white house was where the family lived, and their cook was a 4’ 10” woman working for a really tall German family, so she built herself a chair ladder to reach the upper cabinets. The house was well preserved by the various generations who lived there. All the original carpet, furniture, wall paper, paintings, records and journals were all saved since 1860 or so, which is just amazing. On the other side of the train tracks, the working ranch is still operating.

At 5:30, when they closed, we went into town, looked at the prison - which was like a sandstone colored castle -- then drove around in circles until Dad finally got us into the A&W drive in for ice cream. We went back to the trailer after that. The lightning storm passed right over us, and it was noisy and the lightning flashed, but it didn‘t really rain. I made dinner, and we watched some of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on the laptop. Mom’s heading to bed early, so we’re all following suit.

Summer 2010: BUST!

This morning, we packed up, got out of here by 10:40, and were headed for Fairmont Hot Springs resort. We arrived by noonish, unhitched, ditched the dogs, and went to Anaconda. The name trips me out every time, because I’m always thinking of snakes.

We had to call my Uncle Dave, and tell him we aren’t going to make it to Colorado, and it turns out, he was going to be, and in fact already has been, out of town himself the entire time. We are rather miffed that he couldn’t be bothered to tell us this earlier. We don’t feel so guilty that we are missing him now.

‘The Daily Grind’ was where we stopped for lunch, my pick. It was excellent. Some cheerleaders were all eating together with their boyfriends at one table, several generations from great-grandma to baby girl were at another table, and some old people who get together every day for lunch were all there. The boys got burgers, I got a gyro salad (who would have thought, good Greek food in Anaconda?) and Mom got a sandwich the size of her head. It was quick and hot, and after we ate, we talked to our waitress then headed out to Phillipsburg.

It almost became a ghost town in the ‘30s until someone realized: Tourism. The gems they used to mine are now for sale, and there are several antique stores there. The first, and most important thing we did there, was go to The Sweet Palace, a candy store. It was little Honeyduke’s in Hogsmeade, except all wood paneling and western flavor. There was so much candy, it was overwhelming. The taffy machine was pulling huckleberry taffy in the front window, and they gave us pieces to try. There were jars of candy sticks, boxes of candy bars, bowls and jugs of jelly beans or taffy or hard candies or chocolate covered things, and a basket of sour fruit laces and a lollipop tree, all labeled. There were plastic bags everywhere for you to fill with whatever you wanted. In the center was a bar with windows of all the kinds of chocolates, and the check out counter was lined with fudge. There was an entire wall of licorice.

The sweetest little girl (pardon the pun) started talking to me at the rock candy table. She was telling me about prices and the weights and advising me only to get what I could eat. I didn’t get to say goodbye to her before we left. She looked exactly like me at 8. She talked like me. I think I met myself today.

Heavily laden with candy, we wandered around town (majorly overpriced antiques) then went to Granite Ghost Town. The dirt road was very windy and long, with a narrow shoulder and nowhere to turn around. On this tiny road, our truck (formerly dubbed "Super Behemoth") earned the ever-so-appropriate new name "Big Bertha." There were no houses in sight, yet we passed a kid selling soda and water for a dollar. I guess the desire to open a lemonade stand is so strong in kids, you’ll do it even if you live out in the middle of nowhere.


The ghost town was the ghostiest ghost town I’d ever seen. They don’t maintain the roads anymore, and the whole place is falling apart. The 3 story meeting place used to be brick and steel, and now is crumbled in. Some of the stack stone buildings have partial standing walls, and some of the wooden mining structures were still up, even if they were collapsing in on themselves.
It was also funny to run into some people from Wenatchee in a ghost town in Montana.

On the way back down, we bought a soda from the kid selling, and he said at least 20 cars go up there every day. He was probably Aspen’s age, and pretty adorable with his hand written sign.

We went home to Fairmont after that, and now Mom is working while the boys do some quadding. We’ll likely to swimming in the hot springs, and go down the water slide tomorrow, and maybe get to Seeley Lake before the week-enders. It’s good to be in Montana!

Summer 2010: BUST!

So we headed north. And we all feel good. It was like something lifted off us when we crossed the state line. Things are good here. We’re excited.

8/4/10

I’m not doing so well on keeping things up to date as I had hoped I would, but bear in mind, once my mother had children, she lost interest in this task also.

Once we arrived in Montana, our spirits picked up, and we all felt like our trip had finally started. On the 2nd, two nights ago, we set down in Southside RV,
where a tow-headed teenage boy in a World War II era jeep showed us where to pull through. There was a little creek running through the park, and we let the dogs walk in it.

When the trailer is unhitched, it’s like the world is our oyster. We toured downtown Dillon, Montana, the home of the University of Montana Western (Go bulldogs!), and it was very cute, in general. The major amenities were a little way off the freeway, and except for the Safeway, all the stores were different from home.

For dinner, we ate at the Lion’s Den Supper Club, which was quite good. The waitress was pretty funny -- Dad wanted to make sure he got enough Splenda for his iced tea, so she brought out a whole soup bowl full of it for him and wanted to know if that was enough. Mom and I had fun with the typos on the menu: Such favorites as “graver” (gravy) and “sautéed nad tossed” (sautéed and tossed) and “100%beef.”

After dinner, we jay-walked across the street to the Rocky Mountain Supply Store, which was a gas station and an everything store. They sold pizza inside, and jeans and candy. The lady behind the counter was nice too.

The next day, we went on An Adventure in Montana. We went to Bannack State Park,
which was an old mining ghost town that they are refurbishing. It was still being used, like the houses and stuff, up until the 50’s, so when we went inside the houses, there was linoleum on the floors, and fabric on the walls instead of wall paper, all right over the raw wood of the original building. The Masonic temple/schoolhouse was in excellent condition, whether from the Mason’s quality construction, or the refurbishing, I don’t know.


The Gibson house was once used as a quarantine hospital for the seriously ill, and a lot of babies died there. It was all rotted out, the floors shook, and there were holes in the walls where the sunlight could get in, but I went up the narrow, tall steps to the upstairs anyway. It was scary, especially with the creepy baby-crying sound my dad kept making. Totally worth it, though.

There was a bunny on the bridge on our way in too, and it wasn’t afraid of the
truck, so we were all yelling, “MOVE, Bunny, MOVE!” Finally it ran away after Dad backed the truck up and I was halfway out of the backseat trying to get it to flee. It was a cute bunny.

We had some cheese, crackers, Cokes and plums before we continued down the lonely road to Crystal Park.
We got to go 70 all the way. Crystal Park is a state park that is in the mountains. You basically pull off the main road, walk up the path 300 feet or so, and all along the hillside are holes people had dug. It reminded Mom of the movie “Holes.” All we had to do was borrow their shovel and their sifter, scoop up some dirt and look for shiny stuff in it. They are just little quartz crystals, so they aren’t worth much, but they are pretty cool.

We did a lot of shopping that day too, and went to Uncle Bob’s Outdoor store -- I forget what we went in for, but the guy let me handle some of the guns even though the sign behind him said ‘18 and over’ and I said I was waiting ‘til I turned 18 to buy. But, whatever. Dad got some more shirts, which he needed, and I got some lotion, which I didn’t. Then we went to Quality Supply, which was another everything store. We got a tarp, a Moon Pie, a Mag-light and some other stuff. We bought the batteries for Brodie’s shock collar, so maybe she’ll stop annoying us so much.

We went home after that so Mom could get some work done, and I made dinner. We had borrowed ‘You Don’t Mess With the Zohan’ from the RV store, so we went into the laundry room to run our clothes, watch the movie, and let Mom finish working. It was funny, but not great or anything. It made the time go by faster.

Summer 2010: Colorado or Bust

The boys spent Saturday quadding, and had a great time. They drove 50 miles, and took a lot of pictures. Mom laid on the couch, I used the internet, and we didn’t plan our trip any further.

Sunday, we went to Craters of the Moon.
It opened at 8, and we intended to be there at opening when it would be cool. We pulled in to the visitor’s center at 11. Dad bought a shirt -- because he forgot to pack any -- and we got some postcards and stamps for our national park passport. We climbed Cindercone, which was a big black hill of lava rocks.
It only took five minutes, and the whole pile was just black lava. There were some interesting foreign tourists, like the German girl in the mini skirt. It was so windy, which is the only way the 80 degree heat wasn’t completely insufferable.

We also took a half mile hike and read the plaques about the lava flows and stuff. The aa and the pahoehoe are different kinds of lava deposits. Or something like that. There was a rock which some kid mailed back to the visitor’s center, after he took it from the monument, with a letter he wrote about how he felt bad for taking it, so on the Cindercone, I stole a rock. And I don’t feel bad about it either.

We also went in the caves, which were so cold and dark, and scary, but totally awesome. We went in Dewdrop cave, which wasn’t very big and smelled bad.
The openings of these caves are just basically holes in the ground right off the edge of the paved trail, so you step off into this never never land of loose rock and danger. Mom and I used both hands and both feet to get around, but the boys managed to stay upright for the most part.

Boy Scout cave was low, and wet, and very dark, and long and creepy.
There was a lot of standing water and some dripping water, which was creepy. This lady and her husband came out of Boy Scout cave just as we were going in, and they were really nice. She made us touch her hands to feel how cold it was. The husband was Australian, and the wife was Californian. She reminded me a lot of my teacher, Jill, which is a compliment.

Beauty cave was the easiest. The ceiling was high, not too dark or deep, and was pretty flat on the bottom. You could basically walk without a flashlight even though it was dark.


We went back to the trailer after that, and Aspen and Dad went quadding again, another fifty miles or so. Mom and I cleaned, and made dinner when the boys came home. I got into a very long conversation with the husband from the neighboring trailer about politics. He and his wife are snow birds from northern Arizona. It was nice to have someone to talk to about politics who wasn’t Poppers. Just for a new perspective.

The next morning, 8/2/10, we got up early, put all our stuff together, and were to Rose’s house by 11:30.
We couldn’t pull into her road, so we stopped in a Mormon church. Rose came with us into Idaho Falls, on our quest for a Laundromat (there wasn’t one) then we took her to lunch at Garcia’s. It was very good, but their enchiladas made me sick.

Rose and I were total dorks, hugging everywhere we went and giggling like idiots. It was good to see her. We couldn’t stay too long, and so by 2 or so, we left her at her house and went east.

In Ririe, Idaho, a little after 2:30, we got gas at a Sinclair, and we all finally confessed that no one was having a very good time, we didn’t want to go through Wyoming, Colorado wasn’t looking that exciting, and why can’t we just go to Montana?

Summer 2010: Colorado or Bust

The boys spent Saturday quadding, and had a great time. They drove 50 miles, and tok a lot of pictures. Mom laid on the couch, I used the internet, and we didn’t plan our trip any further.

Sunday, we went to Craters of the moon. It opened at 8, and we intended to be there at opening when it would be cool. We pulled in to the visitor’s center at 11. Dad bought a shirt -- because he forgot to pack any -- and we got some postcards and stamps for our national park passport. We climbed Cindercone, which was a big black hill of lava rocks. It only took five minutes, and the whole pile was just black lava. There were some interesting foreign tourists, like the German girl in the mini skirt. It was so windy, which is the only way the 80 degree heat wasn’t completely insufferable.

We also took a half mile hike and read the plaques about the lava flows and stuff. The aa and the pahoehoe are different kinds of lava deposits. Or something like that. There was a rock which some kid mailed back to the visitor’s center, after he took it from the monument, with a letter he wrote about how he felt bad for taking it, so on the Cindercone, I stole a rock. And I don’t feel bad about it either.

We also went in the caves, which were so cold and dark, and scary, but totally awesome. We went in Dewdrop cave, which wasn’t very big and smelled bad. The openings of these caves are just basically holes in the ground right off the edge of the paved trail, so you step off into this never never land of loose rock and danger. Mom and I used both hands and both feet to get around, but the boys managed to stay upright for the most part.

Boy Scout cave was low, and wet, and very dark, and long and creepy. There was a lot of standing water and some dripping water, which was creepy. This lady and her husband came out of Boy Scout cave just as we were going in, and they were really nice. She made us touch her hands to feel how cold it was. The husband was Australian, and the wife was Californian. She reminded me a lot of my teacher, Jill, which is a compliment.

Beauty cave was the easiest. The ceiling was high, not too dark or deep, and was pretty flat on the bottom. You could basically walk without a flashlight even though it was dark. We went back to the trailer after that, and Aspen and Dad went quadding again, another fifty miles or so. Mom and I cleaned, and made dinner when the boys came home. I got into a very long conversation with the husband from the neighboring trailer about politics. He and his wife are snow birds from northern Arizona. It was nice to have someone to talk to about politics who wasn’t Poppers. Just for a new perspective.

The next morning, 8/2/10, we got up early, put all our stuff together, and were to Rose’s house by 11:30. We couldn’t pull into her road, so we stopped in a Mormon church. Rose came with us into Idaho Falls, on our quest for a Laundromat (there wasn’t one) then we took her to lunch at Garcia’s. It was very good, but their enchiladas made me sick.

Rose and I were total dorks, hugging everywhere we went and giggling like idiots. It was good to see her. We couldn’t stay too long, and so by 2 or so, we left her at her house and went east.

In Ririe, Idaho, a little after 2:30, we got gas at a Sinclair, and we all finally confessed that no one was having a very good time, we didn’t want to go through Wyoming, Colorado wasn’t looking that exciting, and why can’t we just go to Montana?

Summer 2010: Colorado or Bust

7/30/10

Headed out at a quarter to noon, en route to Craters. Almost stayed another day in Hot Lakes ‘cause a former Navy Seal in the RV park was going to go quadding in the foothills, but he bailed on us so we shipped out. It would have been very disappointing not to get closer to Rose. I’m not sure about her army obligation on Saturday, almost want to roll in too late. I won’t get to talk to her if she’s with her friends and recruiter.



The land is so flat and open here. No snow on the mountains, but they are blue in the hazy distance. Passed a homemade wooden cross on the highway. In white paint, it said, “MARCE”, and there were flowers.

2 pm

We stopped at a choke n puke called Love’s, but we couldn’t pull up the gas station, so we went around back, let the dogs out (Brodie promptly peed, and Copper peed on her. ON HER.), and were going to go eat, but it wasn’t the place we thought, so we pressed on to the Idaho border and stopped at Sage Diner.



The heat is excruciating, made worse by Mom commenting on it, and Aspen being a butt. We’re probably going through Boise during rush hour, but we’re 3 hours out of Craters, so we’re pushing on. On I-84, back in Oregon, we passed The Hungry Redneck Café, where we ate a few years ago on the way to Utah over Christmas break, but we didn’t stop. Road work in Boise.

I can’t recall precisely the reason for our world’s longest night. All I know is that, amid much familial hostility, we rushed through Craters to get to Arco on the other side, where we pulled into the first RV park off the road. It was about 10 o’clock local time, but it only felt like nine to us. We’re staying two nights here, to fix our various organizational problems and such. Also, we are all feeling the wear of driving four or five hundred miles a day, so it will be good to hold still for a while.



Today, the 31st, is Saturday, and we’re not making it to Rose’s until tomorrow at the earliest. Mom and I will clean the trailer (probably later, because the 5,000 foot altitude is making Mom sick) and we’ll plan the rest of the trip. We’re all suffering in this heat. It was 103 going through Boise. We’re seriously considering seeing Rose, then heading north to Seeley Lake, Montana, The boys are quadding finally, and mom is laying on the couch, attempting not to die. I’m online, YouTubing, typing and blogging! How exciting. It’s 2 o’clock and the heat today isn’t so bad.

Thunder and lightning at about 3 am. Dad woke me up to watch. It was beautiful. I miss lightning. The thunder was so deep. I’m glad Dad woke me up for it.