Day 1, 2 and 3

June 4, 5, and 6

Day 1

From Mickey:

We are finally on our way! It was hard to say goodbye to Tucker. Gary (a/k/a Pilot) was gracious to let Mickey (a/k/a Co-Pilot) go at her own pace this morning, thus the 9:15 a.m. departure, unlike four years ago (5:15 a.m. departure)! We had lunch on the road and dinner NW of Minneapolis at Perkins. Stayed at Sinclair Lewis (public) RV park. Backed the camper up to the edge of the water and went right to bed! It was 9:30, but 10:30 Michigan time.

Stats: 677 mi; 59 gal; 11.5 mpg; aver 60 mph

Day 2

From Mickey:

Pulled out of campground at 6:15…neither one of us could sleep any longer. Pilot has Co-Pilot doing all the secretarial work when he’s driving…and some math! This is a quote from the Pilot: “So here we are, Thursday morning, and the Pilot gets the idea to figure out how much money we’re saving on our better gas mileage (yesterday, 11.5 vs. four years ago, 9.1; 65 mph, no headwind vs. 70 mph). We were both feeling really good about this until we do the math and find out on a 900 mile trip, we saved 10 gal, i.e., $40. Upon this revelation, the Pilot puts the pedal to the metal!” Had breakfast at a rest stop an hour into our drive. Had a little excitement already. Pilot saw a deer in the median of the highway and was pointing it out to me. For some reason he didn’t slow down until he realized the deer was spooking and going to run across the road in front of us. This is no exaggeration: The deer crossed in front of us within inches…Mickey could see its eyelashes and terrified eyes! Had lunch just outside Bismark. Took MT 24 to Fort Peck, where we would spend the night. It’s a two lane road in the middle of nowhere with no cars. Saw red tail hawk and took pictures. One the pictures of the road is on this blog. Stopped at the scenic overlook at Fort Peck Dam. Didn’t expect to see the world’s largest earthen dam. It was amazing. Fort Peck Lake has 1,500 miles of shoreline! Arrived at Downstream Campground in Fort Peck at 6:00. It was nice to relax after the day of driving. Gary had a beer and cigar while we waited for the coals to heat up for our brats. Wine, salad, guagamole and beans with the brats outside on our picnic table. We even had a fire. Met Melvin and Helen from eastern MT. Melvin flies a super Cub for his ranch. He bought it new in 1986 and he’s the only who’s only flown it and still flies it daily, herding cattle and hunting wolves. He and Helen are taking their first get away from the ranch, but their boys are already putting a guilt grip on him for leaving. We told him about our motto, “Don’t wait until you’re in a walker.” Melvin, like Gary, got a jury notice just before he left. He said, “They’ll have to come and get me; I’m leaving.” Gary liked the sound of that.

Stats: 678 mi; 61 gal; 11 mpg; 60 mph

Day 3

From Mickey:

We left the campground at 8:00 this morning, headed to Anna’s and Kurt’s. Driving through Saco, MT (pop.362), along Milk River (that’s the color), listening to CNN’s Candi Crowley interviewing Obama about political stuff, Mickey was listening to her MP3 player (bluegrass, of course). Looking at the town, the Co-Pilot breaks forth with a trueism, “Those people in Washington do not have a clue about these people here, and vise versa.” We had lunch in Hingham, MT, in a city park. We headed straight for Kurt and Anna. Arrived at 3:13 p.m. Anna was running an errand when we got here, but she’s here now! And Camas was very happy to see us, too!

We will be downloading this before our day is over because the Saturday guys want a report before JP’s.

Stats: 313 mi; 31.7 gal; 9.9 mpg; 53 mph

Now for the creative half of this couple: Gary:

Revelations and Mysteries:

First of all, thanks to all who made this trip possible: my boss, fellow employees picking up the slack, backup pilots, Leah and Derek house and pet-sitting, HC getting out a week early, and, of course, the Big One – Thanks, God! Yesterday’s Common Lectionary had the great Ecclesiastes passage in chapter 3: for everything there is a season. After the Simon and Garfunkle parts it says: moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in their toil. Now, I know you have to be careful about reading into the passage. After all, some people use that New Testament passage about “wearing the marks of Christ” as justification for bodily disfiguration (Q&A One). But, along with enjoying food and drink, it feels pretty good to travel. What a blessing for me that I have pleasure in my job as well as I-94 through North Dakota!

The mystery of the day is, why do they call them “rest stops?” I hardly ever see anybody resting there. [Co-Pilot did, at the last stop!] In fact, at the end of the day, we passed on resting at one of the rest stops and instead paid $20 to stay at the Sauk Centre Sinclair Lewis campground. This generated a discussion by two old people [Co-Pilot says, speak for yourself, Pilot!] with CRS disease (Can’t Remember Stuff) [Co-Pilot agrees, we both have this disease], wondering who is Sinclair Lewis? Is he the Chicago stockyard guy, or was that Upton Sinclair, or maybe Huey Lewis? Can anyone out there help us on this one? But, we had a good rest at the park. Back to rest stops, the question of the day is, when do we stop? Can we make it to the next one? Quick, Co-Pilot, look at the map and see how far it is. To help us with this critical decision, we need to go with that crusty old fart and advice giver, Jack Nicholson. He said there are three things he’s learned about getting old, one of them being “never pass up a restroom.” (Ask Bill and Di about the other two!) And as to the name, “rest stops,” we’ll have to go with Co-Pilot’s favorite, bladder flatter stop, 28 miles.

Songs of the Day: Rejoice in the Lord Always. Co-Pilot sang lead, Pilot sang echo. This is from our devotional, The Joy of Prayer, by Al Vander Griend. Note that it’s ISO 9000, as well as good operating practices, to require the Pilot, while driving, unlike in the airplane, to pray with eyes open! The other song was hard for the Co-Pilot to remember [because she’d never heard it before, so it’s not CRS disease], especially with the Pilot singing the one phrase he could remember! The phrase is, “I want to ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh…” Providentially, XM Radio Nashville played it this morning (second day). It’s Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettels (sp) singing, “I just want to ooh, ooh….love you.”

We ended the second day taking great pleasure with a bottle of merlot and nicely turned brats. We both slept real good.

Friday morning we met PA Bob, a retired school teacher who, along with his wife, are also headed to Alaska. We determined that when you meet people on the road, there are “one-ways” and “two-ways.” Bob was a one-way. We heard a lot about Bob (“what about Bob?), but Bob didn’t hear much about us. Nancy, on the other hand, was a two-way. She’s from Gallatin, MT, riding her Yamaha Virago by herself with all her camping gear. We traded “where we’re froms and what we dos” after I complimented her on her bike adventure. She told me that she works in a gas station and the reason she got into biking was that every time bikers came in to pay for their gas, they always had smiles on their faces. So last year she learned how to ride and this year she’s on the road. I told her we sold our Yamaha V-Star for gas money to Alaska, but we’ll be smiling again soon. After pulling out of Fort Peck, we hit the road, the road being US 2. US 2 is one of America’s classic roads. It’s not an expressway, but you can go 70 mph most of the time. You do have to slow down for the myriad of small towns you go through. One of them was Hingham, MT, where we had lunch at their beautiful park. The center of the park was almost filled up with a big white tent for an impending wedding. While we were eating, several young men came and went, obviously part of tonight’s celebrations. The wind was a steady 30, gusting to 40+ and we both thought of an upcoming Funniest Home Videos where not the bride falls down but the tent falls down. We said a little prayer and moved on. We’ll be at Anna’s and Kurt’s in a couple hours. We’re looking forward to the rodeo tomorrow and church at Conrad CRC, which we have to go to because the Dalmans are in charge of treats. Another good reason for going is to worship with God’s people and hear Vander Veen preach. Rev. Reese Vander Veen, that is. Stay tuned for the next update on this adventure.