Spiders, spiders everywhere

The process of settling in is a slow one, involving an evolving understanding of what the space will allow and the limitations of our belongings to conform to those allowances. Matthew and I decided before the move to sell off most of our furniture, requiring us to find new furniture that better fits our style and needs. Right now that means we're sleeping on our futon (which eventually will land downstairs in the den) and keeping our folded clothes on top of wire racks in the closets. I'm hoping that some dilligent craigslisting, garage sale'ing and thrift shopping will allow us to outfit the new place on the cheap, but that starts to sound like a full-time job (which I need, but I think my talents probably extend beyond being my own personal shopper).

The biggest surprise of the move is that our house has some pretty stupid problems. The house was built very well in 1946 from what looks like old-growth cedar, and most of the upstairs has been lovingly maintained. The basement, however, was finished somewhat recently and evinces a lower budget than the job really required. There are holes directly to the outside ground level in a couple of places, and tons of shoddy work putting in sheet rock on the ceilings, creating a bunch of gaps into dark hidey-holes. The completely foreseeable result is a bit of a bug problem (though so far no rodents, thanks no doubt to the previous tenants owning 2 cats--which has caused endless allergy problems for Jessica).

Mostly we're seeing spiders. Tons of them. Everywhere. The former tenants (who now live across the street) set off bug bombs before we moved in, which I suspect killed off most of the smaller insects. Now the remaining spiders are the larger ones, some of which seem to have nervous system problems from the poison, and all of which are hungry and/or horny and consequently are on the move. Poor Matthew (who is arachnophobic due to a horrific childhood experience) nearly faints about a dozen times a day as big, meaty spiders run towards him or fall on his head. Yesterday we caught what may or may not be a hobo spider in the laundry room.

So in addition to unpacking boxes finding furniture, we now have a ton of holes to plug around the house. Hopefully before Matthew suffers a heart attack.

Day 8 - Butte, MT to Black Diamond, WA

The first hour or so of our drive through Montana was in the wildfire area. The landscape was choked with smoke that irritated our eyes and lungs when we stopped for gas. As we neared Idaho, the smoke cleared and we were again treated to some iconic Rocky Mountain vistas.

It wouldn't be a cross country trip without some sort of vehicular mishap. Ours was fortunately mild and entertaining. We had pulled off the freeway in Idaho to relieve ourselves in the bushes. Matthew and Jon were trying to turn the truck around by pulling into a driveway and backing out when the metal steps and hitch on the back of the truck got stuck on the road. They couldn't go forward or reverse. We started gathering large rocks to wedge in front of the tires when the local zinc miners came around to help. They got their fork lift in under the bumper and lifted the truck while Jon hit the gas and we were freed.

As we drove across the border into Washington, Jon got on the walkie-talkie yelled "Welcome to Washington!!!!" while Matthew shouted "Wooooooo Hoooooo!!!!" in the background. The next thing we heard over the walkie-talkies was:

"What the hell was that?..... Was that you Ed?"
"No, that wasn't me"
"Must be some trucker or something"
"Man, that was wierd...."

Then I got on and said "Crackwhore" which was our version of "Roger that"

"Alright Ed, I'm gonna switch to channel 17..."

Probably the biggest surprise of the trip for me was Eastern Washington State. When I think of Washington, I see green pine trees and mountainside lakes, but the eastern part of the state is essentially a desert. The Cascade Mountains block most of the moisture coming in from the ocean. As wet as Seattle can get, east of the mountains is even dryer. Flat, dry, hot, and lifeless with not even a cactus to look at. The three hours from Spokane to the Cascades were the most grueling part of the trip.

The part of the Cascades we drove through was gorgeous and to me, more difficult to navigate in the truck. The arid heat didn't help things either and most of the semis had to turn off their AC to keep from overheating. As we progressed through the Cascades, the landscape got progressively greener and more fit for, well, more fit for everything except maybe filming Westerns. We arrived in Black Diamond around sunset and were warmly greeted by Jon's family who had beer and grilled meat at the ready. After 3000 miles of mostly eating road food, it was heaven. We slept greedily in our un-hotel like comfortable beds with no pressing start time in the morning. Tomorrow we only have a 45 minute drive before finally reaching our new home.

Day 8 - Butte, MT to Black Diamond, WA

Rapid City, SD to Butte, MT

Jon and I got up at 6AM and drove to Mt Rushmore. We arrived right when the park opened. It was the most quiet place I think I've ever been. Only a few other tourists were there with us and the wind was cold and faint. Seeing the famous monument in person is an interesting experience: it's large and small at the same time. Large for a sculpture, large compared to the humans it represents, but small compared to the giant mountains surrounding it.


I have only two things to say about driving through Wyoming and Eastern Montana:

1 - Why did we feel it necessary to take this part of the country away from the Indians?
2 - Why can't we give it back to them?


Driving through the Rocky Mountains was not as harrowing as I had imagined. There was one long climb and descent right before we entered the valley where Butte is located. It also happens to be the continental divide with an elevation of 6393 ft. The truck was slowed to 35 mph and there was occasionally the illusion that you were going downhill when you were in fact still going uphill, but at less of an incline. You expected to speed up, but the truck kept grinding its way up the mountain.

The sun was an apocalyptic red as it set in front of us; masked by the smoke of Montana's recent wildfires. In a simpler time, we might have taken this as an ill omen causing us to break out into fits of God appeasing rites as we flogged and pierced and wailed and danced in the hopes that we might be spared from his damnation. Being modern creatures, we knew this kind of behaviour was pointless. We were spending the night in Butte, Montana. We were already damned.

Day 7 - Rapid City, SD to Butte, MT

Sioux Falls, SD to Rapid City, SD

Well, we've already safely arrived in Covington, WA outside Seattle. Tomorrow we start unpacking the truck. I've finally had some free time to sort through photos and update the blog so over the next few days we'll be filling in the blanks with commentary and galleries....


Sioux Falls to Rapids City

We spent the night at a Rodeway Inn which is the worst hotel I've ever been in. We had to smuggle in the ferrets because they have a 1 pet per room rule despite the fact that the ferrets could all stay in the same cage. At any rate, the room wasn't even fit for a pet and we didn't let them out into the bedroom. There were cigarette burns in the carpet and the box spring was held together with duct tape. All this for only $73!

The next day was only a five hour drive to Rapids City, but we were so distracted in South Dakota by all the roadside attractions that it took all day. The natural scenery is beautiful, especially when you get into the Badlands area. On top of this, the landscape is littered with billboard after billboard advertising the tourist attractions such as Wall Drug, the world's only Corn Palace, Petrified Forests, and various Mt Rushmore associated museums. They start advertising these places a good 250 miles before the exit and you'll see a new billboard every half mile sometimes. It was amusing at first and then got annoying as I longed for some uncluttered landscape to enjoy. I would get that eventually... in spades...

















Our first roadside stop was the Mitchell Corn Palace. They were inbetween mural exhibits at the time so we didn't get to see it in its full glory, but seeing the unfinished murals with "corn by numbers" outlines was nice also. Inside were "Corn-cessions", a picture history of the Corn Palace through the years (believe it or not, the Corn Palace has burned down a few times...) and a gift shop where I bought a corn palace hoodie. There is also a basketball court and stage with corn murals on the walls.

















The next stop was Wall Drug, a tourist trap if ever there was one. It's got pretty much everything; stores that sell all things western, coin operated animatronic statues, photo op sculptures, 5 cent coffee, a chapel, etc. The picture above features the many stuffed Jackalopes for sale. We could've spent a day basking in the kitsch, but we had a few hours left to go before we hit Rapid City.

















The landscape here is absolutely beautiful and Jess and I fantasized about living here sometime. It's so peaceful and majestic and in some parts seemingly untouched by man. Reminds me of a girl I once knew...

We arrived at the Econo Lodge at sunset; too late to hit Mt Rushmore before bed. Fortunately, our hotel had an indoor water slide that Jon, Matthew, and I went down as many times as we could before it closed. There was a metal gate on both sides of the slide entrance so you could really grab hold and launch yourself . I went down so fast that the whole contraption rocked back and forth and splashed water over the edge, soaking some of the parents watching their kids in the pool. Good times...

Jon and I decided to get up early tomorrow at 6AM to drive 45 min to Mt Rushmore and be back in time for an early departure before our long day into the Rockies. More on that tomorrow!

Day 6 - Sioux Falls, SD to Rapid City, SD

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Dust Devil!

So I haven't posted yet, even with the relentless poking and prodding of my co-travelers. But this morning was not to be the same. We all usually divvy up chores before we pack up and go, and my chore was to blog. So here it is, my grand entrance! Anyway, yesterday while we were driving through Montana I snapped a picture of a wee little dust devil. There had been a whole bunch, but I didn't manage to get my camera out in time to get a picture of one of the bigger ones. The drive yesterday was amazing, and I SOOO wanted to buy a big pink cloth that I could attach to the top of our truck so we could travel Priscilla Queen of the Desert style. But then I quickly remembered what part of the country we were in, and decided I didn't feel like getting shot. Think I was being paranoid? That night when we arrived into Butte Montana, Jon and I took a walk to the grocery store and were flipped off by two men in a rather large truck. Sure, it could have just been them fooling around. But I figure the chances were pretty good I had too much of a sashay in my step. Afterwards, I took off my glasses when we got into the grocery store so I would be more incognito.

Illinoise to Sioux Falls

Just a quick gallery post before bed. We traveled across South Dakota today and it's been the best landscape so far. Jon and I are getting up early to see Mt Rushmore before our long drive to Montana. I have some great pics from SD and Wall Drug especially, but I better get some sleep as I feel a cold coming on. So for now, enjoy a few pics from our travels through Illinois, Iowa, and into South Dakota.

Day 5 - IL to Sioux Falls, SD

Blogging the Beard, part the second

The beard continues to grow. It has softened quite a bit in just a few days, which I wasn't expecting. I've been enjoying it (and my cowboy hat) in conjunction with the truck. Matthew has come around: this evening over dinner he announced, "I like it!"

Though I suspect he may just be softening me up to ask me to get rid of it next week.

:(