notes on the road

Matt and I have been keeping notes along the road in what has been dubbed the Captains Log. We are currently a few hours from Jackson Wyoming in Pronghorn Lodge for the evening. This is our trip to date:

may 26, 2006 -

9am-Rendeveous at Blue grass trail in coopersburg 9:15- Adventure hats in place, our trip has begun 9:17 enter cvs, note the bearded guy in blue jeans and cowboy hat wearing sandals 9:30 leaving center valley after filling up 9:35 listening to sand canyon...directions? oh well we have a map, adventure ensues 9:39 guitar solo..look for signs to wyoming, "I dont know where we are...this way!"-matt driving 9:46 beginning to rain and all of the windows are open, windshield wipers turn out to be less than ideal, im sure they sell them in wyoming 9:50 Moose calls. there don't seem to be any moose in Pa, 30 minuts of driving and still not to wyoming 9:55 first tunnel, bobdylan 10:16 west 80 driving 10:18 "jesus is lord" mudflaps 10:55 driving behind a sheriff car, death cab, still driving 11:40 begin the odyssey by Homer, a book on tape 12:46 discussion of the traffic we are currently slugging it in, but who would even drive if it weren't for the rush you get in traffic. peanut butter and chocolate teddie grahams for lunch 1:39pm bad news. pulled over by a friendly state trooper who mentioned we were speeding. 84 in a 65, fine will put a dent in our funds. however, in the immortal words of the grateful dead "keep truckin" such is life. Note: adventure hats were removed as trooper approached confidence was thin 2:25 welcome to ohio. open present from kyle, poems by Japanese monk and cds, thanks kyle 3:04 if it were ever raining cats and dogs it is now. we've pulled over for a moment so the rain can let up 5:59 Riddles and the first gypsy sighting of the trip 6:23 Welcome to Indiana, the crossroads of america 6:30 Indiana looks a lot like ohio 6:45 slight detour into michigan while searching for a diner. there are no diners in michigan. 7:57 back on the road, we have no idea what time it is here. Ate at clays family restaurant, i recommend the pecan pie and coffee. staff is wonderfully friendly not bad food. 8:03 Note: driving off into the sunset in a lone ranger fashion means the sun is in your eyes. lower sun visors. toward the wild west. 10:03 welcome to chicago, i've lost track of states, but we must be in illinois 10:39 Like the bony hands of a corpse rising through fresh soil, the top floors of high rises and church steeples rise along the interstate. they are buried by tons of concrete and majorly concealed from view. Houses rise in rows from behind wooden fences 7 feet high. listening to death cab. i think cities make me clausterphobic, sp? 11:52pm the belvidere oasis, apprx. 20 minutes from the border of wisconsin. the plan is to sleep in the car while parked in the rest stop parking lot. its an art only perfected through practice. find an inconspicuous parking space. not alone in the back corner where no one can hear you scream, yet you can't sleep in the front entrance on the sidewalk. of course not too close to the sign telling drivers there is a two hour parking limit. crack the windows a hair and lock the doors. pray the cops aren't too nosey. nap time. more driving ahead.

Saturday Morning the 27th, 6:50am Air is cold, sun is rising, the primal search for coffee begins. 7:45 welcome to wisconsin, yay! 10:15 Crossed the Mississippi river and entered minnesotta. wisconsin was nice. 12:10 just exited the SPAM museum. we couldn't not stop. they love their spam 12:38 nilla waffers and green pepper all smeared with peanut butter for lunch on the road. i think its nearly healthy. matt contemplates his new theory that peanut butter tastes good on everything. 1:59 minnesotta sp? who cares, its a long boring interestate 2:24 the beach boys in the midwest, guitar solo, windows down, i think i smell the ocean 2:43 apparently i missed the sign for south dakota, barbara anne 3:47 short trip into mitchel to see the worlds only corn palace "Be A-Maize-D" we were. 6:10 South dakota smells like cows and it easily wins for most billboards. the state is complemented well by modest mouse and the unicorns. sudden realization, we've driven pretty far 6:34 now entering mountain time zone sign. so here it is now 4:34...7:43MT Staying at the sunshine inn located in wall south dakota. sweet sleep, wyoming tomorrow 7:02am complimentary coffee to go and on the road again. discussion of travel west by wagon train. I'm willing to bet 80% of our generations knowledge of wagon travel is constructed around the oregon trail game. for better or for worse 9:06 Mount rushmore. surreal, really neat. hiking and rocks etc. first trees of any significance we can think of since Pa 10:25 Leaving the crazy horse monument. at first we were a bit upset about the $20 addmission fee, but it turns out the entire set up is privately funded through a nonprofit organization that is run mostly by the original sculptors wife and kids; fairly groovy if you ask me. meeka was right, its huge. time to hit the dusty trail 10:53 rocky racoon 11:08 Wyoming welcomes you, yeehaww and other such shouting 12:06 first tumble weed sighted...tumbling across the road. we both yelled, its true. its been a long drive and we're easily excited by that sort of thing anyway. what are the wooden fence like looking things along the road? 1:04 just entered and passed the town of Lost Springs, population 1 ...2:20 stopped for gas in lasper and noticed the bird we hit was still stuck to the front of the car. removal was necessary and an old map came in handy. 7:54 we're now in Landar, aka lamar if you ask me, but we were pulled over again, at least the cops are friendly. (we kept our adventure hats on) who changes the speed limit from 45 to 30. hotel with internet makes this post possible. the pronghorn lodge. jackson tomorrow. mountains with snow. we're excited. occasional yelling can't be stopped.