Natebot
Make It A Natebot Night.

It's been a while since I last wrote, mostly trying to seattle in - um, settle in, that is. I'm typing away sitting on floor of my third floor apartment overlooking the rooftops of Ballard and the distant snow-laced Olympics.

Here's a brief synopsis of our journey west. It pretty much reads like our journey - rushed. Maybe when Amanda's photos show up I'll go a bit more in-depth on the journey.

DAY 1 - We made Sioux Falls SD on the first day, after a nonstop drive through highway Illinois and cloud covered Iowa, we stay at a crap motel that 'kept the [dim 40-watt] light on for you' and had crappier food - punishing ourselves for burning 900 miles of gas blood sweat on the American freeways on our breakneck race to the emerald shores of the Puget. The restaurant was called the "Rollin' Pin" and is like the Cracker Barrel without the Barrel part. I should have known when I saw duct-tape on my booth-seat that it was the kinda place where travelers fall asleep from drinking the dishwater coffee and burn holes in their seats with their cigarette butts. I don't smoke and so, feeling immortal, I decided to brave the place. I won't say more but let me finish by saying that when you get more meat than lettuce on your chef salad you know you are west of the Mississippi. Who ever heard of roast beef on a salad?

DAY 2 - The second day was grand as we slowed our jets to spy the wide open places and in turn open ourselves to the caress of northern winds bearing the scents of sage and sand. This was Amanda's first view of the Badlands, or as the French explorers first called it "Lands so Bad it's gots to attract lots of fat Americans with camcorders." We ought to have some photos soon for all you folks never seeing the rocks that make SD proud. I am certifiably a empathetic worry-wort because I kept getting anxious seeing tubby kids from Cleveland run to the edge of vertigo cliffs in a puff of loose dust and hearing grind of their nikes with reluctant friction against the breakaway cliff-sand. Don't they have cliffs in Cleveland? But who am I to argue against evolution's ,or errosion's, great plan? Seems a fit a place for a Darwin award as any.


LATER THAT SAME DAY - We camped at Devil's Tower that night and hiked the trail around its base at dusk. You know it's not as big as it looks. Bunch of rock. Hardly worthy of ole' Scratch's name if you ask me. Only 100yards across the top. or so they tell me. We made it around the base in about an hour at a leasurely pace. We met some interesting folks on that walk around, including a gap toothed mother of 4 from Idaho contemplating, threatening her running for President, with her army of tiny-handed envelope stuffers anxious for a change. They breed them optimistic in Idaho don't they? Now if they can just get some dentists. Idealism and periodontalism are not opposing values.

Also we spied a few climbers repelling down the north side. That's the way to see the Tower I think, up close spreading your weight across the lichen green stone. The soft coo of cliff doves and clank of carabiner against piton the music of your assent. And the shadow of buzzards reminding you that you've left behind any decent sense your monkey-genes could have provided you at thje tree-tops 800 feet below.

oh and if you were wondering how our first national monument might have been formed I found this little essay quite enlightening. All this time I thought the Tower was formed by the praying of indians evading a grizzly bear but now I know if all part of Noah's Flood. sheesh, I can't believe all those wasted tax dollars on public education when we've got such geniuses at work on the Interweb.

Day 3- We burned through Montana under the watchful big sky in a single afternoon and sliced through northern Idaho - I could spend a few months in that thin slice of highway climbing, rafting, sleeping under the moon light forests - and arriving in Spokane by dusk. We made good on our promise to treat ourselves better by taking a penthouse suite overlooking the smoke-gray city and ordered everything from the menu and twice from the drink menu. Do you know they actually will bring food to your room and you are not required to be clothed? It is rare that I have exerted my privilege in being unapologetically American - having been captive of Hoosier decency all these years - but burning asphalt of 4 states in 12 hours will unshackle the most indentured mind.

Day 4 - from Spokane we had a pleasant run to Seattle through forest-fire smoke filled skies and stopped at Roslyn WA for lunch. We took the obligatory tourist photos and bought some Northern Exposure stuff and pulled into Seattle in the afternoon. We got lost driving around about 3 times. After pleasing the coyote trickster of Seattle's twisting streets we found my workplace and unloaded all my ownings into my boss's office. We went for a beer with my old college pals in the city. It all feels weird in that wonderful travel buzz surreal way. Welcome to the Emerald city.

Well there you have it. Maybe it wasn't so brief, eh?