Downgraded through exhaustion

Now it’s my turn to post. Chuck is driving through the amazing mountains of Montana along a 75mph speed limit. One problem: the road is so twisty and windy in places and if you go the speed limit you’re bound to wind up with your vehicle all twisty and windy from flipping down the hill. I was sooo excited last night at 0200ish when I could drive so fast!!! Then I found all the twists and bends in the road to be rather challenging in the dark. Then I got sleepy and we felt like Mary and Joseph on our way to Bethlehem. Except I doubt Mary and Joseph bickered the way Chuck and I did on the way to find a place to sleep. In the wee hours of the morning it’s almost scary to hear the strange conversations we have. Chuck had me laughing like crazy while he was busting my chops. If I hadn’t been so tired (and busy trying to stay on the road) I probably would’ve gotten mad at him. But laughing was just so much easier.

NO ROOM at the Inn!!! None of them! We finally found a Motel 6 in Deer Park, MT that had one room available… and it was 0330!!! Fine, works for me. I just wanna go to sleep. Yeah, right. It was quite a downgrade from our nights at the Fairmont in Seattle, but I’m really not THAT picky. Although, I do prefer to sleep in a bed that doesn’t sag in the middle and have a pillow that’s a little bit thicker than paper. But I guess that’s a bit too much to ask for in the middle of nowhere Montana. Needless to say, I didn’t get a great night’s sleep.

Before we found the “wonderful” Motel 6, we stopped in Missoula, MT to find a room. And every hotel/motel was full. And Chuck and I wondered, “What the hell are all these people doing in Missoula, MT on a Thursday night?!” There’s not much there as far as touristy-type stuff goes. Except for maybe the hotel called “C’Mon Inn.” No joke, that’s the name of it. And it actually looked like a pretty nice hotel. Full, of course.

The landscape throughout MT in truly a sight to behold. Beautiful mountains and rock hills. The rocks are actually vertical, not horizontal. And they are HUGE! We are finally getting close to Yellowstone, our next destination. We stopped at WallyWorld (Wal-Mart) to get some camping stuff and we were hoping to camp out tonight. But now it’s raining. And apparently the east side of Yellowstone is closed due to all the forest fires. The sky is filled with ash and clouds – rain clouds and smoke clouds. As I was flying to Seattle on Monday I got a bird’s eye view of the fires and smoke – devastating. Smoke and fire everywhere!

Now the sun has come back out and I can barely see the screen in order to keep babbling. Check back daily for more updates (if you’re really bored or something). I’m sure Chuck will be ready to share his wit and charm soon.

UPDATE: We are now at Yellowstone. I wrote the above post a few hours back, but was unable to actually post it due to the fact that we were IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE and I couldn’t get a signal. The weather is beautiful again so Chuck and I are still planning to camp out. Don’t have much of a choice since all lodging is full here. If you have never been to Yellowstone, I highly recommend a visit here. Words can not describe the beauty and uniqueness of this place. It’s very relaxing (except when Chuck gets distracted and forgets to watch the road… little scary!). I think I’ll drive now J

God Bless!

Carren