Bozeman, MT Home home! :)

Looooooonnnnnng day with way too much driving. I miss my copilot! Driving seemed to go on forever when by myself.

I got up a little bit later than planned since I got distracted by good TV last night and went to bed late. What I didn't think of the night before was that I was setting myself up to drive through morning rush hour. Oops! I put on the morning news as soon as I woke up and it was already saying things were bad, though it was still way early. I packed up and checked out as quickly as possible.

I decided to stop by my storage place and get a winter jacket, because apparently it's decided to be winter out now. Besides the storage place is right on the way to the highway. Unfortunately, when I got there I couldn't figure out where I'd packed my jacket. I found my ski coat but decided to leave that one with my ski gear. I couldn't find my usual "wear around" coat. So instead I just grabbed a warm hat and figured that would have to do. It was nearly 8:00, which is when morning rush hour starts getting really thick, so I knew I had to get on my way. I figured I would drive until the traffic got sucky and then stop for breakfast, thinking it wouldn't be long at all.

Apparently there's a way to keep the roads clear during rush hour. Drive on an empty stomach hoping to find traffic for an excuse to stop. I hadn't eaten a granola bar or anything. And we all know how not happy Lacey is without food. But traffic kept moving, and I was afraid if I got off anywhere to grab food, it would build up while I was gone. There were a lot of cars on the road, but things were still moving at regular speeds. It was right at that point where things get really exciting....way too many people going way too fast. When it gets to that point I almost prefer the stop and go. Almost. It really wasn't too bad...just a little frightening when I needed to change lanes. But it's a REALLY good thing I don't live in a "real" city, cus I know Denver traffic is nothing compared to some places.

I finally cleared the metro area and began my search for food. But as hungry as I was, nothing looked good. I'm not sure what I was looking for. Really my only stipulation was "not McDonalds," but McDonalds seemed to be the only place open for breakfast I could find.

When I was almost to the Wyoming border and still hadn't found a place, I finally settled on the Burger King in itty bitty Wellington, CO. I gotta say, my crissonwich wasn't half bad. Waaaaaaaaaay better than the egg mcmuffin debacle! So I guess BK is my new breakfast spot...though i'd be happy to avoid fast food breakfast all together for a long time to come!

So then it was back to driving. Althought it was FREEZING outside (I was so glad to have my hat!) the roads were clear and dry and the sun was shining. Until I got to Wyoming. Just a few miles into the state I saw these strange dark clouds that seemed to be floating there in the middle of nowhere. It was really strange actually. They looked like thick smog that had been blown from an especially stinky semi that had forgotten to disipate. I actually questioned for a minute what they were. As I got closer I realized that they were random fog clouds. I noticed the emergency sign overhead giving a fog warning. Next thing I knew I was in the midst of some very thick fog. It wasn't terrible, but bad enough that I slowed way down. Of course everyone around me continued to fly by me. I was just waiting for the pile-up but surprisingly enough it never came.

After about 20-30 miles of fog, things cleared up and Wyoming returned to it's usual level of boring. Though really, after driving both Nebraska and Kansas in the last few months I gotta give Wyoming a bit of credit. Though painfully desolate, it does have an occaisonal hill, a couple of shrubs, a random turn or two, and a rare mountain background to keep it interesting. Kansas and Nebraska, but especially Nebraska, are just flat. And straight. And nothingness. I never thought I'd say it, but in comparison Wyoming is downright nice. Plus, today the wind actually wasn't blowing! Literally, this is the first time I've EVER driven through Wyoming without feeling as though I was going to get blown off the road. And the first time I've been able to get gas in the state without shivering from the freezing wind. It was actually a bit creepy. Maybe that's why the state seemed nice today!

I kept saying I was going to stop for lunch, but I just never got hungry. I did have a bag of popcorn to munch on, so that kept me going for most of the way. I finally stopped in Livingston, the little town 20 or so miles from home. I probably could've made it the rest of the way, but the sun was right in my eyes and I was getting tired of having to readjust the visors around every turn. Besides, I was getting a bit punch drunk. I'd even written a song about how I was hungry and I had to pee. (And no, I'm not going to repeat it. Ever.) I had actually been craving Taco Bell for quite a while but hadn't seen one, so had finally decided to stop at the Subway. For those of you interested in the food critic side of things, it was decent, but over-mayoed and under-flavored. But it was food, and warm, so it made me happy.

The rest of the drive went by quickly. It's great being back in my town again, especially after having been here so recently. This is the first time in a long time that I've come back and haven't felt like everything has completely changed on me. There were a couple of spots on Main Street that I didn't recognize, but it's only been about 5 months since I was here last, so the differences are minor. All together the drive took almost exactly 11 hours. I left Denver just before 8 am and arrived home home just before 7 pm. It's been a quiet night of hanging out with my parents, which is great because I am so totally beyond exhausted! No idea what tomorrow will bring but it sounds like it's going to be cold again. We shall see.

Hmmm....

I feel a bit silly blogging about today since so little happened, but I'm not ready to give up my nightly blogging routine just yet.

I slept really well last night. Aside from waking up wide awake at 2am, I slept for a full 10 hours. It was bliss! Even with an almost 3 hour nap during the day i'd really needed it!

I woke up to freezing rain/snow and very cold temps. I realized that I would need the room for another night because even though I could talk someone in to letting me stay with them, I really needed a home base for the day to get stuff done. Of course after paying for another night and having no check out time, I was free to be lazy for way too long.

When I finally got going I set to work cleaning out my car. Of course, with it snowing hard and puddles everywhere, I couldn't get too far in emptying things out. So I did a bit of cleaning, found my puzzle, and went back upstairs to finish it. Surprisingly enough, my little puzzle roll up thing that I bought months ago managed to hold on to all but one piece of the puzzle. I've gotta say, for all that thing has been through bouncing around in the back of my car, that's pretty impressive! So finally I finished the puzzle, made some phone calls, and then just hung out for a bit. Mostly I was bored because everyone I know here was at work, and it was too wet and cold to go play on the bike trail or anything like that.

So, with how bored I was today, I've decided to head home home, to my parents house, tomorrow morning. I'm going to have to return to Denver to get my winter stuff from storage, so I'll plan a weekend and let people know ahead of time when I'm coming. That way I'll actually have stuff to do instead of pacing, waiting 'till 5:00.

Some good did take place today though. I got to cash in on my Rodizios with Rosalba rain check. Yep, twice in one week! :) Probably not too good for me, but hey, meat is healthy right? And I got a salad from the salad bar! And I ate veggies yesterday! :) I went a little overboard, but didn't stuff myself as bad as I have there in the past. It was really great to see Rosalba again catch up on things. It's only been a few months since I last saw her, but it seemed like forever. We missed each other a lot! I also got to see her boyfriend Kyle and their new house. They've got a really nice place, though I admit I'll miss her close to downtown location. (Though I'm glad she got out of her apartment there...not a good building or good landlords at all!

So now I'm fully stuffed and ready to sleep, so I can get up early and drive, drive, drive.

Lazy day

Jody and I didn't sleep much last night. At all. We had to make the most of our final night together.

We had to get up fairly early to get Jody to the airport. Well, early considering that the sun was about to start coming up as we finally went to sleep. So yeah, I was a bit worn out today. :) And we were both sad to have our trip coming to an end. It was a sad drive to the airport, and we both admitted harboring secret thoughts about maybe the flight would be cancelled. Of course it wasn't, and I now know she made it home safely, which is good. Though I think we're both feeling a bit strange and solitary after being together 24/7 for the last week.

Once I dropped Jody off, I realized I had no idea what to do next. It was only about 10:00 and all I could think of was taking a nap. But I had nowhere to go to nap, since it was too early to check in to my hotel. I ran a few errands and then decided to try to check in early. Thankfully, they had a room ready! Yay!

It's strange being back here again. I have almost the same room as last time. I think I'm actually immediately below my last time room. Same great view of "recess" at the doggy daycare across the parking lot. I have such distinct memories of this place because it's where I stayed between classes during field quarter. It's even where I slept in, missed the departure for one of the field quarter classes, and almost got kicked out of the whole field quarter. That was such a bad time in my life. I mean field quarter was awesome but that was right in the heat of when I was really struggling with school and life in general. Thankfully, it was also then that I found my wonderful academic advisor and wonderful doctor that got me out of my slump.

Anyway, my room is wonderful, and after checking in I had a quick lunch (leftovers from Teds) and then took a looooooong nap. Once awake and feeling a bit more alive and functional, I took care of a few more errands. And I've got to put in a BIG plug for REI here.

One of my errands was to take my broken tent poles in to REI to see if they could help me out. I just brought in the tent poles and the box, and they asked me why I didn't bring the rest of the tent. I told them the rest of the tent was fine, I just needed replacement poles. So they sent me down to the rentals area to see if they had extra poles. No luck, so they had me go get the tent and they replaced the whole thing! No questions. Brand new tent even though I originally bought it close to 2 years ago. The only difference was that because it was more than a year after purchase (I didn't need the receipt since they had it on record since I'm an REI member), the return value was decreased. But only slightly. So in the end I got a brand spankin' new tent for $25. How strange is that....to finish up an almost 2 month camping road trip and come out of it with a brand new tent?! My last one was getting VERY grimey just from dust/dirt, mud from the rain storms, and tons and tons of sap. So yeah....BIG props to REI! I know there's cheaper places out there to buy outdoor gear, but there's a good reason to work with the people who know the stuff and will work with you.

After REI and a bit of car cleaning, it was dinner time. I had initially planned to just pick up food, but instead decided to take advantage of the hotel room kitchen. It's been a long time since I've been able to cook, so it was really fun. My body was clearly craving veggies, so I ended up making spaghetti with meat sauce, broccoli, and mushrooms, with corn and green beans on the side. It was really great to eat so much fresh stuff, and get to do something as simple as cooking it myself. It'll definitely be nice to be not on the road anymore.

My dinner was awesome, and now it's bedtime. Despite the nap I can barely keep my eyes open!

More from Denver!

What a day, what a day....

We awoke to the best hotel breakfast we've seen thus far. It was a buffet of real food rather than just crappy donuts and muffins. After eating and hanging out in the hotel room for a bit we made our way to Cherry Creek and the bike trail. After renting Jody a bike (the smallest one they had which was only slightly too big) and making our way through the mall parking lot, we headed east on the trail towards the resivoir.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Not too hot, not too cold, with a beautiful blue sky. Leaves had fallen along the trail, but the beautiful colors were still present in the trees along the creek. I hadn't realized just how much I missed the bike trail. I just love it so much. It's a mix of a little bit of everything...cyclists and triathletes out training, people in business clothes on their way to or from work, random people commuting, friends going for walks, people walking their dogs, etc. etc. Everyone out being active and enjoying the outdoors. It's a beautiful thing. :)

And I gotta say, I really enjoyed watching Jody ride. Every time I looked back she was grinning from ear to ear (except on the steep hills when the focus was solely on breathing our thin mountain air). She just looked happy to be out biking with me, and I was so happy to have the chance to take her out there. (Mom, remember you're "biking in Cape Cod" smile? Yeah, like that.) We had a really great time and managed to cover 8 miles before it was all said and done, with only a few quick breaks.

At one of our break points we decided to sit in the grass next to the trail by a hotel. Apparently the hotel was testing its sprinkler system because just as we were really getting comfy the sprinklers came on all around us. Luckily, they went off right away, so we went back to chatting and hydrating. Next thing we knew they came on again so we figured we'd best get back to riding. As we started to get back on our bikes, another one came on that was stuck pointing directly across the trail. Hey at least I got my shower in, right?

After biking it was time to take Jody to the surprise I'd planned out for her. Indoor skydiving. Jody isn't quite the adrenaline junky I am, so I figured moving the craziness indoors would be a good compromise for the two of us. And I had to get Jody to do at least a little something wild and crazy with me!

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite what I expected to be. I knew it was in an air tunnel, but I just expected something bigger. I tried to still be excited....it kind of looked like an astronaut zero-gravity chamber thing, so I figured it'd still be fun.

We went through a short classroom session where we learned about proper flying position and each had to go up and do it on this funny shaped bench thing. We then got dressed in the most hilariously amazing one-piece flight suits I had ever seen! Unfortunately they'd made me leave my camera so I didn't get pictures, but they were awesome. They were mostly black with colored hilights (red for me and purple for Jody) along the legs and shoulders. They also had padded handles for the instructors to grab us by in case we got lost or started to float away.

Next we had to put in ear plugs, and then our instructor jammed a way too small set of helmet and goggles on my head. He seemed convinced that my head was a whole lot smaller than it actually is, and when I told him it was crushing my head he tried to explain that this was a lot of wind and it had to be tight. I talked him in to changing it just soon enough...I was already getting a pounding headache.

The "flight" itself was interesting. When I first got into the air chamber I felt like I was getting bombarded and beaten to shreds by the wind. It turns out that once there's 100 mph wind underneath you it's really hard to get in to that nice little position they taught us. I could barely figure out which way was up, I couldn't really understand what the instructor was telling me to do, and it felt much more chaotic than fun. Jody, however, jumped in and looked like a natural. Maybe she was a skydiver in another life!

My second try wasn't much better. The instructor kept telling me over and over to bend my knees and not my hips, but because of the position I was in I couldn't figure out how to do it. I was getting frustrated, which made it harder, and the instructor was keeping me close to the ground until I got it so I never really got to fly. The sessions were each only a minute long, so there was never really time to get the feel of it. I had expected it to just be fun and playful.....I never expected it to be hard. Add to that the flight suit was very warm so I was getting a bit claustrophobic.

So yeah, indoor skydiving is definitely a been there, done that, kind of thing for me. But Jody liked it and did amazingly well so I can still be very happy with the fact that my plan was a complete success. Being the water person that she is, she said she was thinking it was just like swimming in the air. Ironically, she kind of looked like she was swimming, but she looked really good. Maybe she should consider a career in skydiving! :)

After our flight experience we made a quick stop at the hotel and then went to Ted's Montana Grill for dinner. I think in the back of my mind I always knew Ted's was a chain, but living in Ted's Montana I'd always sorta wanted to think that ours was the only one. Who knew it's all over the country and was started in Ohio of all places! Even though I now know it's a chain though, it didn't feel chain-like to me. It actually gave me a feeling of being at home away from home. And, since Ted's is somewhere my family goes often when we're all together, it was like being able to show Jody a bit of my hometown and my family without actually being able to take her there.

They had a newly added spinach artichoke dip on the menu, which was beyond amazing! As much as I hate to say it, it knocked the "usual" sliders right out of the water! It came with parmesan bread which was also amazing. I got my usual burger for dinner, and it too was wonderful and amazing, as expected. We both stuffed ourselves and enjoyed wonderful, sugary, fruity, strawberry margaritas.

And then, after leaving the restaurant, we went for a looooooooong walk to walk off our drunkeness. Here's some exciting and oh so shocking news. I've found someone who is even more of a lightweight than I am!!! Yay! Jody and I each had a single drink, and while I was merely happily buzzed, Jody was stumbling. She was kind of an adorable drunk though, even when someone almost ran us over after "pretending" to stop for us at a crosswalk. It was a lot of fun and probably a really good thing to keep us from the stress of our future travel plans.

********Jody, don't read this next part, it might make you sad! At least wait 'till after you get home. Really, I mean it! **************

Jody is flying home tomorrow morning. It's going to be hard for us to separate....it's been one hell of a trip! We covered 8 different states, saw the Louisville Slugger factory, saw Churchill Downs, went up inside the St. Louis Arch, camped in the freezing cold, toured downtown Denver, and wandered through heaps of random Lacey nostalgia. When thinking back to St. Louis, it feels like it was months ago! It's hard to believe that was just last week.

This was Jody and my first time spending so much time together just the two of us and we got along really well. Surprisingly well. Almost scary well. We've pretty much talked non-stop the entire time we've been together (except times like now when we're both busy blogging) and we haven't run out of stuff to say. We were both worried about having too many awkward quiet times stuck in the car together, but instead we keep coming up with more and more stories to tell. On top of that, we both bring this amazing silliness out in each other. We both have laughed so, so hard this week! We really just get each other.

It's been so great for me after spending so much time solo to have such a great companion. It's been a really really great end to my road trip.

Of course, it's not really the end of my trip as it's not November yet. So I'm still working on my exact plan. It's looking like I'm going to be spending a day or two more in Denver getting organized and hanging out with people, and then heading to home home in MT. From there I'll probably head to Park City, unless I end up needing to go back to Denver to deal with storage or something like that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to take all my PC stuff home home with me. I mean of course I can, but that will require adding a lot more stuff, and I hate to have to travel with all that extra crap (mainly the stinky hockey bag which is not fun to share space with). But logically it's probably better to minimize the driving as much as possible. Maybe I'll go to PC first to drop stuff off, and then to the Bozone. We'll see. I'm sure I'll keep you all updated!

Denver, Steamboat, and back to Denver, CO

Wow it's been a while! We've got a lot of catching up to do! Get comfy...this one's going to be a marathon! (Like the Denver Marathon, that I was almost going to be doing this weekend....except actually not at all like that. But anyway...)

To start out with, poor Jody had a rough introduction to camping in Colorado. I knew we might be in trouble when the clouds were starting to clear. As beautiful as the weather was while light out, it was looking like a cold night.

However I didn't realize just how cold. We woke up to not just frost but everything being completely iced over. It was a cold, cold night. Like that night so long ago in Burlington, VT where I nearly froze. Only probably colder.

I got Jody all the blankets I could but she still didn't look too comfortable. Being used to camping in the cold I fell asleep right away, but every time I woke up and looked at Jody she looked awake and miserable. I don't think she slept much at all!

To add to it, the highway noise never quit, and there was a train passing just a bit away on the other side of us. I slept decently well. Jody was a trooper and stuck with it until about 5:00 when I woke up to pee. I stayed up with her after that and we tried to stay warm until the sun came out enough to get up and get going.

I think both of us were pretty excited to get out of there and in to Denver. It was really fun to have a chance to show Jody one of my towns, though it was really hard for me to feel "at home" there right away. I drove her around some of my regular spots, and a couple of the places I used to live. I also took her to my Brueggers that I used to go to all the time, even though she claimed she didn't like Brueggers. I wanted to go there because I knew they had internet and I wanted to do some research on stuff going on in the area. Well, the internet was out, so that didn't work...but we both got a good breakfast out of it. (I think Jody liked it but she may not admit it since they don't have the "right" Detroit kind of bagels).

We then went to the library to get internet, and discovered that the library computers really really suck. But it was functional internet, so it did the trick.

I had to go to an Urgent Care to get a new prescription written. Such a horrible pain, but at least this time they were really quick about it. The dr. I saw was super helpful, and Jody got to sit in the lobby watching endless news about "Balloon Boy". We were both shocked to learn that apparently CNN had nothing else to talk about!

Unfortunately, Walgreens had to undo any amount of good time we were making. They told me it would only take 30 minutes but apparently they actually meant an hour and 30 minutes. Not even I can stay entertained in Walgreens that long. Jody and I did have some fun in the toy aisle, playing with this crazy squishy ball thing, but I ended up grumpy and bored. Thankfully Jody is amazingly wonderful and patient and put up with a big chunk of the day's Denver tour taking place inside of Walgreens.

The joyous tour continued with a hunt for a hotel room. I tried my usual cheap spot in the DU area but they had nothing. I decided to be stubborn and try to find somewhere on my own rather than check the place the woman at that hotel told me about (too far south) or go to one of the places listed in my magic coupon book (too far north). As I drove around I realized that I had no real idea where I was going since most of the places I was thinking of I'd stayed with my parents and I really couldn't afford them on my own. And I was exhausted and tired of driving, so after a point it just seemed like wandering aimlessly.

So I finally decided just to head up to the place listed in the book. We found an....interesting...hotel in North Denver. The place didn't seem too bad when we first came in, but our room was horrifying! It seemed just a little strange at first as we noticed tons off color parts and putty marks on the walls, as well as a piece of the smoke detector sitting on one of the beds. We then noticed a big chunk of the base of the shower plastic missing. And the stucco ceiling was apparently raining, leaving chunks of white everywhere. But the clincher was when we sat down on one of the beds and the entire end of it fell to the ground. Yeah, not going to work!

We went to the front desk to complain, and the woman (who just barely spoke english) questioned us extensively, seeming to think that we had caused the damage since we'd had the room an hour before asking to switch. But, when she finally got us a new room, it was waaaaaay nicer than the first. Even if the first one hadn't been falling apart, it still wouldn't have been as nice as the new one. It wasn't luxury or anything, but it was plenty decent and had a mini-fridge so big it was almost a full-sized fridge!

And the even better news is that we weren't far at all from the light rail station to head downtown. I got to show Jody all around 16th street and take her to my most favoritest restaurant in the world (Rodizios). I called Rosalba to go with us since it just seemed wrong to go without her, but she had already eaten dinner. So sad!

After a wonderful dinner at Rodizios, we walked all over 16th street and enjoyed the absolutely beautiful night.

The next morning I made a valiant effort to get up early, but it was a struggle. We snuck into the hotel breakfast at the very last minute, and then finally got on the road. Sort of. We were all set to head north and drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. But we noticed a small note on the map saying that the one and only road across the park closes in the winter. Not knowing the dates they call winter, I called my Dad to look it up for me. He got me the ranger station phone number from the website so I could call. (Thanks Dad!) The ranger I talked to said that though the hikes on either side of the park are still open, the road was in fact closed. Since we were planning to go to the park on our way to Steamboat, a closed road really wouldn't work for us.

So instead we took the trusty direct route through Silverthorne. After a quick stop for Good Times (ah wonderful burgers and fries that I've missed so much!) we were heading in to the second stop on the towns Lacey's lived in tour. It was AMAZING for me to be back in Steamboat. Steamboat Ski Resort, and apparently the downtown area as well, went through a huge rennovation right after I left so everything looked totally different. I dragged Jody around to see the ski hill, sit on the new lift, and check out the new map. It was very cool to see and made me want to ski really really badly. It really made me want to ski Steamboat too. I miss that place! It's unfortunate that my instructor job didn't go better there, because I do love the area and the town.

We checked in to our hotel and then went to explore downtown. Our hotel, the Steamboat Inn, was interesting. It was far cheaper than any of the other options, and quite a bit nicer than any of the other budget hotels I've seen (except for the Rabbit Ears, but that place has gotten expensive!). I think it used to be the Super 8 but it was bought out and turned into a semi-tacky but nice western themed place. I don't know if it was local or still owned by a chain but it had a nice local feel to it.

Anyway, on to downtown. I had a few scares at first when it appeared that a couple of my favorite stores (Off the Beaten Path and All that Jazz) appeared to have gone out of business. Instead it turned out that both had been so successful they'd moved into bigger places. Unfortunately Felix and Fido (the most amazing store for pet stuff) really is going out of business and was holding their final sale. It was almost empty in there. Soooo sad! A lot of the buildings along Lincoln Ave. (Steamboat's main street) had been added on to or completely redone so a lot of places looked totally different. It was really bizarre and a bit sad to walk through. I've always loved Steamboat's rustic downtown, and for the most part it's its same beautiful self, but some of the new, fancy, bright colored buildings are way, way out of place.

After lots of random wandering and window shopping, we went to dinner at Rio Grande, one of my favorite restaurants downtown. After dinner we went up to the Strawberry Park Hot Springs. It was totally dark by the time we got there, so we got to do all sorts of random, complicated wandering trying to figure out where to change and where to go. You couldn't just get in anywhere because there were random people hanging out in many of the random dark corners. And it was very, very dark. I thought I remembered there being at least little lights along the stairways, but no such luck.

We found the bathrooms to change, and then made the FREEZING cold journey out to the pools. We only had to make it a few steps from where we left our stuff to the nice hot water, but the rocks we were standing on were painfully cold and the handrails felt completely iced over. I held the flashlight while Jody went first, and for what might be the first time ever I heard some not nice words coming out of her mouth! For those brief moments she was not too happy with me! I'm sure she was wondering what the hell I'd gotten her into, but thankfully she soon reached the beautiful hot springs water and all was forgiven.

I had pictured us having a nice, quiet evening under the stars. However I forgot it was Saturday night. A huge, drunken group of college students also thought it'd be a nice night for a soak. With clothing being officially optional after dark (that's written on the official sign), it was definitely interesting. We still got our nice night under the stars, it was just punctuated with some often entertaining shouting and an occaisonal brush with random naked (and non-naked) people made nearly invisible by the darkness.

Though it was a struggle, I made myself get up semi-early the following morning (this morning) so we could get to Winona's (the most amazing breakfast in Steamboat, and possibly the world) before the church rush. We managed to get in with no wait and Winona's did not disappoint. I got eggs benedict with artichoke hearts, spinach, and tomato, and Jody got some sort of bacon and crab scrambler thing that was a bit too odd and bacon-filled for me to try but she gave it a good report.

I was feeling exhausted, but in a surprise turn of events Jody wanted to be active and go hiking, and convinced me to get up and moving. When we were still in the planning stages, Jody told me she was worried about keeping up with my usual level of activity. Instead, without her I may have just slept the day away! Of course I have no idea where I would've slept since we had to check out of our hotel room, but I would've found somewhere. Instead, we drove down to Rocky Mountain National Park (much easier to access from the west side) and went for a hike. We hiked a total of 2.54 miles up to a waterfall, a beautiful meadow surrounded by snow-covered mountains, and many other beautiful river and forest sites. It was a great day to be outside. Of course, being us, we stopped often to take pictures, chat, and just hang out contemplating nature. Jody did amazing, especially considering it was her first hike at altitude, experiencing the wonders of shortness of breath in Colorado's mountains. (I was definitely feeling it too. I've been too low for too long!).

After our hike we were back on the road through the beautiful scenic drive through Winter Park and down to I-70. As much as I hate having to drive that road in the winter amid hurried ski traffic, it really is beautiful. The fall colors were great, and everything was just beautiful. Around every corner was a new view of the mountains that seemed to go on forever. It made me realize how much I love my mountains, have missed my mountains, and how I really really really can't wait to ski! But I think I mentioned that already. Maybe Jody will come visit me and ski with me this winter. I'm still working on that.

By the time we made it back to Denver it was almost dark and we had reached the point of complete giddy exhaustion. We both laughed ourselves to near tears as we were finding and checking in to our hotel room. Once in our room, I got to witness Jody going into one heck of a giggle fit. I was so sad that I didn't have my camera on me to video it. She was lying on the bed in full hysterics (snorts and all) over something that really hadn't been all that funny. But of course, the more I watched her laugh, the more I had to laugh too. Ah the joys of over-exhaustion.

I looked online and discovered that there was a Noodles and Company nearby...one of my favorite restaurants even though it is a chain. I was so excited to go there but unfortunately my usual just wasn't that good. So, so sad. I guess that's what I get for cheating on my regular Denver Noodles with one from Lakewood. Lesson learned. It was decent...just not its usual amazingness.

We decided that since we were so tired it would make sense to stick with a hotel on the western edge of town rather than dealing with driving through the city and searching for places. It's a good thing we did because we found a super nice Hampton in way west Lakewood for way cheap. This place is super nice....beautiful lobby and hallways, plush beds, and they even folded a towel and washcloth into the shape of a shirt and tie. For those as easily entertained as we are, that's about as awesome as it gets! So we're happily tucked in for the night and I am very, very, very ready for bed.

I've got a couple of surprises up my sleeve for tomorrow. I'll let you all know how that goes tomorrow. :)

Strasburg, CO

I'm in Colorado! Yay! One of my 3.5 home states. (Montana, Colorado, Utah, and sort of Connecticut). It feels great to be back, though I'm still not to an area of the state that I've actually been in. I actually keep forgetting that it is CO and am surprised by the many CO liscense plates and Broncos stuff. It's still sorta flat and Kansas like out here. (We're about 40 miles east of Denver on I-70 right now).

The drive across Kansas really wasn't that bad. Not nearly as bad as I was expecting after the nightmare that was my Nebraska journey on my way east. It really helped a lot having a copilot! Even when we weren't talking (though we talked a lot!) just having another somebody there and awake with me, pushing me to keep going when I'm tired helped a lot. The miles really flew by. And best of all, the sun came out! Yay! It felt so so SO amazingly good to see and feel the sun again. At first we were noticing just a few random stripes on the ground that seemed a bit more brightly lit than the others. If we looked just right we could see where the sun was coming from to make those stripes, though it was still behind clouds.

Then, the moment happened. Blue sky! Just a speck of it but I was so excited I made Jody get out my camera and take a picture. It's been almost an entire week of no blue at all, and a couple of weeks that have been mostly gray. Sooooo not my style! The blue speck started to grow, and became a larger blue stripe. Then we started seeing more and more blue stripes as the clouds seemed to be peeling apart in front of us. Considering that we could see forever (one of the advantages of flatness) we could watch the clouds separate and move apart, turning the sky from thick and gray to beautiful blue.

All afternoon and into the evening the clouds were incredible and the lighting was perfect. For a little bit the sky was almost completely clear (and I got to be out in a t-shirt without freezing!), and then the clouds started making all sorts of crazy patterns in the sky. As the sun began to set, the clouds to the east were still thick, creating an amazing dark backdrop as the sun lit up the golden grasses and the green trees before it. Nearly every time I looked I saw something that belonged on a postcard.

So overall today was just a lot of driving, though we did spend a bit of time relaxing in the sun in Burlington, CO. I admit, I got off the highway because they had a carosel exciting enough to warrant a sign on the highway and I had to check it out. (And I was getting hungry and was hoping to find some "local grub" in an "adorable downtown locale"). Unfortunately we had no real luck on either front. No cute local restaurant, and the carousel is only open in the summer. However we did get to read the sign about the carousel, which described the animals it had....including a bear, a giraffe, and even a hippocampus. Yeah. Apparently along with the bear and giraffe there was a piece of brain matter. Or somebody relying far too heavily on spell check. The frightening part is that the town posted this as the large, official sign, and nobody noticed. I only skimmed the sign and didn't notice either, but Jody, an even better editor than I am, noticed and pointed it out to me. Unfortunately neither of us remembered to take a picture before we left.

While enjoying the grass and sunshine we decided it might finally be a good night to camp rather than heading all the way in to the city. We decided on the Strasburg KOA, the closest option to the metro area.

The place reminds me a lot of the KOA in Arkansas. The tent sites were most definitely put in as an after thought. We are again sandwiched between an interstate and a railroad track, with a patch of dry grass as our "site". Granted, there's nobody else out here so we really could use whatever area we wanted. To make it worse, they're no longer selling firewood so we couldn't build a fire. A rather pathetic introduction for Jody to Colorado camping, but it's turning in to one of those so ridiculous it's amazing kind of nights. Oh, but my personal favorite part of all of this is that the main street in Strasburg is Colfax, so tonight I am camping off of Colfax. I'm pretty sure that's the one and only time in my life that those words will be able to be uttered in a sentence!

We had planned to cook, but it was getting dark, getting windy, and getting cold, so we decided to head over to the itty bitty local BBQ place next door. After all we never got our good BBQ we'd planned on last night. So the two Jewish gals ventured out again in search of the very best pork. And the place was awesome! It more than made up for the crap we ate last night. We got the sampler platter so it had a bit of everything, along with 4 different sauces. Everything tasted amazing...except for the sausage. But who needs sausage when you have chicken, ribs, brisket, and some other sort of pork-like thing. Oh, and for dessert we had a deep fried twinkie. Neither of us really had room for dessert, but it was something we both wanted to try and figured what better time than now. It was really good, but we both agree it's sort of a been there done that thing. Nothing we're likely to crave again. Hopefully.

The restaurant (if you can call it that, it was 3 tables in a room about the size of your average living room) was just brimming with all the local fun and ambiance imaginable. It wasn't a tourist place at all. It was just the little spot where local Strasburgians spend their time and eat their meat. As far as I could tell it was being run by a woman and her mother, and there were cowboys and girls of all sorts coming through. Yeah, pretty much everything we could've asked for. And a lot more awesome than spaghetti over a camp stove!

We've changed time zones once again, and that's my excuse for now being VERY sleepy. Well that and that we drove for a good 10+ hours today! I think it's time to curl up in my sleeping bag on our most beautiful of dirt patches. And hey, it's right next to the playground, so who am I to complain? :)

Lenexa, KS

So I have a confession to make. Many years ago a friend sent me a postcard from the St. Louis Arch and wrote about going up to the top of it, and ever since then it's risen to the top of my to-do list. I've been thinking about it for years, but a person just doesn't end up in St. Louis all that often, and as bad as I wanted to do it it never seemed worth making it it's own trip. Well today, my wish was finally granted.

I actually drove through St. Louis on my way to Chicago, but I didn't have a lot of time then and stayed along the far edges of the city. I debated going to the arch then, but the weather was terrible (pouring rain) and I figured it'd be more fun when I'd have more time and could go with somebody.

Well today the weather still sucked, but not quite as bad. It wasn't raining, and the clouds had lifted enough that we were actually able to get a pretty decent view. However it was FREEZING! As soon as I got out of the car and started walking I had to run back to get an extra warm layer. Oh, and I wore close-toed shoes for the first time this trip (except for my Acadia National Park hike). I think my toes appreciated the warmth, but missed their freedom.

The arch is everything I had hoped for. It was huge, random, and amazing. When I first saw it I found it really hard to believe that a person could go inside it. It just didn't look built for it; not big enough and a significant lack of windows. The lack of windows thing turned out to be true, but once we got up close you could see it was plenty big!

As you approach, you see a small staircase down to an underground door. Already pretty crazy feeling! After going through a rather extensive security check, you enter into a large, round room. Around this room there are two movie rooms (which we skipped), a couple of gift shops, and a museum. The museum was all about the exploring and settling of the west, which is something I know quite a bit about but was cool to see after being east for so long. There was one picture of what I'm pretty sure is the Old Faithful Inn from many, many years ago though it looks about the same as it does now. We spent a bit of time wandering around the museum and enjoying the moderately creepy animatronic people telling us stories along the way. We then bought our tickets for the tram to the top. Yay! It's finally happening! I was disappointed that the museum said absolutely nothing about the arch itself or how it was built. I had to read a book in the gift shop to find that out.

The tram was pretty much amazing. After getting our tickets they funneled us down a little hallway, and then down to a narrow staircase where they gave us a number. The number corresponded to a tram car. After a short explanation and video about the arch, the tram arrived and the numbered doors in front of us opened. These tram cars were absolutely hilarious! They're solid white, egg-shaped things that remind me of an escape pod from a science fiction movie....or from Austin Powers. There were 5 seats in each pod, though thankfully we only had 4 people each time. I'm not sure a 5th would've fit. The seats arch around the edge of the pod, so that the person in the back is the only one that can sit up straight (remember, egg shaped...or possibly round...) The other seats require you to either lean forward, or the wall will push your head forward if you try to lean back. Everyone's knees point towards the middle, and there is no leg room, so you're forced to get friendly with whoever you happen to be sitting with. Though it turns out, this is one of the few things in the world that's perfect if you're Jody-sized. She was short enough to be able to sit however she wanted to without issue. Lucky!

The ride to the top was strange considering there's only a small window in the door of the pod, and no windows in the arch. So, through this tiny little window you can see bits and pieces of the cables and pullies that move the tram, as well as the loooooong staircase for maintenence. Of course you could only get a fleeting view of anything out the tiny window.

The top was about the same. There were a number of small windows along either side, which gave it the distinct feeling of being on an airplane. Of course these were windows to outside, and the view was awesome! I'm sure it would've been more awesome on a less cloudy day, but we could see quite a bit of the immediate area, including the river and the Cardinal's stadium. You could also walk across the top and feel the rising and sinking of the top of the arch under your feet, which was also very cool. And especially impressive for something entirely built in the 60's! Including the tram, which was finished in '67. So I went from window to window and took lots and lots of pictures, as well as some pictures of the inside. Once I felt I had taken the requisite bazillion pictures (Jody took some too, though I don't think she was quite as excited about the whole thing as I was), we headed back down.

Once back on solid ground, (and after I had run over to the spot I'd been looking at to wave to the people above in the arch) we headed out. Well, almost. I had seen a sign for a Riverside cafe right on the Mississippi River and I was really excited about it. Actually, I had been even more excited about doing a river cruise, but it was just way too darn cold out for being on a boat to be any fun. I figured the cafe would be a compromise, but it was closed. We spent a bit of time trying to find a restaurant nearby, but with no luck got back on the road. We really did try for something local, but as we started to run out of options we settled on Qdoba. Jody had never had Qdoba before so it was something new for her anyway.

From there it was the I-70 parade all the way to Kansas City. It really wasn't that bad of a drive, I just have a hard time focusing staying on one highway the entire time. Especially when it's one that's relatively flat and doesn't turn. But there were a lot of pretty colored trees, and the time passed by pretty fast. As we were nearing Kansas City, Jody mentioned that KC (apparently that's what the locals call it) is known for it's BBQ. I looked in my things to do before I die book, and sure enough it was in there! So we read through the options, picked a restaurant, and went hunting for it. Along the hunt we got to drive on State Line Rd., which was really exciting to me. It was....guess where! Yep, on the state line, which I found fascinating. On the right was Kansas, on the left Missouri, for many miles. After a bit of searching and a few wrong turns, we found Gates BBQ.

I chose Gates because it was family owned and because, according to the book, their specialty was sweet, rather than spicy. The atmosphere when we arrived was definitely intimidating. A lot of people seemed to be arriving at the same time, and everyone was shouting orders from all over the place. (To their credit, they did try to let us go ahead, but we were still trying to figure out what the options on the menu meant). We finally decided to just pick something, and shouted out our orders too. I didn't see any spice options, so I just ordered the basic ribs, assuming that any spice would be added later by the individual.

Yeah that was wishful thinking. They were HOT! At least for me. They were sinus clearing, which was nice, but after about 3 I just couldn't eat anymore. It was sad to leave half a plate of ribs, but it was getting painful. (I really did give it my best though, I promise! I'm trying to be less of a spice wimp!). On the plus side, their fries were really good. Big, thick, and potatoey. I almost didn't order them but I was glad to have them as that is most of what I ate.

By the time we finished eating it had gotten late, so we went to the first hotel we could find....in the Kansas part of Kansas City. So now we're sitting in the hotel, each on our computers writing in our blogs. I'm sure it's an entertaining sight! :)

Haubstadt, IN

Don't worry, I've never heard of Haubstadt either. Granted I'd never previously heard of a lot of the towns I've ended up staying in. It's near Evansville, which is slightly larger, if that helps anyone. Or if anyone is interested. I'm not, really. I just know it's somewhere between Louisville, KY and St. Louis, MO. Hopefully closer to St. Louis, but who knows.

The day started today with a lot more interstate driving. But we finally made it into Kentucky, which is another state I've never been to. Yay! My stomach was angry with me for all the crap I've been eating lately, so I had to make an extra stop along the way for a bathroom. Thankfully it didn't turn anything beyond that. I've been drinking water like crazy, so hopefully that'll help.

We finally stopped in Louisville, KY to have lunch and wander around for a bit. Louisville has a surprisingly nice downtown. I really liked it. It was just really nice and cute. And totally random. There were buildings of all sorts of different colors, and one with little red penguins on top. We learned from a nice old lady at the tourist info place that a lot of the buildings are still the original cast iron. She even gave us an official "tester" magnet that we could attempt to stick to buildings to see if they were iron. Fun (and rather random) stuff. There was also a giant art museum downtown so there was a lot of random artsy stuff around. In one place there was a tent you could walk through right on the sidewalk that had little glow sticks made to look like pond plants that I can't think of the name of, along with little cricket noises. Then there were randomly painted horses in random spots on the sidewalk. But my personal favorite was the bike racks. Each one had been individually hand made in crazy, artistic fashions. One was three crazy colored poles, another was one giant tangled pole, along with a few others. It was stuff like that that just made it a fun place to hang out.

We found a nice little sandwich shop for lunch, and thankfully my stomach was finally up to eating. From there we were off to the Lousiville Slugger factory and museum, also home to the world's largest bat. After the prerequisite pictures in front of said bat, we went in for the factory tool. It was pretty crazy to see what actually goes in to building a wooden bat, as well as how different each player's bat can be. We got to see and hold a lot professional players bats, and see them being built. And better yet, we got a free mini bat as a souvenier. Because we all know Lacey needs more random stuff! It was a fun tour and museum though, and i'm glad we did it. It's just one of those signature Louisville things.

Speaking of signature Louisville things, we also stopped by Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. I didn't really care much about seeing the tour or the museum or anything, I just really wanted to stand at the location of the "most exciting 2 minutes in sports." The museum was closed due to flood damage, but we were hopeful that we could still see the track. We stopped in the gift shop to ask, and were told that we couldn't see the track without a guide, and the last tour had already left. Thankfully they allowed us to join up with the tour already in progress so we got the best of both worlds: a chance to see the track without having to listen to the entire tour. I really don't have much interest in horse racing and didn't want to learn about it...I really just wanted to stand by the track and take a picture. And I got to do that, and now I'm fulfilled with my Kentucky experience.

From there we got on the road for a bit, but it was slow going to say the least. It's not that we were moving that slowly, it's just that we've hit the very long, very flat parts of the midwest, that just aren't interesting no matter how you slice it. I will say we've seen some very beautiful fall colors. And I'm glad I'm not in New England looking at the fall colors there because it sounds like it's FREEZING there! It's semi cold here, but not bad. Too cold for camping though, unfortunately. And of course I still really miss the sun. It seems that nowhere in the country is seeing the sun these days. I'm sort of getting used to it...though it still makes me sad when I wake up in the morning and it's just as dark as it was the night before. Jody and I held a small celebration this afternoon when we actually saw the sun. And it was still covered in clouds, but at least bright enough through the clouds that we could tell where it was in the sky. And based on what we've had lately, that was enough!

So we drove and drove, and finally exited at the sign for an Amish Buffet, that sounded like an interesting dinner spot. Actually, the sign was about 13 miles before the restaurant, which gives an idea of how sparse of an area we're driving through. When we finally found the exit, we couldn't find the restaurant (it was right there on the road, but neither of us spotted it). Instead we ended up at a Chinese buffet, which was actually pretty good. It was probably a good thing we got off the highway when we did because it was getting late and it looks like there wasn't another hotel for a looooooong ways. Tomorrow we're going to work on getting started a bit earlier.

Once settled in to the hotel, Jody gave me a most impressive back rub. She is one heck of a copilot! And I even let her drive today! :) She's now telling me that I'm taking too long to blog, so I better go. After all, I need to read her blog. I'm not the only blogger anymore!

Sidney, OH

The kidnapping was successful. Yay! I now have an amazing copilot/navigator/drink finder/brownie maker (yes she made me brownies...she's knows me well!). Now I just have to work on being less greedy about doing all the map reading and planning.

We stayed up chatting until waaaaaay into the night, so this morning we were off to a slow start. To say the least. We both woke up relatively early, considering how late we went to bed, but neither of us had a whole lot of energy in moving towards leaving. (Or even starting leaving, mom).

Neither of us had much motivation....especially not me....so by the time we were up, showered, and were eating breakfast, it was just about lunch time. It took me a long time to clean out my car. As anyone who has seen me knows, it hasn't actually stayed in the organized way that it started. Since it's been just me for so long, I've really really really spread you. It's amazing just how spread out I can get in a small car! But now I have to not only keep the passenger seat open but also have enough room in the back for Jody's....larger than expected....bag.

But finally the car was (relatively) clean, and we were off. We stopped at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn....had to check out a bit of what my ancestors were all about. Or something like that. Of course there was a very limited showing of the Dodge brothers at the Henry Ford museum, but there were a few quick mentions. And it was still fun to see all the old cars. Plus they had cool old bikes, motorcycles, and a bunch of other random stuff.

We stayed there for a few hours and then got officially out on the road. Unfortunately, the amazing Ohio scenery did little to keep us awake and alert after our limited sleep, so driving was difficult. We stopped at a Waffle House for dinner, so Jody could experience the wonder of Waffle House. Of course, Waffle House in Ohio is not nearly as exciting as one in the South, but we'll take what we can get.

From there we drove through the all too empty Ohio interstate, getting increasingly punch drunk as we went, stopped at a moderately creepy hotel briefly, and then continued on to our current hotel. And now I think I'll sleep. These last few nights of very little sleep are definitely catching up with me!

Waterford, MI

My weekend in Chicago was awesome. It was soooo great to see people from my Americorps team again. It was like visiting family. For a brief moment I worried about the clothes I'd planned to bring being dirty and all that, but I realized that more than just about anyone, my team had seen me at my worst. I didn't have to worry about making an impression anymore. It's nice to have friends like that.

It was immediately great to see everyone and it felt just like old times. We had a great weekend. We spent saturday visiting a cool little free zoo, and wandering around some of the fun touristy areas. I was really impressed with what a nice place Chicago is. It seems that the only time it makes the news these days is for issues with violence, people getting beat up on the streets, etc. So even though I knew there was a lot more to the city than that, that was the image I had coming in. Turns out, at least for the areas we went to, it was really nice and a lot of fun. That said, Andrea, whose house we were staying at, works at an elementary school with no recess because it's too dangerous to allow the kids outside. So I guess there's a bit of both. More nice though. We were there on marathon weekend too, which was cool to see. What a HUGE event! I'm still considering doing a marathon someday, but I can't decide if an event that huge would be cool and inspiring or just plain obnoxious. I'd like to be surrounded by that many runners, but I don't generally like races with big crowds. But I've got PLENTY of time to think about any of that....I gotta get some training in before I start to consider events.

But anyway...the funny thing is that it was freezing there today! Remember the Chicago marathon last year? Ending the race short because people were dying of heat stroke? Strange how different a year can be. But at least we got to see the sun. Yay! I don't care how cold it gets as long as I get to see the sun.

Well I guess I care a little, because I've temporarily lost my tennis shoes and i'm stuck with just sandals. We went out to a comedy event last night, and while the rest of my body was warm, my toes about froze on the walk there. The comedy event was a lot of fun...a little improv show at this tiny little theater. It was surprisingly funny. We then proceeded to get really, really drunk and wake Ryan (who had stayed home to sleep) to give him his cake and sing happy birthday. Lots of fun. Except maybe for Ryan...that's still up for debate.

This morning was a little tough to wake up, and driving hungover was less than fun, but I've finally made it to Jody's house. Yay! Tomorrow (shhhh don't tell her) I'll be kidnapping her and taking her to Denver with me. And there's nothing she can say to change my mind. Ha ha ha (evil laughter). She'll never see it coming! The perfect kidnapping.

But wait. Who's going to comment on my blog? Ack! I hadn't thought of that. Jody, I guess you'd better bring your computer after all. In that giant bag you're packing for this...ummm...surprise kidnapping operation.

Chicago, IL

I made it! Yay! It's great to see my Americorps team again! Well, part of it anyway. We're having a lot of fun catching up and reminiscing about old times.

It took me many hours to get here from St. Louis. It was still pouring rain (I miss the sun!) and the idiot drivers were still out in full force. I saw a big wreck happen maybe 5-6 cars in front of me. Well, I didn't actually see it happen, just the very end of it. I debated if I should stop, but the guy 4 cars ahead of me stopped and the two cars behind him ran into him. So I figured I'd be better off just getting out of the way. The three cars in the wreck covered a lot of distance (two spun into the median and one off the other side) but everyone was getting out and walking around, and already on the phone to call it in. So I just decided I was glad I wasn't a few cars further ahead, or anywhere farther behind where i'm sure traffic was backing up like crazy as it blocked all but one lane.

The horrible Chicago traffic was a big pain, but not as bad as I'd expected after all I'd heard about it. Still though, what mapquest told me would take 5 hours took about 8.5. But I'm here now, and all is well. Tomorrow it sounds like we're heading to the zoo and to explore some other events around town. I may or may not blog.

One quick story before I go. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night (the AC stopped working in the hotel room and it was super hot!) and had no idea where I was. Not because I was disoriented, but because at this point everywhere is starting to run together and I couldn't remember for the life of me what town I had stopped in. I guess it's a good thing I'm nearly done travelling. Strangely enough, last night was the end of my solo road tripping. I hadn't realized it until the middle of the night, but this weekend I'll be with my Americorps team, and Sunday night I'm kidnapping a co-pilot to take back to Denver with me. But more on that later.

St. Louis, MO

Another non-interesting day today. But don't worry. I won't let you, my wonderful readers, down. I'll find a way to provide you with some interesting reading. Or I'll just write a whole lot about nothing to make myself happy, and you all can deal with it however you decide. Interesting options here.

As Jody pointed out on her comment to my yesterday's post, I was up late last night blogging. Well not just blogging. I was also watching Ghost Whisperer online, getting the crap scared out of myself, watching funny youtube videos to lighten the mood before going to sleep, and then watching more youtube videos just for fun (and possibly minor addiction) before finally going to sleep. So, it was most definitely not an early start this morning.

I had again looked in to seeing a show this morning, but nothing really jumped out at me as all that interesting. Instead I just got up and got on the road. Everything was completely socked in with clouds again, and right as I was leaving it started absolutely pouring. It's hard to feel motivated to do anything when it's raining that hard. It's also hard to believe that yesterday I was taking a nap in the sunshine and there was not a cloud in the sky anywhere. I found myself feeling my sunburn a few times today just to make sure yesterday was real. Unfortunately the sunburn is very real, painful, and makes me look really, really goofy, but I'm so so glad I took the time to enjoy the sun while it was here!

I got on the highway heading north towards Springfield. I saw a series of a billboards advertising a restaurant featuring "fun food" and "the only home of throwed rolls." These billboards were all kind of crazy and fun-looking, and I did need to eat, so I figured I'd give it a shot. The restaurant, Lambert's Cafe in the town of Ozark, was ridiculous and amazing! It was like the southern/midwestern version of Rodizios (my favorite restaurant in Denver). You order whatever you want off the menu, like normal, but then they also have "pass arounds". These are sides that are brought around to your table....similar to Rodizios except instead of fancy meats these are things like fried okra, black eyed peas, and mac & cheese. I got a hamburger steak, which was a giant burger covered with gravy, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes. It said it was served on a skillet, and sure enough it came out in a GIANT skillet, complete with the big long handle and everything. It would've been plenty of food for two without any of the sides. Then, everyone who brought a side would put a giant spoonfull on the plate and then ask, "is that enough?" My mountain of food kept growing at incredible rates. And my dr. pepper came in a giant plastic trucker-sized mug, as did my water, so I had one for each hand. And then, the best part of it all. A guy would come down the middle aisle of this very large dining area shouting "hot rolls!" If you raise your hand the guy will fling one too you. The floor was of course littered with missed catches, but the guy definitely had a good arm. I have a feeling he's done it before. So, while I'm still bothered by the phrase "throwed rolls," I greatly enjoyed my ridiculous and hilarious lunch experience. Wow I really should be a restaurant critic! :)

From there I got on the interstate towards St. Louis. Oh rural interstate how I have so so so not missed you! It was slow going due to the absolutely pouring rain, and the idiots were back out in full force causing wrecks everywhere. There were flash flood watches and warnings everywhere. I realized that I have no idea what one is supposed to do for a flash flood warning, except for stay off the roads that are closed and not go out and pitch a tent. I really do want to camp more, but it's not going to happen in this weather!

Because of all the crappy weather and traffic, I made it to St. Louis right at rush hour. St. Louis had been having it's own share of crappy weather all day, so traffic was even worse than normal. St. Louis is also crazy geographically. There's like 5 different highways all coming in from different directions and meeting in one little central area. I knew traffic was going to be bad, and I should've stopped earlier, but I really wanted to make a bit more distance. As I got close it seemed the one highway I needed was still moving ok so I went for it. Traffic wasn't awful but it just kept raining harder and harder. The clouds were so thick it looked like the middle of the night at 5:00! I was completely over it at that point and took the first exit with hotels and found one. It worked out well as I found one of the nicest hotels I've stayed in for the same price as most of the others. I feel much better being able to sit down and relax instead of stressing out in the rain, and judging by the creek in the parking lot turning into a raging river outside my window, it wasn't getting any better on the highway! I've got a fair amount of driving to do tomorrow to get to Chicago, but it's doable. Unfortunately it's not looking like I'm going to see the sun tomorrow either. Go away stupid clouds! It's a really really good thing I don't live somewhere like Seattle! It's funny, before this trip I always wondered what the super high speed setting on my wipers was for. Today I almost never got it off that setting. I want to go back to where it's dry!

Still Branson

Wow, I had such a non-interesting day I almost forgot to blog about it!

I'm in sort of a weird spot right now. My Americorps reuinion thing is this weekend in Chicago, so it's too early to drive there but too late to make it home. So I find myself needing to kill time in the midwest. Oh the joys. It was with that thought in mind that I woke up this morning, still feeling exhausted. I had planned to get up for the hotel breakfast but decided instead to go back to sleep. After all I'm in a decent place here, I might as well hang out and keep the room.

So I fell back to sleep, wake up and veg for a bit, and then realize I never called the front desk about keeping the room. At about 10:59 (11:00 checkout time) I call and they tell me "No, sorry, we're sold out for tonight." Ack! I get a late checkout for noon and rush to get cleaned up, packed up, and out.

I didn't really know what I wanted to do with myself, but I knew I had a lot of pent up energy and was very tired of my car. So I threw some water and a map into my backpack and went for a hike. Around Branson. Unfortunately I didn't actually look at the map before I got going, and I managed to end up in the most un-interesting part of the town. An empty highway. But I walked a lot....I'm guessing at least 5 miles but probably more (a very quick estimate from the map gives me 7.5 miles). Enough to give me blisters from my sandals. (Ouchie!)

I had planned to stop and see a show or go out to eat or something, but I never really saw anything interesting so I just kept walking. I did eventually find a nice patch of grass perfect for stopping to enjoy the sun. It's been many, many days since I've seen much sun. Today there was not a cloud in the sky and I wanted to take full advantage. I ended up drifting off for quite a while. The good news is, I'm no longer looking pale like I thought I was this morning. The bad news is, pale has been replaced with an impressive shade of red with faint white-glasses lines all over my face and down my neck. Of course I couldn't have slept on my stomach or covered my face with something first.

After my nap I continued my walk and eventually did go to the giant go-kart track. 4 stories of track in this crazy double spiral with an up and down bridge between them. It was fun, though the go-karts themselves sucked. I floored it the whole time and I would get going for a bit, slow to a near stop, then get a big vroom burst of speed and then slow down again. It made it far less exciting than I'd hope, but it was definitely one of those gotta try it once things. I raced a bunch of highschool kids who all really sucked. I started in the back and passed all of them...and I think I may have lapped one of them. I guess I shouldn't be bragging about beating highschool kids...but they were cocky boys who were beat by a girl, so I can enjoy my moment a little. :) From there I continued my search for a restaurant, but still never found anything too exciting so I instead went to Fuddruckers. As some of you know I had a bit of an obsession going with Fuddruckers after Outward Bound, but now it's been a while since I've been to one. It was pretty good, though I tried a buffalo burger (which was listed on the menu as a lighter option) and it was drenched in grease. Totally drenched! Speaking of their menu, they've changed it. My old "usual" is gone. So sad!

After dinner I got myself checked in to my new, super tiny but much more affordable hotel. And get this....the door uses a real key! No key card here! That actually makes me really happy. Ever since the New Mexico Best Western during Americorps that checked me in to an already occupied room and sent me to walk in on some unsuspecting guy, I have been very wary of key cards. At least with a physical key they're more likely to know when there's someone already in the room! Still though, as soon as I get in a hotel room now I do the top latch/chain so that even someone with a key can't walk in on me! Yeah I know, I'm paranoid.

I considered going to a show tonight, but everything that looked interesting also looked painfully expensive. So instead I sat in my strange smelling hotel room, shivering while trying to air it out with the AC, talking to friends. I'm considering a breakfast show tomorrow. We'll see. I had really hoped to camp tonight since the weather was so beautiful today, but seemingly within minutes as I was having dinner the sky went from not a cloud to not even a glimpse of sun or blue sky. Now I am listening to a thunderstorm outside. It's good to be indoors, despite how it smells. (And if you're wondering, which you're probably not, it's not a smoke smell like some of the rooms i've had. It smells like somebody spilled an entire bottle of especially horrid old lady perfume).

Branson, MO

Driving is exhausting. Driving through the midwest is exhausting-er. I can feel myself getting fat from doing almost nothing active lately, but I just don't have the energy while also trying to make progress.

I slept surprisingly well by the highway last night. The trains stopped coming, and the passing semis made for good white noise. What got to me though was the bright street lights on the other side of the highway. The trucks would block them as they passed and it would get dark, but when there were no trucks the bright light would come back. I could handle it being light or dark, but i'd be about to fall asleep and then it would suddenly get bright and wake me up. Also, some other light went on in the wee hours of the morning. I woke up at 3am convinced that the sun was coming up. I had to get up and out of my tent to make sure it was still night. But overall I really did sleep well.

I got up pretty early, showered, and was all ready to go but decided to hang around 'til 8:00 for the campsites pancake breakfast. That would save me stopping later for food. It took forever to actually get food, but I finally made it out on the road at about 8:45.

It was a pretty straight shot to Little Rock, AR. I've been debating lately between hanging out and seeing the things I want to see, or just making distance. I'm tired of travelling, but at the same time who knows when will be my next opportunity to come to some of these places. With that thought in mind, I stopped at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. It was pretty cool. I'd never even heard of a presidential library before, but it's basically a museum of everything you'd want to know about the president. Or at least that's what this one was. The lower level was a giant timeline of his time in office and what he accomplished. It also had a replica of the white house meeting room so you could sit in his chair and pretend to be important.

Then there was the upper level, which had everything you'd ever want to know about life in the White House, including a replica Oval Office (though you didn't get to sit down at that desk. Sad.) There were tons of photos of the Clintons just hanging out in the White House, as well as some of the personal momentos they used for decoration. It was neat...made them all seem a lot more human. Then there was an entire exhibit of gifts given to Clinton from athletes, foreign leaders, and others. Finally there was an exhibit of little Billy Clinton's childhood, including bare butt baby pictures. I gotta say this was absolutely halarious! All sorts of pictures of him growing up....his cub scout records, his elementary school report card, an old pair of his shoes, etc. Fun stuff.

There was a mention in one of the exhibits about the integration of Central High School in Little Rock. I've read all about the Little Rock 9 and I've been interested in the story for a long time, but it still never occured to me that it was that Little Rock. After all the civil rights stuff I saw in Mississippi and Alabama (especially in Birmingham), I sort of forgot that it stretched all the way up to Arkansas. I decided to do a quick drive by of the school, just to see where it all happened.

When I was getting directions to the school, I discovered that since it's on the National Historic Register there's a National Park Service visitor's center right next to it. I figured I would park at the visitor's center, go take a picture, and then get back on the road. Instead, when I walked in to the visitor's center they told me that a tour of the school was about to begin. The only way you're allowed inside the school (unless your a student or staff) is to take a tour. I thought it would be cool to see inside, though I wasn't sure I wanted a full tour since it was getting late and I hadn't had lunch. But I went for it, and it was very cool to see. Strange though....being lead through a functioning highschool by a fully uniformed park ranger. Literally, this woman was dressed just like somebody you might see in Yellowstone, right down to the hat. It was very cool to see the school and be in the place where all the stories occured. Unfortunately one guy on the tour kept asking question after question after question, so the 45 minute tour turned in to almost 2 hours. But I couldn't walk around the school on my own and I didn't want to be rude and leave so I stuck with it.

Oh, and to add to the fun, it was pouring rain. It'd been cloudy all day but the rain finally started while we were in the school....along with lightning and thunder. At one point the power even went out. It went on again within a minute or so, but it left us with a nice awkward minute. The walk from the school back to the visitor's center left me drenched, even though it was less than a block away.

Once we finally made it back to the visitors center, I decided I'd gone so far through Little Rock I might as well keep going and get a new camping book from AAA. It was something I needed to do but AAA's can be hard to find sometimes. Thankfully this one was right where the map showed it to be, so I got it done quickly. In the end, my planned hour long detour for lunch and the Clinton museum thing turned in to about 4 hours. I finally got back on the highway, and after a quick stop in Conway to see where my friend Nicole went to college, I headed north off the interstate.

I admit Arkansas did get a lot prettier when I got to the western half. The mountains are nice. However the "interesting" Jesus vibe never quits. I drove through all sorts of tiny little towns that had more churches per capita than anywhere I've ever been. The Jesus billboards continued....as well as nearly all of the regular buisness billboards seeming to have some religious message. My personal favorite from today was a picture of the typical evolution image. You know the one...the bent over gorilla looking thing progressively standing up straight. The billboard was that image with a red circle and a line through it and the words "No Evolution!" Under that it had the beginning of Genisis: "In the beginning God created...." Like I said, I just don't get what they hope to gain from these things!

So now I've made it to Branson, MO, just barely north of the Arkansas border. Branson is an interesting place. It's billed as the clean cut, family friendly version of the Vegas strip. Personally I think Vegas is plenty family friendly. I mean come on now, Circus Circus! :) Really though, they do get some big name musicians and such here, along with some....interesting looking acts. I'm not even sure exactly how to describe them. They just look strange. By the time I finally found a hotel that was affordable, had space, and had internet, it was too late to really see or do anything. I did drive down the "strip" though, which was fun. In a sense it is like Vegas because there were tons of bright, flashy lights everywhere. It's much more of a strange rural sprawl scene than a strip though. It's weird...you drive down the road for a bit and find yourself in the midst of all sorts of craziness....then it'll get a bit quieter and you'll see a walmart and perhaps a taco bell, and then it goes back to the craziness again. I had hoped to walk down the strip, but the way it's laid out it's hard to find somewhere to go. I'm considering spending the day here tomorrow just to hang out. And because I noticed a place with a 4-story go-kart track that I just have to try. And because driving through the midwest is getting to me, though I've only just begun. I've been talking to the radio a lot, as well as singing along and coming up with actions to all the pop songs i'm hearing again and again. I even managed to sing Miley Cyrus's "The Climb" entirely in opera. And before anyone says anything about my knowing every word to that song....I spent the summer working at a climbing tower. With teenagers. It came up. A lot.

So yeah, I might take a mental health break in the ridiculousness that is Branson, MO. Especially considering that it's already midnight and i'm still awake trying to make sense of blogging. (Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm falling asleep as I type!) We'll see how I feel in the morning. And we'll see if my rather "verbal" car survives the night here! hahaha just kidding (I hope!).

Marion, AR

Tonight I find myself at the Memphis KOA, located in Middle of Nowhere, AR. (It also goes by the name of Marion, AR, but middle of nowhere fits so much better). This is definitely one of the more interesting campgrounds I've found. I arrived a bit late due to a small...ummm....scenic detour. I went into the main office and asked if they had a tent site available. The woman looked at me strangely, thought for a minute, and then said very slowly "Well yes...but it might be wet. It's been raaaaaaaiiinnning." She really drew it out, apparently either thinking me slow for wanting to pitch a tent in Arkansas (something that I don't think happens too often) or trying to overcome her shock and amazement at that same fact. I assured her I was ok with wet ground (it's barely wet and hasn't been raining since much earlier today), and she asked how many adults were in my party. "Just me," I said. Her jaw dropped. She looked terrified. "Oh I could never travel alone," she said. "It'd be much to scary." I chuckled and said "Well I'm hoping there's nothing too scary here." She replied, "Not here, but..." she started like she was going to say more, but then went back to quoting me the price. It's never reassuring when the person checking me in to somewhere seems afraid for me! :)

My theory that tent camping doesn't happen in Arkansas was further confirmed when I saw my site. This entire campground is literally right next to the interstate so nothing is that secluded, but the three (and only three) small tent sites are right up front. It's as though they're made to be a buffer between the RV's and the noisy cars. Really, it's more like they had a bit of empty grass before the road and someone said, "I know! Let's draw some little tents on the map just for fun!" So tonight I will fall asleep to the lullaby of semis speeding by maybe 100 yards from me, with the neon Citgo gas sign as my nightlight. Just to add to the beautiful nature noises, I've since discovered that a train seems to pass by every 30 minutes or so, whistling loudly. Luckily for me, I'm pretty tired so I'm not too worried. And besides, I'm fairly sure no wild animals will be showing up to eat me. Except perhaps a hungry local. Sorry, that probably wasn't PC. Good news is, I'd be able to see 'em coming....this area is the flattest, emptiest place I've ever seen!

Now then, allow me to explain how I got here. As you may remember, the plan for this morning had been to sleep in for a bit and then go to Oxford to meet up with Mariel. Ah, that planning thing again. I'd forgotten just how good I am at sleeping in. Luckily I had left an alarm set, or I may have slept all day! I fell asleep the night before watching Grey's Anatomy on the computer. I barely made it through the opening credits. I woke up this morning with all the lights and my computer still on, and just barely enough time to grab some hotel breakfast, pack up, and get on the road.

Lunch with Mariel was awesome. It was so cool to see her in her "natural habitat." We had so much to talk about and catch up on that we easily filled the two hours before she had to get to class. Plus we got a very good lunch at this little sandwich shop. Mariel and I met in Americorps....her from MS and me of course from MT. During our service term we each ended up doing projects in each other's home state. A lot of teams went to MS, but her's was one of only two to make it to MT. They did some reconstruction and painting work in Virginia City, a tiny little historic ghost town that I went to once when I was maybe 8 or 9. Anyway, we talked a lot about Americorps, her town, politics, and life in general. I learned that Obama actually won in MS amongst 18-24 year olds. How cool is that?! There's hope for the future of politics in the south. Yay!

After lunch I continued my quest northward. I drove through Memphis, debating if I wanted to stop anywhere. I did, once, by accident when I took the wrong exit. The highway was a bit confusing and kept making me exit in order to continue on the same road in the same direction. So I still haven't set foot in TN, but at least I've been off the interstate there. I did drive by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (www.stjude.org if you don't know about it). That's about all I know about Memphis (well that and all the Elvis stuff I'm not too interested in). That place is HUGE! It's like it's own small town. I'd seen pictures of it, but wow. It hurts my heart to know that there's a need for a town-sized hospital for kids with cancer, but it's so wonderful that a place like that exists. It made me want to run in and just hug everyone and tell them how great they are. (I didn't. The place was all gated off with security guards anyway. I've never understood that....why do big hospitals have such intense security outside? The hospital I made a donation to in Boston was the same way. They only let me in because I knew people who worked there. Weird.)

From Memphis I followed the highway on in to Arkansas, and that's where the scenic detour occured. I had initially planned to head north to Missouri, but then after driving for a bit decided it would be more fun to head west through Arkansas. Arkansas seems as though it'll be great fun for people watching. Even the grocery store was fun. And on the small bit of driving I've done, I think I've seen more "Jesus" billboards than in the rest of my life combined. My personal favorite was just a giant one that said "JESUS" in huge capital letters. I would've liked to have added a second one next to it saying "f-ing CHRIST!" Again I'm sure that's very not PC of me. There was another touting Jesus as the best option for life insurance. My all too literal brain had issues with that one. Yeah, the drive through Arkansas should be fun.

Actually, I've been told that there are very nice, very beautiful areas of Arkansas. And that was from a friend who grew up in CO, so I trust her judgement. I think. We'll see.

The scenic detour only got long when I discovered that along this highway heading north there was absolutely nothing, and nowhere to turn around. Not a single exit for many miles. Just me, the open road, a bit of traffic, and giant messages about Jesus. By the time I got myself turned around and headed back south I was all too happy to find my beautiful little KOA.

Canton, MS

Today I officially swear off making plans. Every time I make a plan, set a date, set a time, something comes up to change it. No matter how sure I am. Today was no exception.

Last night a South Park marathon ruined my early to bed, early to rise streak. I didn't do too terribly bad though. I realized that I actually got out early enough that I could maybe make it to Biloxi in time to go to the church that I used to always go to when I lived there. As long as I was going on a sunday, I might as well go there, right? I checked the distances and AAA's estimated drive times and everything seemed like it would just fit.

I stopped for breakfast at McDonalds and got an egg mcmuffin. Now I gotta ask....didn't egg mcmuffin's used to be good? I used to love them and would try to find excuses to get one now and then. So today I was excited to finally have a reason....and it was really, really bad. I got two, and didn't even finish the first one. Hmph.

Anyway, I got on the road and was making really good time. Then, all of a sudden, the highway closed. No signs, no warnings, no detours, nothing. Just all of a sudden two cop cars with their lights on were blocking the way and everyone had to exit. I had had the radio on for the entire drive and there hadn't been anything about the highway being closed. I'd even checked the official highway information station (which was nothing but dead air). I never did find out what caused the closure, though I just googled it and found this. Ironically, the first post on the comments is about how confusing the detour was for out of towners. Yep. Next thing I knew I was being shipped off onto this itty bitty little neighborhood road. Thankfully the people I was following seemed to know where they were going so I just followed them, kept heading south, and hoped for the best. I made it through, but it took a loooooong time to make it through just a few miles. The whole church thing wasn't looking good, but I still wanted to try.

I finally got all the way south and started heading west. Right about that time the rain started. And boy did it start! This was no little sprinkling. It was POURING! Suddenly I went from averaging 75 to 55 and I couldn't see a thing. Needless to say church was a no go. In a sense though I'm glad it happened this way. It would've been frustrating to have almost made it and been just a few minutes too late. By the end of everything I was close to an hour off. I was over it by then.

Coming in to Biloxi was awesome. As corny as it sounds, it felt like I was seeing my little child all grown up. The town looked really really good! It looked like a functional beach/casino town, rather than that town the big storm hurt. I went out for a walk on the beach and couldn't even find for sure the spot where we used to run because the beach was totally different. There were cool little benches and staircases up to the road, and the parking lots were redone. It's hard to explain exactly, but everything just seemed purposeful instead of the randomness left behind from the storm. The whole beach road was covered in new, brightly colored hotels and condos. Of course there were still gutted buildings, empty foundations, and vacant lots, but from what I know of Biloxi it would have all of those things storm or not.

I was really proud of myself...I was able to find the church and the school almost immediately. I was able to find Yankie Stadium, where we lived, not long after that. It was a little harder just because everything was really built up around it, much more so than when I'd been there. The stadium is no longer being used for volunteer housing anymore though, and my beautiful trailer was gone. Not that I miss that tiny little thing with 12 of us in there! Ok I do miss it a little bit.
I parked in the parking lot for a bit while I was checking things out, and managed to look sketchy enough to get the attention of the security guard. Ok she said it wasn't that I looked sketchy, I looked lost. And I'm sure I did. Solo white kid from Montana with a bike on the roof sitting in the bad part of town. I'm sure it was quite a sight! lol I talked to her for a bit and found out that they painted over all the handprints from volunteers on the salvo (salvation army) side of the bleachers (ppl would live under the bleachers for a week to volunteer and leave a handprint as their mark at the end of the week). That's soooo sad to me that they painted over them. She said they wanted it to look professional again. I thought it'd be cool to to keep the handprints as a reminder of the people who came from all over the world to help out, but maybe they're just ready to not think about that anymore. They haven't yet painted over the Habitat side, but they probably will. Habitat is totally moved out of it and it's now being used for storage. So sad. They're building a new athletic complex/community center there through the Salvation Army, but they're going to keep the stadium a stadium. Seems to me they could leave the under the bleachers as like a mini-museum, but again I can see why they wouldn't want to do that. Would probably be in the way. I just don't want our awesome mark erased. But I have pictures of it so it's all good. :)

The second part of my plan for the day was to meet for lunch with my friend Mariel who (I thought) lives in Jackson, MS. Turns out she's from Jackson, but lives in Oxford, which is way farther north. No big deal though, I thought. But of course the world came out to prove me wrong. Though the rain very nicely let up long enough for me to enjoy Biloxi and walk on the beach, it came back with a vengence as I started driving. It was CRAZY! By far the most rain I've ever seen in one place....except for the insta-flood in Denver that Rosalba and I ended up in on our way to Noodles, but at least that didn't last long. (We drove to get dinner and in the 5-10 minutes of driving it went from mostly dry to the streets being a raging river. We had to cross a street of almost knee deep moving water to get to the restaurant, and once there they gave us free cookies because they were so amazed we'd braved the storm to come in). Anyway, the sheets of rain just kept coming, and visibility was awful. I considered just stopping, but I really wanted to make some more progress. I just took it slow and carefully and figured some distance at slow speeds was better than nothing. It was so cloudy it was almost like driving at night, even in the middle of the day. And some idiots were driving without their lights on so you'd go to change lanes and notice there was some idiot right behind you that was totally invisible until he's right there with you. Very scary!

And of course there was a constant flow of people more comfortable driving in the rain than I was (though I had a suspicion they were really just idiots in too big of a hurry) flying past me and pushing even more water into my windshield making it even harder to see. Turns out they were rushing ahead to dive off the side of the road, into the median, or into the guard rail. By the time I made it to Jackson I had lost count of wrecked cars waiting for tow trucks. They were EVERYWHERE! There were only a few multi-car wrecks...everything else people had managed all on their own.

At that point I decided it just wasn't worth it to be out with the crappy visability and the obvious morons on the road with me. As much as I really wanted to see Mariel (the Oxford friend), it just wasn't worth it. So I called her and we have a lunch date for 12:30 tomorrow instead. That means I get to sleep in tomorrow. Yay! Though knowing my luck with planning, I should probably get up at 5:00 just in case, because something is bound to get in the way of things!

But before I go, I gotta tell ya'll my favorite part about driving in Mississippi. On many signs, Mississippi is abbreviated as Miss. To me, Miss immediately reminds me of pageants. So when I see a sign I start picturing the pageant that would go with it. My personal favorite was "Miss Juvenile Correction Facility." Now that'd be quite a pageant! The second best, though not nearly as exciting was the "Miss Highway Patrol".

Montgomery, AL

Big day today! Four states AND a time zone change! Yay!

My campsite last night was awesome. There were tons of people but everyone went to bed early and was very quiet, which got me to go to bed early too. I fell asleep just after 9:00, and slept really well. I got out this morning at 7:30, which I think is a new record.

I decided that since I'd already made it so far down the Parkway, I might as well continue to more of my Outward Bound sites. I also decided that I need to remove the "since I've already ____, I might as well _____" phrase from my vocabulary. It keeps getting me in trouble. But more on that later.

My first stop was Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi River. It was strange driving up to the mountain. The last time I went up Mt. Mitchell I'd been hiking for days through snow and cold, was exhausted, and was in all sorts of pain from lots of walking and carrying my heavy pack. Driving to the summit seemed totally wrong, yet also really smart. Why hike for days when you can drive? lol

I got a major wave of nostalgia when I got to the parking lot. We hung out in the parking lot for a looooong time in the cold waiting for our ride to get there. Even when it's sunny, that area is never warm because it's totally exposed and seems to always be windy. Apparently even in the heat of summer it's pretty cold. I took the short walk to the summit, along the paved trail which wasn't open last year. Last year the summit was under construction but after we begged they opened up a little back dirt trail and let us go up as long as we didn't mess with any construction or touch any wet paint. This time I got to go up the nice, smooth, walkway that wasn't even long enough to count as a hike. It was really fun seeing the summit again....it's an amazing view....and I met a guy who had hiked up. He'd been out on his own backpacking for the last 4 days. I can just barely manage car travel by myself....I don't think I could handle solo backpacking. We talked for a long time and swapped travel stories. He'd hiked all over the area and was interested in my multi-state travel. We ended up talking for a long time, which was lots of fun, but I really didn't have the time for it. Why can't I meet cool guys like that in the state I actually live in?!

Anyway, from there I went to Asheville, which was thankfully a lot easier to get around than Boone. I didn't really spend much time in Asheville outside of the airport during Outward Bound, except for the first morning before things got going when I got to explore downtown. I did a quick drive through but really didn't have much desire to park and explore again. It's a fun town but it was late and I was really ready to get on the road. I did stop at a cool little bookstore though to get a new audio book. I just finished listening to Twilight, and I gotta say I really don't understand why it's so popular. It's not bad, it's just not that good either! It was pretty boring. I got two new books that will hopefully be better.

After Asheville I was seriously ready to get off the Parkway. It's beautiful, but much more conducive to very slow driving than trying to make time. I chose a road that, according to my map was a divided through highway, but due to construction it was actually a little two lane road that moved even slower than the Parkway. Argh!

This is where the whole "might as well" phrase came into play again. I decided that I'd gotten so far south, I might as well head all the way south and go visit Biloxi again. Of course once I'd chosen that route, I realized it was a bit silly since it's the weekend and most of what I want to see probably won't be open. But we'll see what happens. Once I finally made it to the interstate traffic actually moved pretty well and I was able to finally make some distance. Started in North Carolina of course, and then got through South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Georgia was a new one for me and it was nice...a lot nicer than I expected. It seemed a lot different than either Mississippi or Alabama, but maybe that's because i've spent a lot more time in MS and AL.

I had thought the map said the time change happened between MS and AL. I was thinking how great it would be to get a bonus hour when I get going in the morning. Instead I crossed into central time at about 6:00, becoming 5:00. 5:00 seemed way too early to stop, but the sun was still just as low and in my eyes as it had been when it was 6:00. So I kept going for another hour even though it was a bit painful on the eyes. I found the Montgomery hotel in my coupon book and got off the interstate, only to see the parking lot filled with cops. I don't think the cops were there for the hotel, probably for one of the stores nearby, but it still made me really not want to park there! So I headed south a bit farther and found another hotel. I have no idea what business this hotel gets....it's a nice place but it's way away from anything in town. It literally butts up right against farmland. I don't think there's much of anything between Montgomery and Mobile, and this seems to be the start of the nothingness. And it's affordable, so it works. I'd planned on camping tonight because hotels are always more expensive on weekends, but apparently camping in Alabama = a parking lot for your RV. Tent camping seems unheard of.

Anyway, I think I'm glad I came south, even though it of course adds a lot of driving. It makes me nervous at times just because it kind of seems like a foreign land, and the type of place where it'd be nice to have someone with me. (i.e. where I lived in Burmingham....no problem being there with 11 other ppl but I would NOT want to accidentally end up somewhere like that by myself). But I really do like the South (aside from all the confederate flags and that type stuff). Everyone is so nice and polite. I've had more doors opened for me than I think I ever have! I'm not sure I've opened a door on my own since I left NC. I gotta say, it's pretty nice. And there's been a Waffle House on literally every exit I've pulled off on. Can't beat that! lol