Lucas: Yep.
Me: That’s not much time is it?
Lucas: Nope.
Me: And we have, what, the length of the United States left?
Lucas: Uh-huh.
Me: That’s like, a crap-ton of driving.
Lucas: Oh yeah.
For those unaccustomed to my units of measurement, a ‘crap-ton’ (which is much closer to a ‘whole-bleeping-hell-of-a-lot’ than to ‘quite-a-bit’) is about 4,000 miles. Probably more. So considering this, and the fact that we’ve put a heavy restraining order on all-night drives , the next two weeks will be filled with days on the road and nights wherever we can find food, a place to sleep, and if we’re lucky (which we generally are) the familiar face of a friend.
On our last day in Seattle we faced the idea of running into our ex-flame, the 10-12 hour all night drive (despite the court order she keeps on calling). It had been our original plan to drive across Washington, Idaho, and straight into Glacier National Park in Montana all in one go. But as Whitney and Kate both packed to leave, the 5 lone bussers looked at each other and said ‘no way Jose’. Jose pouted in the corner and we made last minute plans in Spokane and Kalispell, rearranging our schedule and breaking up the drive quite nicely.
From Seattle we drove to Spokane, where we stopped and spoke to a few locals interested in our project, and were appallingly late for the dinner that had been prepared for us at Mike Maccini ‘08’s house. After the 5 of us demolished his ‘dinner for 10’, and inhaled dessert, we lounged and scattered for bed. In the morning Mike made us a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and huckleberry (a reoccurring theme later in the day) jam, further proving his undeniable kitchen prowess. Lucas, can we switch roommates? I think that I might appreciate Mike more than you.
After saying goodbye to Mike we set off for Kalispell, Montana, or as Frances calls it, “Cow’s Bell Montana? What?” Lucas, Esther, And Merritt drove the (now) ever-so-spacious bus, as Frances and I took off in the chase car to do errands before following along. What was a pretty, but uneventful drive for the three riding the bus, proved to be a bit more action-packed for us chase car kids. After a wrong turn in Idaho, and some screwy directions, Fran and I found ourselves careening through cow country and climbing a switch-backed mountain on a dirt road looking for a town that wasn’t even on the map. Side note: did you know that you can make just about anything with huckleberry? According to the numerous billboards we passed, huckleberry is great in barbeque sauce, ice cream, syrup, jam, and soap!
After finding Murray (the town that’s not on the map) and asking for directions inside of the Bedroom Goldmine Bar (where there were more tractors parked than cars) Frances and I got back on track and made good time up to Kalispell. The other three were waiting for us there gnawing on some ribs in Erin Windouer ‘08’s house. Erin is a firefighter. Erin is tremendously cool. That night a few people headed off to a local bar, I don’t know what happened there because I was sleeping and dreaming of giant huckleberries. Heaps of them.
On the road: Jack Kerouac eat my veggie dust
-Hayley
1 comment:
Thank you for keeping your fan club up to date. The BGB is coming into some of the most beautiful parts of the country. Enjoy! (And take lots of pictures.)
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