Turn Off the Paved Road…

Hello once again faithful readers. It’s that time again…yes…time for you to once again set aside about 10 seconds of your life so that you have plenty of time to read and digest everything that is important in this blog post (pretty much, you can stop now…congrats!).

It’s been an interesting week or so. Kind of stressful, but only in that neither groovy nor I have a job and we’re looking at things in a new light (as in: “Do we really need that?” and “How much do you like making pancakes?”). So far, it isn’t that bad and as the old saying goes, “What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger.” I don’t know if I agree with Nietzsche or not, but I would have to agree with the answer argument that goes something like “That which kills you makes you dead.” How can you argue with logic like that?

Anyway, yesterday groovy and I went to visit with two of our friends who were camping up at Hungry Horse Reservoir near Glacier National Park. Groovy was in charge of getting directions and such and estimated that the trip should take us roughly 3 hours. All-in-all, driving 3 hours each way to go hang out and goof off sounds like fun to me, especially if there is nice scenery and cool water involved and lucky for me, it was! We left Missoula around 8am in my truck because I wanted to see how much better it would run long distances now that the engine was properly tuned (I could drive before about 6 hours on a tank of gas).

We drove through some interesting places with some interesting names, but the thing that got me the most was the scenery. It was weird, to be honest. We would drive along for a while through mountains with lodgepole pine trees all over them and then nothing…we would be in a valley with prairie grasses and mountains off in the distance. Then, we would finally get to the mountains on the other side and then would drive through them for a while. Very cool to know that you’re driving along at 70 mph (legally, no less) on a 2 lane highway where it is 80 degrees outside, and there is snow visible on the mountain tops.

Anyway, we drove for a while (about 2 hours) and came to this place where there was this stop light suspended over the road, but there was no work going on at all. We sat there for about 5 minutes when finally a pace car came up with flashing lights and a “Follow Me” sign on the back of it. We did like any dutiful driver would and followed the person for 10 miles at speeds which infrequently approached 15 miles per hour (he was a daredevil, what can I say?). The whole way I kept saying, “I sure hope there is a major landslide, missing road or something disastrous that requires this fast speed”, but unfortunately for me, we were driving along at 10-15 miles per hour on a perfectly fine road with no problems and no roadwork crews.

We finally got to Hungry Horse, Montana and found the turnoff for the reservoir that we were supposed to take. I’m sure that 90% of you have driven someplace before where the road goes from a nice road to something a little less than ideal…I know I have. This road was, hands down, the worst road I’ve ever driven on. There were potholes big enough to lose medium-sized mammals in, several hundred foot drop-offs, windy-turny-“Oh-My-Goodness-Are-We-Gonna-Make-It” roads…I loved every minute of it! Groovy, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well on the road. I know at one point, I said, “We’re half way in! Only 10 more miles of this” to which she replied, “You’re kidding…right?” I wasn’t, but we did arrive where we were supposed to roughly around 12:30pm (we stopped for groceries).

The water in the Hungry Horse Reservoir was nice and cool. We got to drive around a bit more with “Shocker” and “Mrs. SW” for a while and even went on a short hike (where we found mushrooms that looked like brains!) until we decided that, as we were in bear country, we probably ought to get back before we became dinner for a grizzly (or any of his other family members). Shocker and I joked at one part that we didn’t have to outrun the bear; we just had to outrun the slowest runner. When you’re with people who exercise all the time, you kinda have to wonder why you were invited. Was I there for the fun/friendship…or was I the bait/life insurance? Hmm…

At one point, we found a small stream that was coming down from the mountains. The water in it was cold. I’m not talking “oh, this would make nice iced tea” cold…I’m talking “how is it possible that this isn’t ice” cold. It was great! I toyed with the thought of trying to wade in it but realized that there was probably an altitude adjustment (read: waterfall) shortly down stream that I, being the klutz that I am, would find the hard way.

We all said our goodbyes around 5pm and were back home around 9:15 or so. We got some great pictures which can be found at my picture site (http://mccombs.scott.googlepages.com/home). We had a GREAT time and will be camping out there soon.

The Week...and Little-Known Facts

Greetings and all that from Montana. Once again, I want to let everyone know how things are going so far here as we begin our new life, plus I want to leave everyone with some little known (and just learned by me) facts about Montana.

Groovy and I have both spent the last week and a half getting things squared away such as banks, insurance, vehicles, schools etc. It’s been interesting to be able to mentally throw away lists that were begun weeks (if not months) ago. One area of concern for me was my truck which had been residing at Tomasa’s house since we left and was supposed to have been picked up the day we left. The day we arrived here in Missoula, the truck was picked up and was supposed to arrive 7 days later. Unfortunately, there were unforeseen issues with the truck that it was being delivered on (at one point, the Wyoming Department of Transportation actually pulled him over and wouldn’t let him continue until he got something fixed).

Finally, on last Saturday, the truck was delivered. I was happy. We were going to Helena to spend the weekend with Mr. and Mrs. EPA as well as Mr. EPA’s parents, so I didn’t have any time to climb around the truck to check it out and such. Well, yesterday groovy and I decided that we would take the truck to Wal-Mart. The truck started really rough and ran rough and was barely responsive when I pressed on the gas, but I honestly thought at that point that it was because it hadn’t been driven in 3 weeks. We got to Wal-Mart and got our groceries. Upon loading the truck, I got back in and turned the key. The engine turned over several times, but never caught. “Um…that isn’t right,” I said to myself. I checked everything that I could and groovy even had the Wal-Mart auto repair guy come out with a battery pack to make sure it wasn’t the battery.

After about an hour, we decided that it would just have to be towed to Midas. I got a truck squared away and went back out to my truck, sat down inside, put the key in the ignition, turned it…and it came to life. We decided that we better get it to Midas before it died again or something. It was there until this afternoon. The problem? Apparently, there was something wrong with one of the computers in the truck in that it was not supplying ample oxygen/fuel mixture to make the truck start and run smoothly. Well, the Midas guy reset the computer (even with car computers, all it needs is a good boot to the head…wait, I mean reboot) and it ran fine. A potential $400+ fix it job (assuming the fuel pump was bad, as I had been) ended up costing me only $42. Thanks Midas!

We are officially Montana motorists now (so watch out Montana folks…not that anyone from Montana reads this blog…erm…)! Groovy and I spent about 20 minutes longer than we should have (sorry…my fault) getting our new licenses. Tomorrow…we fight the registration and title folks. Joy.

Well, other than hiking up almost to the top of Mt. Sentinel (the HARD way…of course…stupid easier path wasn’t marked) and exploring downtown, it’s been pretty dull here (which has been GREAT!)…so on to some obscure Montana facts!

1) Montana is the only state that I’ve ever been to that when road work is being done in a particular area, they physically remove the whole road (all the way down to the gravel foundation…and yes, both lanes). I’m guessing here, but I think they have a huge warehouse somewhere near Butte where roads are resurfaced 2 lanes at a time so they can be put back in place at the same time when they are done.
2) Mountains are measured from the peak to an imaginary point somewhere under the mountain that corresponds with the rest of the area, not, as one would guess, with the path that one would hike along to get to the top of said mountain. I know for a fact that Mt. Sentinel is almost a mile high…but I swear we went almost twice that far and still didn’t make it to the top.
3) While hiking in mountains, there is an inverse relationship between the altitude and the amount of oxygen that is available to be breathed. If you are hiking with friends, be sure to sabotage them in some way so that only you can continue on. This will be the only way that you can make it to the top. I know that’s why neither groovy nor I made it to the top of Mt. Sentinel.
4) Driving 3.5 hours for some B-B-Q ribs, while sounding insane, is really not that big a deal…especially when the ribs that you eat are some of the best that you’ve ever eaten. Please bear in mind that this 3.5 hours was spent driving at the speed limit and not in traffic. I know Mr. Audio and I drove to Dallas once from Ruston just to see a movie. This was no different a situation, and was equally enjoyed. Oh, and Buffalo is a choice on the majority of menus.
5) When you go to get your mail for the first time, you go to the Post Office (even though you have a mailbox at the place that you live). While there, they never once ask you for ID or any other sort of proof of who you say you are.
6) The weather here hasn’t been consistent enough for anyone (including the weather people) to get a clear idea of what is going on or what will go on. Take today for example: The wind was from the East at 10-15…then from the West at 20, then from the NW at 15 then back from the East at 10 and has gone back to being from the West at 10 just to confuse everyone. On top of that, it was, I’m not exaggerating here, 86 degrees not 2 hours ago and I, without air-conditioning being an option in this apartment, was complaining about being hot. As I write this, it is now 67 degrees. Tomorrow, the high…just to keep everyone guessing…will be 59.
7) The final thing that nobody bothers to tell you before you move to Montana is that the sun has a mind of its own. It comes up around 5:30am and I promise you that I could have taken a picture of the setting sun last night at 10:30pm. If that isn’t weird…I don’t really know what is.

One Of These Days, I’ll Make My Grandmother Proud

First off, before I begin any more of this, I want to address something that has come to my attention. I am the person that I am because of choices that I have made throughout my life. Granted, some of the more recent decisions that I have made have made more impact than others, but they were my decisions. I looked at how things were, made a decision based on how I felt, and moved on from there. If you think that I made a wrong decision - that is YOUR opinion and I wish you would keep it, as well as your thoughts, to yourself. I am happy with who I am…can you say the same? Quite frankly, I don’t care what you think of me. One day I might “come around”…but then again, maybe I won’t because I am happy with the decisions I’ve made and the person I have become. You and I both know who you are. Chew on that one for a while.

Now that I’ve gotten settled in here in Montana (or as settled as one can be after only a couple days here anyway!), I wanted to get back to the post I started the other day in which I was incensed about some things. Well…I’ll explain more clearly today what I’m frustrated about and will explain why it frustrates me.

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about immigration, illegal aliens and many other politically charged reasons to dislike those of us that aren’t Caucasian. Quite frankly, that not only confuses me, but also frustrates me. Here we are: a nation FULL of immigrants – a nation that raped, destroyed and stole a large majority of what we have (and continue to do so today) – a nation that continues to put its shoe on the neck of those that are trying to have the life we live. And yet…we call ourselves “great”. I say that’s a load of horse crap.

Do I feel that illegal aliens are wrong? Sure…but I wouldn’t go about bashing them and their way of life. Give them the opportunity to become Americans the legal way. Have them pay taxes and work…it’s a win-win situation. Don’t say that they are taking jobs away from Americans because the majority of the workers that are here illegally are doing jobs that none of us want to do. Do you want to put a sack of vegetables on your back hour after hour while you pick them? Do you want to cut up chickens at a processing plant? These jobs provide food on the table for both you and me…and if someone WANTS to do that job, I say let them.

I’ve been getting a bunch of emails from people lately dealing with illegal aliens and the like (it’s been several people, so please don’t think that I’m coming down you only you if you are one of the people that send that sort of thing). When an email is forwarded on, the reader will automatically assume that the sender believes what they wrote. Do you REALLY believe the things that are in the emails? If so, I feel sorry for you. I was taught that we were supposed to treat people the way we wanted to be treated. To treat people the RIGHT way. To treat people as EQUALS. This does not include belittling. This does not include ridiculing. This does not include a feeling “superior”ism. We are no better than anyone else.

One last thing real quick (as I’m sure I’ve upset some people): 90% of the time, the forwards that are sent out are based on fiction. There are many websites (http://www.snopes.com/ is great) out there that are devoted to debunking urban myths and legends. It takes 10 seconds to check, but in reality…if it sounds too idiotic to be true, it probably is.

In closing, the first paragraph of this post was targeted at just 2 people. I can say this here because I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that neither one of them would have made it through this post…and I’m sorry the rest of you had to read through it.

My aim is not to please anyone. My aim is to do the right thing…always. To do otherwise is a waste of time, a waste of energy and a waste of life.

"Go West Young Man" – Part 2

It just dawned on me why it’s called “amber waves of grain”. You see…when you’re driving through that area, you feel just like you would if you were on the open seas – thrown about at the mercy of the wind and all that. It makes perfect sense now.

Anyway, on with the trip!

We woke up Monday morning and started the 8 hour leg of the trip to Rapid City, South Dakota. If you’ve never had the opportunity to drive through South Dakota, let me tell you something: Count yourself lucky! Just as soon as you get within 30 miles of the Iowa/South Dakota border, you start seeing these billboards for Wall Drug, Corn Palace and Reptile City and various other “attractions” that any normal person wouldn’t stop at. I mean, these billboards are spaced out evenly every 10 feet or so the WHOLE way across South Dakota! I’m not kidding! By the time you actually get to one of the turnoffs, all you can think to yourself is “Well, that’s one less set of crappy billboards we’ll have to look at!” Then again, I was worried that even after we passed the turnoff, we would see stuff like, “You just missed Corn Palace! The turnoff was 60 miles ago! Turn around and go back!” It’s hideous and I can’t imagine why anyone would want to stop. Ok, I’ll admit it…we stopped at Wall Drug and were overcome with just the…insanity of it all. I swear the whole town of Wall survives off the revenue from Wall Drug.

South Dakota is one of those places that doesn’t have much going for it. It’s basically Nebraska with less wind. The only redeeming things for South Dakota would be the Black Hills, the Badlands and Mount Rushmore. We drove through these, although not the best way, and went to see Mount Rushmore (with the U-Haul, of course). If you’ve never seen Mount Rushmore (MR from now on), it’s really pretty impressive. Apparently, this guy got a bee in his bonnet and decided that this stretch of rock that looked cool would look even better with some presidential visage on it. On top of that, some other enterprising individuals thought it would be even cooler to build a tourist trap at the bottom of the hill that leads up to the park. Man, that rocks. Nothing like flashing lights and people milling about buying worthless trinkets to add to the splendor of a national monument! Anyway, they’ve done quite a bit of work on MR and the grounds since I was there about 20 years ago and it was a new experience.

We left Rapid City on Tuesday morning for Helena, Montana…another 8 hour drive or so. Wyoming is very rural. I mean, we went an hour on the road without seeing a town at one stretch…it was awesome! And the scenery! Oh…my…goodness! It was amazing. Some of the mountains that you could see off in the distance were snow capped. At one point, there was a storm moving in through the mountains and you could see the clouds pour through the gap between two peaks. Montana was more of the same…but even better.

Some of the mountains that surround I-90 are just amazing. I mean, you’re driving along realizing how funny it is to see the word “Mountain” used at all on the East coast. Some of them were so high and rough looking that the road goes quite a way out of the way just to go around it so you don’t have to burn 3 engines and 2 transmissions (not to mention brakes!) going up and over them. Remember, Montana has Glacier National Park and parts of Yellowstone…it’s that awesome in some places. We got to Helena around 4pm and met up with groovy’s cousin and her husband (Mr. and Mrs. DEA…I’ll come up with a better name eventually guys). We all went out to eat with some of Mrs. DEA’s family and just had a great time talking and relaxing.

The next morning was the big deal. It was the moment my tired body had been awaiting for 40 hours at that point. We were going to get to Missoula. We got up and headed out again on the road. Let me tell you about a little thing called “MacDonald Pass”. Many years ago (some say around the year 1990), these two guys were driving along this stretch of road that hadn’t been named at that point. Well, one of the guys decided that he wasn’t about to look at the tail end of the other guy’s car anymore, so he decided to go around him. Unfortunately for him, the sharp turn coupled with the 50,000 foot drop off proved to be just a bit much for him and his car “left the road” (to use the insurance term). That guy’s stupidity was forever immortalized by the naming of MacDonald (the guy) Pass (the stupid thing he tried to do). All joking and exaggerations aside, MacDonald Pass frequently closes in the winter because it’s impassible. And the view from there…it’s awesome.

We pulled into Missoula around 11am. After talking with the landlord and getting our keys, we went up to the apartment and began unloading all our stuff. That process took until yesterday and I’m pleased to report that 90% of everything is put away! YAY! I’ll describe Missoula: Missoula is a college town nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains with even higher mountains (with snow on them!) off in the distance. I’m looking out the office window and I see the interstate (it’s close enough to see, but far enough away not to hear…then again, so few vehicles are on it, I don’t know if I could hear it or not anyway!). Out the living room window, all you can see off in the distance are mountains (with snow!!). Missoula itself is not what you would think. It’s kind of a mixture of mountain/outdoor folks, California hippy types and business people. Oh, and I would venture to guess that about 30% of the people here ride bikes through town instead of driving (I don’t know what they do during the winter though…besides freeze).

One last thing: we counted all the different license plates that we saw on the whole trip: We saw 45 states and 4 Canadian provinces! All we were missing was: Hawaii, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island…not too shabby!

We survived the journey. We have a new home. The next task…find a job!

Go West, Young Man - Part 1

We made it. After a relaxing 42 hour drive…we finally made it to Montana. Ok, so the drive wasn’t relaxing at all…but we have, finally, gotten to our destination…and let me tell you, I’m glad.

After loading the truck with the help of two guys that I “hired”, groovy and I cleaned the apartment like it had never been cleaned before. I mean, that place was spotless! We were considering not leaving because it was so clean (only in a joking way, of course). We decided to use a tow dolly to bring the car along so that we could talk with one another and maybe have a more relaxing ride, so the last thing I did on Thursday evening was attempt to attach the car to the dolly. I pulled it onto the thing and then went to attach it so it wouldn’t come off as soon as I started to drive away. Well, as it turned out, one of the harness ratchet things was broken (we rented it that way…how nice!). I called U-Haul and, after being on hold for almost a half hour (oh how I am glad it wasn’t a REAL emergency!) I got in touch with someone who would send someone out to fix it in the morning.

We had planned to leave around 9:30-10am on Friday, so when I got the call from the U-Haul repair lady at 8:15 saying the guy would be there in an hour, I was elated. Unfortunately, the “one hour” wait turned into a three hour nightmare (“nightmare” only in that I was considering ways of returning the tow dolly and telling them I would never use their services again). I was upset. The guy finally got there at 11:30 and had it fixed in about 10 minutes. We left shortly after that.

If you’ve never driven through western Maryland or West Virginia, I’m going to try and paint a picture for you. You drive along in your 17” x 11” truck towing a Honda Civic in a just-repaired tow dolly through hills covered with huge trees at a mind-blowing 65 MPH (that’s the speed limit). Now, by “hills” I mean “something that would take all day to hike up to the top of…so be glad you’re driving that huge truck” and not “oh look! It’s a molehill!” Add on top of that the fact that it was POURING rain pretty much the whole way through…and you get an idea of what it was like – 45 MPH up the “hill” and 80 MPH down (it all averages out). Pennsylvania…well, we went through there also, but it was nothing to write home about.

We made it to Ohio and spent the evening with groovy’s sister (Doctor) and her folks. We had a great time just chatting and looking through Columbus (we got to see that we weren’t important enough to eat at Carrabas…that rocks!). That night, I slept like a rock. We woke up on Saturday morning and began the long leg of our trip…a 12 hour journey that would take us through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and into Kansas. We stopped in Indianapolis to have “breakfast” with Mr. and Ms. Postal, who groovy used to work with. The rest of that leg (although long) was rather nice. We arrived in Manhattan, Kansas around 8pm.

After eating supper with my mom, sisters, niece, grandmother and various other family members, I got to talk with one of my uncles (Cowboy) who used to live in North Dakota. He was saying that if we had room, he would be moving with us (unfortunately, he would have had to ride on top of the truck…so I guess it’s good for him that we didn’t have room). We were all converging on St George, Kansas (don’t bother looking for it on a map…I don’t think that you’ll find it) to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday on Sunday. It was a surprise, but I don’t think she was that surprised after seeing the majority of her family in the same location. The birthday went off well, though and it was great to be able to chat with people that I haven’t seen since I was a kid (I mean like 20 years ago in some cases). Unfortunately, groovy and I had to leave to make it to Omaha.

The trip from Manhattan, Kansas to Omaha, Nebraska was, although only 3 hours long, the hardest part of the trip. Remember that truck that you imagined you were in earlier? Well, imagine driving that truck through 30-40 MPH winds that were coming from your side. Yeah…I was a big truck-sail driving (or tacking?) through the Nebraska plains…doing my best to keep all of our belongings (as well as ourselves) on the road and in one piece. I fought the truck the whole way. It was scary. At one point, I thought for sure that we were going over…but somehow the truck remained on the road (there were inches…literally…to spare). Sunday ended with us eating at Perkins for supper in Omaha, Nebraska.