is there any more pie?

some of our stuff

Banjo Man was not with me when I packed up the car and left the lake Monday.  I have never packed up the car.  Never.  In forty-two years.  It’s a “big job”, says Banjo Man.  It takes skill, depth perception, spacial skills (I admit I have none of these).  It takes him hours, if not days.  He huffs and puffs and complains. I’m always glad I don’t have to do it.

But this year it was up to me.  And I wanted to make room for my three dozen canning jars (apricots, plums, peach jams, plum syrup).

I obviously needed a shelf.  So I went to Home Depot and picked out a board and the Home Depot man sawed 12″ off of it for me (I’d taken careful measurements of the trunk and the canning jars).

Banjo Man called me.  He was worried.  Packing was a big job.  I was to shove it all in to the car and he would repack it when I met him in Billings.

Sure.  No problem.  I didn’t tell him about the shelf.  My trips to Home Depot worry him.

Banjo Man was so impressed.  You can’t see the banjo, lap steel guitar, amplifier, fiddle or three dozen canning jars, but they’re in there.  And the back seat is empty except for the laptops and overnight bags.

Think he’ll use my shelf next year???

I spent Tuesday morning writing in the Hampton Inn in Missoula, then hit the road before noon.  It was a beautiful day to drive through one of the most gorgeous places in the whole world.

btw, the HD flat screen television in the Hampton Inn in Missoula was truly, madly, deeply fabulous.

Was “Truly, Madly, Deeply” a book or a movie or both?

I watched a repeat of the last 10 minutes of the Nebraska-Wisconsin game, part of a movie (“Elizabethtown”) and then part of another HBO movie, a British romance with a drunken hero, then fell asleep.

Tuesday morning I watched the last part of an episode of River Monsters, which I’d never seen before.  The fisherman host goes around trying to catch big horrible fish around the world, I guess, because he was trying to catch some sort of mean monster killer fish in a river in the Congo.  He finally caught it and it had teeth like a crocodile and was vicious and ugly and HUGE.  Then the Congo native couldn’t believe the tv guy was planning to let the fish go!!  They don’t believe in “catch and release” in the Congo, you see, because the poor kid explained to the tv guy that the whole village was planning a party, a big feast, and everyone had been preparing all day because actually seeing one of these fish is A REALLY BIG DEAL.

The tv guy pontificated on how he doesn’t believe in eating the river monsters he hooks on his fishing line, no matter how many people (even the ones who have been helping him for days) are looking for something to eat.

Idiot.  I screamed, “FEED YOUR HOSTS, THANK THEM FOR BEING SO NICE TO YOU, EAT THE DAMN FISH!!”

And while he’s going on and on about how he wants to let the fish live because, blah, blah, blah, the fish *dies*.  So, as he pompously states, “the decision has been taken out of our hands”.

Happy Ending.

I then packed up my computer and headed west.

I veered off the interstate into Butte, just because I’d never stopped in Butte.  The GPS makes exploring really easy.  I stopped at a store downtown that was piled high with vintage outfits, shoes, fabric, hats, etc.  Heaven.  (No, I didn’t buy anything, but loved looking).

Back on the road with a Wendy’s chicken sandwich and a diet Coke.

Bozeman is always trendy and western and full of tourists and students.  I drove south of town to wander through an antique shop.  Didn’t buy anything, but it was a good way to talk a walk and look through an entire shelf (a very long shelf) of fishing books.

On to downtown, to a vintage western boots & clothing store on the main street.  I tried on some fancy old patent leather Tony Lama’s, but they were too big.  Darn!

So…on to Billings to meet Banjo Man.  If you’ve never driven I-80 from Bozeman to Billings, then get in a car next year and do it.  Don’t forget your camera.  I took these while I was driving.

Banjo Man and I belatedly celebrated our wedding anniversary at a “rib and chop house” behind the hotel.  I wolfed down my first filet in a year.  Plus creme brulee for dessert.  Be still my heart.  Banjo Man was a little more restrained with a half order of baby back ribs.

I told him all about the River Monster.  We agreed to never get on a boat in the Congo River.

This is what we saw when we drove out of Billings, Montana Wednesday morning.  It was a bit of a shock.

But we used our heated seats!!!!

We are in  South Bend, Indiana tonight.  Home of Notre Dame football, which is only interesting if you are a ND fan (which I am not) or want to get a hotel room on a home game weekend.

Lucky for us, Notre Dame is playing at Soldier Field in Chicago tomorrow.

Our Hampton Inn is filled with **hundreds** of 5th grade hockey players.  After we’d checked in we’d learned that several teams are staying here, and boys are running up and down the hall to the elevator to the pool, etc.  Glen and I are laughing now (we’re so happy we are not chaperones or parents) but it might not be so funny at midnight.  They are really getting wound up and it’s 9 PM. 

I never travel without ear plugs. 

I’m just relieved they’re not teenagers or college kids, because I’ll bet the parents aren’t going to let this go on all night.

On the other hand, Banjo Man saw lots of fathers with lots of beer coolers. <g>

We were on the road at 6:30 AM and drove almost 600 miles today.  I’ve been getting in a couple of hours writing before getting in the car, and then I sleep for an hour or two.  We trade off driving every 2 hours.  The days–and the miles–go by quickly.

I still can’t attach photos to the blog posts or I would show you a Minnesota sunrise.  Darn. 

We stopped at a travel plaza on I-80 and Banjo Man’s eyes lit up at sight of a restaurant called “The Red Burrito”.

And yes, that’s what he had for dinner.

Dear Retired Mountain Man,

You asked me to keep blogging about the road trip.  You said you read the blog every morning.  Do you realize what you’ve unleashed?

Trivia, man.  Trivia.

The slowest-ripening tomatoes on the planet are travelling well.

I was up Tuesday at 5 am, tiptoeing out the door of my room at 6:30, when breakfast would be available in the lobby.  There were, um, sounds coming out of the room across the hall.  The woman inside was either giving birth or having a particularly satisfying sexual experience.

This hotel has the Big Ten Network in HD.  Can someone explain why Nebraska is wearing black helmets?  They look scary, but they don’t look like the Cornhuskers.

Check out the fine precision of a packed trunk:  never mind, the internet here is very odd and won’t let me do much.  I’ve tried and tried to upload pic–even had a black helmet photo from Nebraska–and can’t spend any more time.  Will try again in Billings.

I have mixed feelings about this stretch of  highway.  When I’m heading west, I cry.  When I’m heading east, I cry.

There are large sections of Highway 200 that are always a little blurry.

Today I protested having to leave the lake by not taking a shower or putting on makeup or brushing my hair or donning clean yoga pants before packing up the final bags and getting in the car.  Pouting isn’t pretty.

Too much information?  Sorry.

Okay, on to more cheerful blog info: 

I did not hit a herd of wild turkeys, which would have been messy and my car is already a mess and maybe I’ll find a car wash tomorrow before getting to Billings.

I saw two dead deer (I’m still holding a grudge over the whole tomato-plant-destruction disaster).

The weather was perfect.

My fake i-pod worked for three whole hours (which might be a record).

CLOSE CALL:  the nice young woman at the front desk of the hotel managed to get my television to work tonight before I had a complete and total meltdown.  When I called for help I pretended to be calm, but then I started to wail, “This may sound crazy but this is a big deal because I haven’t watched tv in three months because I was in the mountains and I didn’t mind not having a tv but I’ve LOOKED FORWARD TO WATCHING TV ALL DAY AND I CAN’T GET THIS TO WORK AND I’VE READ THE DIRECTIONS AND I NEVER HAVE TROUBLE WITH REMOTES AND I CAN’T FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT TO WORK AND I’M SORRY TO BOTHER YOU!!!!!!!”

I think I may be a little over tired.  So…no photos tonight.  I’m going to go watch television until I pass out.