Day 6 (also known as Tie Fighter Day)

Date: Saturday July 11, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: a rest area outside Glascow Montana

Distance to drive: 357 miles

Hours to drive: 5 hours and 43 minutes

Destination: a rest area outside Rugby North Dakota

Planned activities: driving

Quote of the day:  The little one loves to have her window open when driving, so today Chad has been opening her window when the speed limit is slower as we drive through small towns.  As we speed up to return to 70 miles an hour the little one says, “Can we go speedy Daddy?”.   Chad replies, “We are going speedy”.  Her response is, “Actually we aren’t!”

2^nd  Quote of the day:  “I am like a kid in a candy store!”, says Chad, my weather loving husband, with glee as he sits by the window enjoying a second night of amazing thunder and lightning storms all around us.  These prairie storms are amazing.  The trailer is rocking, the rain is coming in the windows sideways and the sheet lightning is constant.  Mother Nature puts on quite a show.  Needless to say that Chad is getting none of his blog written tonight because he is too mesmerized by the storm. 

This morning we started out our day by befriending a dog.  It was a pit-bull terrier cross who had recently had puppies and seemed to have been abandoned at the rest area over night.  Our assumption was that someone had used her to produce puppies and then didn’t need her anymore.  She was very friendly and wanted to join us on our journey.  Luckily there was a Montana Department of Transportation Employee cleaning the bathrooms and he took the dog with him to take to the local animal rescue centre.     

Today was another spectacular day traveling.  There were no children bickering, limited whining and we didn’t even need to pull out all of the possible activities for the day. 

We spend the first part of today in Montana and the second part in North Dakota.  They may be neighbouring states, but they are very different.  Once we were through the mountains Montana was endless yellow rolling hills, whereas North Dakota is lush green fields with small pockets of trees.  The people of Montana were incredibly friendly and helpful.  The only people from North Dakota we have had contact with have been in Rugby (the geographical centre of North America).  They were all disgruntled and anything, but helpful.  I don’t know how happy I would be if by 5pm on a Saturday night the only places that were open were a couple of gas stations, a restaurant with lounge attached and the Dairy Queen.  Needless to say that we had dinner at the DQ.

Day 5 (also known as Imperial Walker Day)

Date: Friday July 10, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Fish Creek Campground, Glacier National Park

Distance to drive: 376 miles

Hours to drive: 6

Destination: a rest area outside Glascow Montanan

Planned activities: driving (and not too many stops)

Fact of the day: We have only stopped to put Diesel in the truck four times since leaving home and we have used approximately 250 litres of fuel to travel 1,700 km. 

Highlight of the day:  Driving through the rolling hills of the prairies with Chad singing “I Love You” by the Bare Naked Ladies, the little one playing with her water bottle that was squirting Chad and making the both of them laugh and the older one finishing her fourth novel of the day.   

           

We were up by 8:15 this morning and we didn’t need to check out until noon.  We were in no hurry and it seemed like lots of time.  I started straightening up and packing right away.  I only stopped to eat breakfast and was finally ready at 11:55. 

It was fascinating watching the landscape change from forested mountains to the great plains.  We are driving on Interstate 2 (the Great Northern Route).  We drove through countless small towns that were named after European cities to try to attract foreign settlers along the railway.  Most towns consist of a grain elevator, some silos and an interesting mix of the remnants of settlers homes and slightly newer farm houses.  

The girls were spectacular travellers today and the little one even managed an hour nap.  We managed to arrive at the rest area by 7:35pm.  After running around the grassy area and a quick dinner, the girls were asleep the second their heads hit the pillow.  We are now sitting inside a swaying trailer as the winds rip around outside and we have been enjoying the lightning of a storm to the south of us for over an hour now.  The rain has now started. 

Day 4 (also known as Darth Vader Day)

Date:  Thursday July 9, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Fish Creek Campground

Distance to drive: 0 km

Hours to drive: 0

Destination: relaxation

Planned activities: a hike around Rocky Point Loop, some time at the beach, a showers for me and the girls and a campfire with smores

Quote of the day: “My poop looks like brown sugar”.  I told you I was going to be spending lots of time hanging out in the bathroom.  She seems to have all sorts of crazy revelations while sitting on the toilet.

Our first official hike was a success.  One scrapped knee, but that is at least tumble number ten so we weren’t surprised.   It was interesting to see the signs of the 2003 forest fire that ripped through portions of Glacier National Park along the edge of Fish Creek Campground.  There were some very informative signs and the older one was very inquisitive about the benefits of the forest fire and the new growth.

How can you tell I put off this post until Friday.  After a long day of travelling I can’t seem to remember anything.

Day 3 (also known as Agent Kallus Day)

Date: July 8, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Fish Creek Campground

Distance to drive: 0 km (Yay!)

Hours to drive: 0 (Thank goodness!)

Destination: the beach

Planned activities: a hike and time at the beach

Quote of the day: Three year olds are an abundance of funny moments.  My favourites of the day are:

While playing at the edge of the water with a stick she says, “I just heard a frog fart.” (FYI We have yet to see a frog)

“I am not capable of that”, she says when I ask her to clean up her toys.  The fact that she can tell me that says that she is more than capable of putting her toys into her bin.

While she was getting ready for bed she says, “Daddy, smell my stinky bum!”.  Now that is love!

Chad researched and had planned all sorts of cool hikes and excursions for our stay at Glacier.  Unfortunately, we have discovered that the upset stomach that Alexis had a week ago and the nausea that I had on the weekend were probably the same illness and today Chad had it.  We, therefore, had a pretty chill day.  It was what Chad required and what the girls really needed.  Everyone slept in and the girls played in the campsite in the morning.  Mid-afternoon we hit the beach. 

The highlight of my day was watching my seven year old play in the water, the sand and with the clay that you can dig up around a large rock near the shore.  She made a friend and the two of them made cookies out of clay.  It brought back many childhood memories of playing at the beach while camping. 

Day 2 (also known as Chopper Day)

Date: Tuesday July 7, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: Huetter Rest Area

Distance to drive:

Hours to drive: 4

Destination: Fish Creek Campground in Glacier National Park

Planned activities: arriving before it is dark

Quote of the day: While using the facilities in the restrooms at our campground the

three year old says, “Mommy, I have two private parts.  Good thing I don’t have four because that would be way too many!”  My response was, “Would it.”.  All I could think was, “Could she please use those parts to finish doing her business so that I can stop hanging out in this bathroom stale.  Wow, is Chad ever lucky we had girls.  I am going to spend half of my trip hanging out in bathroom stales with this little one and he gets to go to the bathroom in peace!”

Quote of the day number 2:  We arrive at Glacier National Park and the seven year old says, “This is not at all what I expected!” Even though we have been talking about hiking, playing at the beach and having campfires, I think she was under the impression that it was Glacier National Playground.  I will have to ask further questions to figure out exactly what she expected.  I did encourage her to write about it in her journal. 

What I have learned in the past 24 hours:  Upon further reflection (I told you there would be clichés), and there was lots of time while traveling today to reflect, waiting at the border, grocery shopping, stopping at three rest areas for bathroom and action breaks, stopping for fuel once and stopping to for dinner obviously adds up to seven hours.  Part way through today we decided that we would take less stops and try to be speedier when we stopped. 

Okay so I have already dropped the ball on one of my goals for the trip.  I wanted to take a picture of the sign at every rest area that we stopped in.  Last night we arrived well after dark at Huetter Rest Area to sleep.  I forgot to take a picture of anything in the rest area.  Oops!

We did manage to make less stops today, but our realization of how long it takes us to do anything came when we pulled into an abandoned gas station to use the trailer bathroom.  It took over 20 minutes for three of us to pee and then get back into the truck.

I warned about my rambling.  As we are sitting here, attempting to enjoy some adult time and writing our blog entries, Chad looks over and says, “Boy you write a lot.” 

For actual details about today you may want to check Chad’s blog www.epicorzenroadtrip.blogspot.ca although he is currently writing about yesterday.  One advantage to being the passenger is that you can, on occasion, do something while driving.  Although, being the passenger and the mom means that I am often contorting myself into crazy positions while attempting to pass things to children, pick up objects that have been dropped on the ground or find something that I know I packed inside the cab of the truck, but I just can’t seem to recall where I stashed it.

On that note, I will say goodnight.  I think it is 10:40 pm here, but I am not certain.  Some of our technology has changed to the current time zone and some hasn’t.

 

Day 1

Here is my warning:  This blog will probably contain ridiculous amounts of details.  I can’t help it.  I think it might be hereditary.  Chad often asks for the Readers’ Digest version.  I have also discovered that I overuse clichés. 

Day: 1 (also known as Zeb Day – My girls are very into Star Wars thanks to Chad.  The older one has seen all six movies and is looking forward to number seven coming out in December.  The girls are watching the cartoon Star Wars Rebels, which takes place between movies three and four.  Ever since Canada Day they have been celebrating a different character every day.  Every day the little one asks her big sister, “What day is it today?”)

Date: Monday July 6, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: home

Distance to drive:  693 km

Hours to drive: almost 7

Destination: Huetter Rest Area Idaho (close to Coeur d’Alene)

Planned activities: grocery shopping in Ellensberg

Quote of the day: “What kind of an idiot rides a motorcycle with crocs”

            We were going over a mountain pass and a guy was riding his Harley with a

t-shirt and crocs.  Chad was not impressed.  I tried to get a picture, but I was too slow.

We managed to leave the house by 8:30 this morning and miraculously we weren’t pulled over at the border after only a 40 minute wait.  Everything has gone relatively smoothly today except for the 90 minutes of peace we thought we would get during movie time.  Instead of watching the movie quietly the little one decided that the headphones didn’t work for her and she also didn’t nap. 

The logical side of me is still trying to figure out how a six hour drive turned into a 14 hour day.    

And we're off!

2 adults
2 children
53 days
11,000 km

It is going to be EPIC.  Sometimes epically good and other times epically bad, but epic nonetheless.