MIddle Earth!

It is 8am in Minneapolis and I (Amy) am sitting out on a screen porch listening to birds chirp away. Last night we *finally* made it to Minneapolis where we were greeted with smiling, friendly faces and a fabulous dinner. Emily and Elizabeth are gracious hostesses who even tolerate a slightly whiny dog and his overly concerned dog-mama. To protect Ria, the grumpily displaced cat, Buddy and I slept on the porch -- we both slept soundly -- while Rhonda camped out in the guest room.

In a few hours we will be on the road for the final stretch of this trip. It will take us about 6 hours to get to Marinette from here. (We have learned along the way that you add one hour to whatever estimates we have -- a 16' moving truck just moves slower.) We are meeting Carolyn (our Realtor) at our new house at 5pm. A few hours later our new friend (and my colleague) David will come over to help us lift some heavy things. He has stated several times that he *really* likes the challenge of moving heavy things. Okay!

In the meantime, here are some random tidbits that didn't make it into earlier posts:

• Missoula is preparing for their annual "Testicle Festival" also known as "testy festy." You can find out more here: http://www.testyfesty.com/
• Did you know that there are two continental divides? Why?
• As we left Montana around 8pm Monday night the temperature was 100 degrees. The sign might as well have read "YOU ARE NOT IN SEATTLE ANYMORE!"
  
• North Dakota has the highest gas prices we have encountered anywhere. Again, why?
• Hotel Review: La Quinta rocks. AmericInn sucks. LQ = nice high threadcount sheets and a plush windowseat nook. AmInn = old mattresses, less-than-clean room and possible fleas. Friends house in Minneapolis = best.

4 States down...

Today we reached the western edge of North Dakota and are spending the night in a replica old-western town, Medora. Complete with saloon and trading post.

Both we and Buddy settled in a little bit more and we finally got our fm Ipod transmitter working so our soundtrack to the Montana hills included Nina Simone, Bjork, and the Dixie Chicks (nothing like a little "Wide Open Spaces" for the road).

The strangest sight today was a bunch of "meth is death" signs out in the middle of nowhere - guess those ranchers have been having a little too much fun on the side. We also saw the sun setting in the rearview mirror over the foothills of the rockies. Lovely stuff.

Day One

10pm in Missoula.

today was a whole lotta things: long, hot, rainy, exhausting, funny, & bumpy. It was pouring rain as we drove out of Seattle but sunny and warm on the other side of the mountains. I remembered how beautiful Eastern Washington is.

Buddy was really good in the truck (there is a small bed in between our seats) but he would jump into the lap of the person in the passenger seat when things got to bumpy or rumbly.

We made it to Missoula by 7.

I think the best part of the day was finding the Good Food Store in Missoula. We had a dinner that rhonda proclaimed to be "the best road food ever." It was so nice to get through a day on the road and not feel as though we had been dipped in fat and rolled around in salt and sugar. Tomorrow we drive the whole state of Montana. It should take us 9-10 hours.