Night 2 - Benpi's in Minneapolis

Day 3 - 1.22.02
left late from ben's, drove across north dakota, made it into montana at night; saw the signs for the painted desert but couln't see more than some lumpy landscape

Jan 22
5:08pm (Central)
Kindred, N. Dakota
On US94 just past a town called Kindred, North Dakota. Still driving nearly into the sunset. Listening to the Cowboy Junkies.

Got a slow start today at Benpi's. We got in last night around 7 or 8 & went to Burger King & then to get some groceries at some semi-schmancy store where all the aisles are named after streets. Then we came back & did some emailing & Rachael made chocolate-dipped fruit (yum!) & we hung out & ate desert & talked & played 4 rounds of hearts (i think Benpi won w/ me in 2nd, but who knows, we didn't keep score).

Then to bed & a not so great night's sleep on a hard floor. We slept pretty late & Rachael & i made eggs & Josiah did some emailing & we hung out & farted around till noon & then headed on out. It was a really nice visit.

God damn! it's flat out here! And desolate - there's nothing but occasional scrubby stands of trees. The sun just went down as i was writing about our morning & now it's just all hazy blue reflecting off the snow. . The little bristling eyebrows of trees where underground rivers pop up from the ground or along unplowed boundaries of farmers fields give the impression of forests. Maybe there were before all us terrible white people moved in & mowed everything down.

Tower City - 6 } heh
Valley City - 12 } heh

Tower City consists of a diner & a water tower. No towers. I expected something like those isolated bluffs like in Wisconsin. (Shrug) Night 3 - crossed into montana, stopped at the first rest stop we found that was open

Day 4 - 1.23.02
MONTANA!

Such wonderful scenery. Stopped to pee at the top of a hill where I could see for a mile in both directions & saw nothing. Felt much better. J took pictures of cool scenery - stopped at Torrey's Eat to Live All Meals $3.00 for dinner and chatted with mr. Torrey at the cash register on our way out. Told him he should move to Northampton. thought we could make it to portland but didn't realize the error of our ways. Drove through Idaho on Rt. 12 which goes through clearwater national park which is probably gorgeous but it was pitch black with no moon (tho the sky was clear w/ many lovely stars) and the roads were super twisty (couldn't believe the trucks!) stopped to absorb the beauty of the stars & dark forested mountains. Kept seeing shrews crossing the road which my brain saw as moths. Josiah might have seen an elk. Called jason & lori from the Nez Pierce indian rez on rt 12. Told them we'd try to make it. Drove through Lewiston, the shit-stench city. Most disgusting thing I've ever smelled. Got into washington state at some obscene elevation & decided to crash for the night. Jan 23 01
6pm (mountain time)
Missoula, Montana

M O N T A N A ! wow. what a gorgeous state. we drove through badlands for most of the day, which was pretty amazing. We drove past the painted canyon part in N. Dakota at like 9pm (or 10?) last night, but couldn't see much besids lumps & stars. We made it a few miles into Montana before we went to bed (in the car again - mmm, snuggly!) which was exciting. This morning we were up again before dawn & got on the road again. I took a bunch of pictures today which is good b/c I can't even begin to describe how cool & breathtaking all of Montana is. Around each corner was something new.

There were ghost towns (one with what looked to be only a city hall, general store & one other building still standing) and awesome log cabin ranches. (A bunch had the "old west" style gate w/ a sign over the top!!) And there were some nice houses & some dead car graveyards next to trailers.

Everything out here is named after Lews and/or Clark.

Night 4 - rest stop at the summit of some mountain that started with an A - Alpowa Summit 2,785ft.

Day 5 - 1.24.02
drove thru a corner of washington state, down into oregon and along the columbia river. Totally gorgeous. (no pun intended!) it looked like the highlands of scotland and the coastline of southwest ireland. Took a scenic detour to the top of some mountain near Ramona? No... not ranier... anyway. R something. Walked around & marveled at the lichen-coated trees & volcanic rock and the cliffs and had deep discussion about my self-esteem problems. Eventually left the gorgeous part & made it to porland & got to jason's apartment at around 4pm. Hung out w/ lori till jason arrived & we hung out & smoked up & shot the shit & listened to music.

Night 5 - jason's computer room floor.

Day 6 - 1.25.02
slept in, got up and took the bus into town w/ lori & fetched jason & matthew at work and liz & another friend of matthew's came & we went to the worst diner in the history of the universe. (the poor little old lady who took one look at the seven of us & threw up her arms, saying "I'm sorry, I can't do this! I don't work here, I'm just helping out!" and the tragically gay waiter/ess and the kitchen staff who couldn't seem to get one single order right even tho there were only 6 of us by the time we got food, as matthew's other gay? friend left for something or other) but we had good conversations (me & jason, matthew & lori and josiah & liz) and plenty of coffee. The boys went back to work & lori & josiah & I hit the town (liz walking us partway to the stores before she had to go to class) to find Manic Panic for lori's hair (some shade of red that started with an R that sounded like "ravine" or something) and we looked at this wacky bookstore that had the geiger tarot & some other cool pulp fiction novels about drugs & gay sex from the 50s and 60s that were funny. Then we went to... Powells. I immediately found $90 worth of books I HAD to have before I got 20 feet into the store (well, went to 2.5 walls and had to give up b/c my arms were full) which I put on hold & had delivered when I got paid 5 days later. Drool. We went back to jason's work & picked him up outside (josiah & I waited out front having a cigarette despite my increasing signs of severe head cold and watched a cool punk dad & his kids play outside) then we took the bus back to jason's apartment. There was some dicking around and useless flailing before everyone else went to return movie, get some foodstuff while I waited at home for signs of matthew who was supposed to come over. He called and said his car was still in the shop (not having even made it out of their parking lot when he went to fetch it from said shop) and would need a ride over. I went back to being miserable on the couch and when jason lori & josiah came back we sent josiah back to get matthew. He did & lori made food and I passed out on the couch and various ones of us smoked up (much to matthew's dismay and amusement) or maybe all of us, I forget, and we engaged in good old mod 36 type discussions of AIDS, rape fantasies, music, philosophy... you name it. And had amazing pasta (complete with the antipasto that they'd whipped up on a tray made from thin air and tin foil) and it was wonderful. Josiah got tired & went to bed, declining to come with the rest of us on our way to return matthew which included a stop at a pub he liked. The waitress could tell that we were chemically altered and gave us a hard time for no good reason. Still, we sat at a table near the door and had a pitcher of "Hair of the Dog" ale which was a little too hoppy for me (had that grapefruit taste) and discussed starting a cockmine commune and taking over the world. (lori asserted that she could be steve jobs in a year and a half if she so desired) then we took matthew home & we came back to the apartment to discover a mysterious bullet hole on the inside of the building's front door. Then we went to bed. Night 6 - jason's music room floor.

Day 7 - 1.27.02
jason stayed home, lori dyed her hair, we farted around for a while and eventually drove intothe city for lunch & coffee and then out to a park somewhere where we hiked around a bit and the boys pissed and I had my period & couldn't pee outside but we went home shortly thereafter. When we got home jason left again to get hillary (the one-eyed super mook) so she could hang out & we smoked more & drank some & ate I think and the guys played spades & I spaced out being sick and stoned and then we gave hillary a ride home & stayed at her place that night

Night 7 - slept on a futon in Mookie's living room with the cats - awesome house!

Day 8 1.27.02 -
left early, drove down Interstate 5 to south of san francisco to ellie's house - got there late, hung out for a little bit with ellie & silly chef boy and lewisbird the cat (got fast food at Carl Jr's) and passed out

Night 8 - ellie's foldout couch in sweet oblivion

Day 9 - 1.28.02
superbowl Sunday! Did absolutely nothing all day. jeff made wonderful omelettes that we ate outside on picnic table on the deck. Later we watched the superbowl which I groggily slept through parts of (except I was awake to see the 3 touchdowns in 36 seconds) don't remember much of that day.

Night 9 - ellie's foldout couch.

Day 10 -1.29.02
left pretty early (9ish) and drove around san francisco looking for Tom, josiah's uncle, or his brother Aaron or anyone else we knew. Accidentally left the city on the bay bridge & had to pay to get back in to the city. Went to golden gate park and walked around a bit, did some of the little fitness exercizes on the fitness trail, and eventually sat down in front of the duck pond in the sun and read our books (I borrowed "Little, Big" by John Crowley from ellie and josiah was reading the last book of the Fionavar Tapestry) in the empty marble archway of some old huge house that had survived the big fire of 1906 or whenever it was that had been relocated next to the duck pond. Thoroughly enjoyed the sunny california sun and mid-50s or low 60s temperatures. Eventually we found Tom's studio in the Mission and hung out with him there (saw some great pictures of josiah and jlynn and jamie & jonah from last summer) and after a while we left and headed for Sacramento to visit Gnome for a couple hours (naomi brewer, my old j2 hampshire buddy) who was totally psyched and happy to see us & it was wonderful. A friend of hers named... amy? came over & brought weed & we more or less hotboxed the little apartment. We decided not to stay there for the night & headed back to the bay area to spend the night at heather & craig's in petaluma. we got there with enough energy to hang out for a little while before josiah passed out (played the piano, watched an episode of Ab Fab, saw the infamous Tiki room, discussed books, discussed the network setup at their house & decided it ruled and almost kicks our network's ass. Josiah went to bed & I took a shower, then stayed up reading a Laurel K. Hamilton novel for a bit before going to sleep.

Jan 29
11:22am Pacific
S. San Francisco, Rt. 101

Woops. I was bad @ writing every day.

After Montana we drove through the most amazing bit of Idaho I've ever seen - the Clearwater National Forest which we went through on Rt 12 in the middle of the night. (Well, not really the middle but it was dark.

Night 10 - heather & craig's guest room in the lap of luxury, despite the smallish bed

Day 11 - 1.30.01
slept late, heather & craig having already left for work hours earlier. Checked our email with their DHCP DSL connection and hit the road. Headed back into san francisco to hang out with Tom some more. i was sickly. No idea what we did that day. eventually we ate, went to see Tom's apartment and met his girlfriend monica pasqual who's pretty cool. I helped move her outlook express files from one mac to another and she gave me a nifty painkiller/antibio for the sickness which ruled. We ate somewhere - monica made soup I think - then we headed to Aaron's a few blocks away. He & lisa were just finishing up a candle lit dinner event with some friends who were way cool, and we sat around the fire. I drank water and agonized for a bit, and we sat around talking then went to bed. Josiah parked the car far far away and I angsted about his safety and waited up for him to let him in the downstairs gated door. I think I took a shower before bed...

Night 11 - another lap of luxury in aaron & lisa's guest room (aka lisa's office)

Day 12 - 1.31.01
got up rather late & had a nice leisurely morning before getting up to discover the car had had a window smashed & lots of stuff stolen which was very sad. I got some herbal stuff for my sickness while josiah made that discovery. I lost a bunch of irreplacable stuff (mostly mix tapes from ex boyfriends and ONE FUCKING BOOT) and both my CD players and my LLBean backpacks and a lot of my winter gear. Very upsetting. We met aaron for lunch at his office and I moped & kept bursting into tears. :( after lunch we went to a glass place where they ordered a new window to be sent to the Reno shop where we'd fetch it the next day. Ronnie the guy at ProGlass was wonderful & amazing. He even had them tape a piece of cardboard over the window which was very nice considering the deal he gave us on the glass. ($136 installed!) we were grateful & appreciative. I think we hung out w/ tom again after that, then met aaron & lisa for dinner at a neat thai place. (I DON'T like softshell crabs!) then back to aaron & lisa's & we parked in a better neighborhood.

Night 12 - lisa & aaron's guest room again. I went to bed first for once & josiah & aaron stayed up talking till 2.

Day 13 - 2.1.01
lisa left before dawn to fly to salt lake city on business and we missed aaron leaving when we were putting stuff in the car. We left at around 9 or 10 and spent the next 2 hours trying to get out of the motherfucking city. Drove all day to Reno where we got the window replaced & tried to decide where to head. Went to safeway & got food and to circuit city to get a stereo, power inverter (which I'm using now with my laptop) and tape adapter for my computer (which I'm using now to play mp3s) and headed across Nevada. Bor-ing. Except for the old mining ghost town of Frisco which we walked around in. Stopped just short of Ely, Nevada.

Feb 1 2001
10:36am
San Francisco, 24th & Sanchez

Night 13 - rest stop in buttfuck, nevada about 40 miles west of Ely (Joe! There's a motel 6 in Ely!)

Day 14 - 2.2.01
slept pretty late the next day and we continued on our way across Utah, which was pretty amazing looking even if we didn't get to see the really cool monuments and petrified forests & shit. Drove all day aiming for boulder, CO but somewhere in utah about 5 minutes after josiah got off the phone with his friend Astrid (whose place in boulder we were aiming for) the alternator belt broke & we spent an hour & a half in a gas station parking lot.

The bearded angel from alaska story goes here.

We got back on the road after a 20 minute belt change and actually made it to Astrid's at around 4am. Saw lots of really cool shit while approaching & crossing the rockies.

Night 14 - slept on astrid's living room floor with the cats mewing and the dogs snuffling in the morning

Day 15 - 2.3.01
got up pretty late -- too late to see the badlands by day, unfortunately :-( -- and ate breakfast & I sent an email to kirsten to tell her we were coming while josiah jammed on keys with one of astrid's housemates. We tracked down josiah's uncle john's number (tom & his dad's brother) and after getting directions and a map from astrid's bluegrass-guitar playing housemate (not the hottie piano player) we were on the road. Saw lots of really boring prarie. Saw some cool stuff as we approached the black mountains (hills?) in south dakota, but we knew we'd never make it to the badlands by day. which turned out ok, b/c we saw the badlands by bright moonlight on rt 240 (tho pictures didn't happen) and it was ghostly and other worldly and I loved it. I rode with my head out the window like a dog for ages. It was fucking windy as hell. Brr.

Night 15 - Got to john & em's at some obsurd hour of the night like 4:30am. Wonderful luxury of a bed there.

Day 16 - 2.4.01
slept rediculously late and got up around 1:30 (only being awoken once by philip and robbie jumping & screaming at some ungodly hour of the morning) and hung out all day with john & em and their kids philip and robbie who are amazing and brilliant little tykes. We had lots of fun. John is really cool and em is pretty neat too. Played with the kids, john made tapes for us, we had a wonderful dinner of corn & potato chowder & creamcheese & lox on crackers (real lox, which I'm not fond of) and after the kids went to bed the 4 grownups talked a while, then john josiah & i stayed up late playing Oh Hell, which is a groovy game.

Night 16 - another night of luxury in the erikson's guest room. Stayed up too late.

Day 17 - 2.5.01
got up too early for when we went to bed, awakened by philip popping his head into our room & announcing it was almost 8:00. We said goodbye to the boys as they headed to school. We had breakfast & discussed mp3s with john (I illustrated Moby with my laptop) then went on our merry way to Kalamazoo College, where we called kirstenCrow from a payphone directly outside her window where she waved at us. We parked across the street and all went to Denny's with kirsten and her boy dave. Then back to get the car and drove to dave's (4 or 5 minutes away) where we stayed up talking and hanging out till a silly hour of the night. (3:30 or so)

Night 17 - dave's couch futon on the floor for not enough hours

Day 18 - 2.6.01
walked to breakfast at an excellent diner in kalamazoo (a "joint" definitely) and then back to the house where we went potty & had a last few minutes of chat and hit the road at 12:30. Still on the road.

Night 18 - our own bed. Home sweet home.