Notes From All Over
MJBlogger returned on Wednesday from a one week road trip with MJBlogger's dad; a man who has survived many trials over the last 29 years. A few notes on the places he has been seem appropriate to share at this time.
Wednesday, August 3rd, Blogger drove to San Jose to see friend Dana, who graced California with her presence for the first time in many a moon. He then drove to Las Vegas and picked up dad at the stroke of midnight, or shortly thereafter.
Since Blogger was driving a rented Yellow Mustang Convertible (imagine a flying banana), driving the strip until 1 AM only seemed appropriate. There are still thousands of people on the strip at 1 AM on Wednesday nights. However, none of the good looking people are out at this time. They only come out on weekends. Probably because they have actual jobs, or concerned parents who would wonder where they were on a school night.
Blogger questions if this reflects badly on his presence at such an hour.
Thursday, the Flying Banana left Las Vegas and continued on to Utah, where it successively visited Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Canyon Reef, and Arches (all National Parks).
Blogger would like to take a moment to add a word here about drivers inside National Parks and how they handle a vehicle. Badly.
If you want an additional word to describe the driving, I would suggest "Slow."
There is nothing quite as uniquely frustrating as a tourist trying to find their way to some obscure destination who can't even find the clearly marked slow vehicle turnout. In such situations, the double yellow line takes the shape of the yellow brick road and to not drive across it seems to be an insult to Henry Ford, apple pie, and the American way.
Blogger does his best to not insult such important American institutions. What a sensitive young lad he is.
Moab, Utah, was an especially nice treat. We put gas in our car only to be besieged by the thickest bunch of bugs ever to survive outside of a microsoft windows environment. A trip to the store netted a can of bug repellent that was sprayed liberally over everything that could possibly be sprayed.
We stayed the night just West of Grand Junction, Colorado. In the morning, we went through a delightful stretch of nothingness often referred to as Western Colorado. Then we hit the dam that makes the Flaming Gorge Area so beautiful near the meeting of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado.
After heading past the dam, we went straight to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
A word about Jackson Hole. Jackson Hole actually has three different names: Jackson Hole, Jackson, and undisclosed location. Many of the shoppers in the downtown area seemed more affluent than the average millionare. However, there were not that many really hot sport cars. Hummers and Porsche Cayenne SUVs were the vehicles of choice. Oh, the Rugged Rich.
The Grand Tetons were next, followed by Yellowstone. The Grand Tetons were very Grand. Yellowstone had more than it's share of animals. A herd of buffalo held us up for 30 minutes when it refused to make up its mind which side of the road it should be on.
Tourists, mainly from other countries, refused to take their pictures and move on, causing a traffic jam of sorts. Blogger was given his instructions so he pulled through the herd (with the top down on the convertible) and nearly incited a stampede. Unfortunately, Yellowstone Bison are too lazy to stampede off cliffs like their more energetic ancestors. What a pity.
The Flying Banana stopped for the night in Butte, Montana. The next morning, the 115 miles from Butte to Missoula was covered in just over 1 hour and 15 minutes. I'm sure it had something to do with the wind at our back or the Jonny Cash in our CD player.
From there we went to Kalispell and then cut across through Libby to the Yaak to enjoy time with our family.
Blogger truly has a nice family. Not once have any attempts been made on his life by any family members.
Blogger and Blogger Brother by law, Mike, went hiking in the woods and ran into one of the 5 State of Montana Wolf Trackers, Kent. Kent informed us that two of the sixteen packs in the whole state of Montana were in a ten mile period of our relatives cabins. When people disappear in Montana, there is no fear that they went to waste.
Sunday, Blogger temporarily parted ways with his family in the great State of Idaho - home of Freedom Fries and Freemen. He went to an art festival with a friend from law school and was reminded of how truly short his hair is in comparison to the humanity degree owning public.
After spending the night in Moscow, he played around in Hells Canyon on the way down to Boise. Somewhere along the way, he spotted this sign "Litter Clean-up in this area sponsored by 666 Warning Assembly of _____ (forgot town name)." While happy to see church so strong in Idaho, Blogger was tempted to laugh.
He fell.
In Boise, Blogger saw the sights with another law school chum. Sights such as the engraven statute on the Greenbelt Anne Frank Memorial that had a "They" instead of a "The." Public School teachers in Idaho probably refer to this as "creative spelling."
Tuesday, Blogger zoomed to Auburn, California in just under 6 hours.
This was very fun. However, many bugs and two birds lost their lives in the dedicated service of survival of the fittest. Blogger Wins!
Wednesday morning, Blogger zoomed back to Fresno, and approximately 3800 miles was complete.
Life is good.
