2005 Road Trip

2005-10-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Brrr Cold.. Amen! Fall is finally here!

Rita, Let's Dance

2005-09-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

Fixing what was wrong with the Rita Evacuation.

here is what was planned:
where:

State emergency officials say shelter hub sites, where people can go to be placed at a shelter, have been set up in several cities.

These are the receiving points:

LUFKIN: Lufkin High School, 309 S. Medford, off Loop 287 East.

NACOGDOCHES: Fredonia Hill Baptist Church, 1711 South St. (Business U-S 59)

AUSTIN: Delco Center, 4601 Pecan Brook Drive (off U-S 183)

HUNTSVILLE: Mile marker 101 and a-half on Interstate 45.

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION: Gateway Center, College Station.

SAN ANTONIO: McCreless Mall, 4100 S. New Braunfels Ave. (off I-37

How:

288 to 59, I45, 290, I10, massive clogging... how about more of a spiderweb instead of deadly arteries only?

SISTER CITIES>

everyone talks about neighbors helping neighbors but if there were sister cities already established, it would be more hospitable to have it in place. plan for a cat 5 and designate sister cities to go to instead of sending 1.3 million people to HUNTSVILLE> that was just INSANE. some people from Galveston were supposed to be in huntsville, but others beat them to it, so they went to Centerville, also completely overwhelmed, and finally ended up in Humble, not even part of the plan. PPP if you ask me.

How about a civilized passenger train service? to me it is just completely insane to not have passenger train service between all the major cities in houston. instead of putting yet another freaking lane on the highway and taking 5 years to do it, just put in a passenger train to each major city a load a few thousand at a time, we are such a car oriented society and it is so counter productive. why cant I take a bus from the closest major intersection to I45 or 249 and take a train there downtown? it is just so uncivilized to have cars sucking gas instead of trains operating more efficently.

"All Over"

2005-09-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

we survived quite nicely. not enough damage to even justify a "I survived Rita' T-Shirt. 3:22 pm, which is much faster than expected. our updates up until now has been via UPS, unintereupted power supply, but those only last for 5 minutes, so we have been very conservative on that.
as for the damage, it has been MINOR to the house.
we really just got sideswiped and are doing great. we were a little uncomfortable without power from 6:30 pm last night to 3:30 pm today, we are fine now with the refrigerator running.
both boys are taking a nap to recover from all the excitment.

Hurricane Rita

2005-09-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

we have evaluated all the traffic, which is HORRENDOUS. 3 mph and so people are running out of gas 10 miles from their starting location, with the temperatures soaring at or near 100. the fire department is totally being honest and saying that compared to being broke down with no gas being home is safer. so since we are personally out of the storm surge area, we are safer than many. there are people that are abandoning cars along the road, and with the high winds coming, the cars will be tossed back into the road, blocking those that are still trying to get out. we are looking at loosing shinges, siding, gutters, windows. we have a plan. we are going to shelter in the downstairs hallway / closet, there are no glass windows in the laundry room, we will shut the bathroom door (glass window in there) and we should be okay. the huge glass windows in the foyer is a big concern, but structurally, it is the best location.

we have plenty of water, and nutrition bars for the critical 24 hours during the storm, we have 10 packages of AAA batteries for the walkie talkies (8 families in our church are forming a network in the area. we have batteries for the coleman battery operated lantern. we have heavy tarps for protection if we loose any windows. we are concerned that we have a huge water oak in ourfront yard that is less than 10 feet from the house that could be blown down.

we will fill both bathtubs with water to augment our bottled (35 gallons) supply. we would have a diffult time if we loose natural gas for cooking. we have enough other stuff to cover our needs for 2 weeks. we are remaining calm, we had some serious jitters at 2 am but as the path continues to head for New Orleans, we are feeling more comfortable with our choice.

location:

Klein, Texas

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=klein,+tx&spn=0.143985,0.324200&hl=en

David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport

http://www.xcpilot.com/airport/DWH

News:

http://www.khou.com/weather/hurricanecentral/

http://www.click2houston.com/index.html

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=weather&id=3266381

http://images.ibsys.com/hou/images/weather/auto/radar_640x480.gif

traffic (click around I45 / Louetta

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/layers/

rain (click around tomball):

http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KDWH.html

http://maps.hcoem.org/hcrainfall.php

http://www.hcfcd.org/L_cypresscreek.html

http://www.hcfcd.org/L_willowcreek.html

we are getting some good wind activity here.

24 MPH (21 KT) gusting to 33 MPH (29 KT)

http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KDWH.html

the heat at 94.5 F (34.7 C) is just stiffling, some rain would be a welcomed relief from the dry intense heat.

as for me, wow, talk about pain! Pressure: 29.59 in. Hg (1002 hPa) has got every joint in my body just reeling! all in all, it looks like we are going to just get sideswiped by this system.

well, we are still 3 hours until land fall from the storm, and we have gotten a preliminary test run. no power in the entire subdivision for 3 hours. It has been our 3rd outage today and surely not the last. I am just glad I can check in and say so far so well. I had battery light and gas stove to make dinner by. started eating the meat in the freezer so that we dont have any waste this week.

the wind from the N (010 degrees) at 23 MPH (20 KT) gusting to 44 MPH (38 KT) is not too bad, the heat 80.1 F (26.7 C) with the a/c off was starting to get bothersome.

it has been a great dry run for us to see what we need for disaster preparation. while there has been some criticism here about bugging out and whatnot but a very valuable lesson is the people that were bussed out of Galveston on non a/c buses were supposed to go to Huntsville shelters, were turned away because of people in cars that could have stayed home, or gone on to Dallas, so the buses were sent to Centerville, they were turned away again, finally they found shelter in Humble at a civic center. just insane. personally if they consulted me, I would say that shelters are to be assigned by zip code. establish sister cities now for the next crisis. more spider web routes out rather than main arteries. each community will adopt another one and take care of them.

Breezy

2005-09-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

we are getting some good wind activity here.
24 MPH (21 KT) gusting to 33 MPH (29 KT)

the heat at 94.5 F (34.7 C) is just stiffling, some rain would be a welcomed relief from the dry intense heat.
as for me, wow, talk about pain! Pressure: 29.59 in. Hg (1002 hPa) has got every joint in my body just reeling! all in all, it looks like we are going to just get sideswiped by this system.
well, we are still 3 hours until land fall from the storm, and we have gotten a preliminary test run. no power in the entire subdivision for 3 hours. It has been our 3rd outage today and surely not the last. I am just glad I can check in and say so far so well. I had battery light and gas stove to make dinner by. started eating the meat in the freezer so that we dont have any waste this week.
the wind from the N (010 degrees) at 23 MPH (20 KT) gusting to 44 MPH (38 KT) is not too bad, the heat 80.1 F (26.7 C) with the a/c off was starting to get bothersome.
it has been a great dry run for us to see what we need for disaster preparation. while there has been some criticism here about bugging out and whatnot but a very valuable lesson is the people that were bussed out of Galveston on non a/c buses were supposed to go to Huntsville shelters, were turned away because of people in cars that could have stayed home, or gone on to Dallas, so the buses were sent to Centerville, they were turned away again, finally they found shelter in Humble at a civic center. just insane. personally if they consulted me, I would say that shelters are to be assigned by zip code. establish sister cities now for the next crisis. more spider web routes out rather than main arteries. each community will adopt another one and take care of them.

Storm Supplies

2005-09-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

We are 73 miles from Galveston, so we are going to ride it out. We have 5 day supply of water and 3 months of food. We do however have a full tank of gas just in case. I was surprised when they upgraded it from cat 2 last night to cat 4 this morning.

I have been reconsidering all day ;-) I am working on the assumption that Hattiesburg Mississippi was 100 miles inland and they did get some wind damage but not enough to completely trash the house. But if that was just a cat 4, and this one is already a cat 4 and not even picked up strength, we may be looking at a cat 5+ so I am preparing to go to Huntsville if I feel prompted on Friday. We are defiantly taking it seriously ;-) http://www.khou.com/images/hurricane/HurricaneEvacuationMap2005.pdf

For us, the cat 5 surge map is still well below 610, so anyone south of 610 should get the hell out. We are marginal for storm surge, but high risk for wind damage.

http://tinyurl.com/7vjp4 is the list if you stay that you should have. We have a 5 day supply of nutrition bars for quick retreat, they will fit in the 72 hour kits.

The is the projected landfall. Port Lavaca, TX is the current projected ground zero and thus passing between San Antonio and Houston, those areas may be in more danger than Tomball/Klein/Spring

For a weather cam, http://tinyurl.com/a5hvn is Galveston.I have been thinking about our cash situation during this storm preparation. took out $200 cash for what we can get. there is no fuel to buy and no food either. I just put all my photo albums in 2 gallon zip lock bags. I was thinking about my homeowners policy today, rounded that and the FEMA flood insurance paper work in zip lock bags.

I have access to all my cc online with the access codes on my computer, I did PRINT out that sheet JUST incase something happened to my COMPUTER. We have 5 days of bottled water (35 gallons) and 5 days of Cliff Bars that is in our 72 hour kit, stocked up on first aid kit stuff yesterday, gased up the car yesterday before the prices skyrocketed.

Will pack the car Friday "JUST IN CASE" I need to do some serious backups to CD this week not going to try to load the desktop computers in the car, that would be just nuts. did take the digital camera around and fully documented everything. zip locked the home movies, really need to burn them to DVD, take up a lot less room. same with the photo albums. so my goal for 2006, convert all the albums to 2000x3000 dpi resolution pictures of everything and make duplicate backups.

I am a major receipt-a-holic, I consider everything is deductible. ;-) We unplug all electronics during storms, need to unplug all appliances ( microwave, refrigerator, dishwasher, washer, dryer, freezer) I will throw in a book of checks in the 72 hour kit. I wrapped all the computers in garbage sacks and put them in the interior closet. taped up some of the picture windows. cleared out a closet for the boys, put in a twin size mattress, a second one for us in the hall, and a third in the laundry room for krystal. I think that home depot and lowes are seeding the skies in the bahamas to make these damn storms!

The freeways are HORRENDOUS. 33 hours from my house to dallas, so we are not going to evaculate. We are 73.5 miles from galveston and feel that we should be okay from storm surge, but not sure about the winds. Our house is supposed to be good up til 95 mph, but there has been some speculation that many of the houses are not up to spec because of contractors cutting costs. We have 5 days of water storage and 3 months of food so we are going to bleach and then fill the tubs with water. We have flashlights and batteries, tea lights and matches in zip lock baggies. We have every confidence that we will be okay here in Klein Texas. hey have upgraded it at 4:15 pm to a cat 5 storm. So we are seriously considering how safe 73.25 miles is, however, at this time I45 is COMPLETELY clogged, so there will be no leaving in the next 48 hours. I am sure that 4 am would be the best time to try to leave http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/layers/ I can't even get the site to come up it's server is so heavily hit right now. I just checked the speed charts for http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/speedcharts/speedcharts.aspx I45 north, northbound, fm1960-louetta and it puked. Right now the freeway is reserved for those in danger of the storm surge (could be 25 ft tall when it hits the coast) which would effectively destroy Galveston, Freeport, Angleton, Lake Jackson and the ship channel including baytown and nasa as well as sugarland and pearland http://www.hcoem.org/txdot/ http://www.hcoem.org/txdot/ is where we really focus, the flooding since we are 3 houses away from the Theisswood Bayou, south of the spring creek bayou and north of the cypress bayou (also computely clogged with traffic now) Heehee we had some power gliches today, the cell phones didn’t work, they were all 3 bars, but no dial tone, just txt msg I think. Currently it is 10 hours to get to huntsville, even if we WANTED to leave, I45 is a parking lot. I have been reviewing the backroads. If we took louetta to aldine westfield, and then 1960 to 59, we could possibly bypass everyone heading to dallas, which has no more rooms now, even thouse 12 hours ago, they said they had 20,000 available. This route I could head to shreveport, LA Or I could also take 249 north and the pick up on 1486 north pick up on 30 E and cut into huntsville that way. Course part of me is holding out that the hardest hit will be west of us between us and san antonio and austin and we will just get some horrendous rain and a little wind here. But then I see where they are predicting the worse storm since 1851.

We are starting to wigg out here, the storm surge is projected to be 26 feet tall (our house is 18 feet tall) and the winds are supposed to be 125 mpg (our house is built to withstand 95 mph) we are strongly considering leaving, just waiting to see how we feel tomorrow, we would leave immediately but the freeways are all parking lots. Naomi is in Washington, Jazz is in Montana and Krys is checking in every couple of hours and would happily leave with me if I said, lets go. They are projecting 115-120 here, which has us buggin, we are not considering it would have been ideal to leave Teusday as well, but now the freeway is a parking lot and I have no wish to face 115-120 mph winds in my 2475 lb honda civic. I am still not sure what to do with my three. Go and get trapped, stay and trapped. When we prepared it was for a cat 4 not a cat 5+ now what? We have gone over this and changed our minds every 30 minutes. were told we are only 63 miles from a shelter but it takes 10 hours to get there,i would rather be trapped here in the house than on the road during this, reality is that the nearest shelter is Witchita Kansas. so the problem is that we 'can't' evacuate. the roads are 4 mph right now.all 12 lanes (we would be on I45 from Louetta to Buffalo TX ) northbound are open but it is a parking lot. we would be safer in the house than in the car. if we leave, it will be today. if we stay, we will send AWESOME pictures. ;-)

Storm Preparation

2005-09-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

looks like houston is going to get slammed head on... we JUST finished our house repairs from Allison in May of this year. my dh just send me to get water... I have a splitting headache. now I am supposed to drive across town for water... we need about 5 five gallon boxes. what a PITA.

here we are 73 miles from the beach, however, Miss Katrina did damage 100 miles inland, so we are still in the damage path.

we are stocked up and planning on riding it out unless they say move inland. My dh just ordered my 250 Gig hard drive and DVD back up for my desktop so that I am better backed up, but FEDEX refused to deliver it on wednesday, thursday, or friday. I am 90% ready, have the car gassed up, the water filled up, groceries and diapers stored up. the only thing we do not have is a fully stocked first aid kit (it has taken a major hit this summer) and propane for cooking. but I really dont think that we will be as hard hit as allison.

Denton, Texas to Klein, Texas

2005-08-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

Monday
8/1
Ozone Warning, I have been seeing them on the weather report, but WOW. this is nuts, from Denton all the way to Houston, worse case of smog inversion pollution I have ever seen (and I have been to LA!) Erik is having an asthma attack, I am gagging and coughing and wondering yet again, WHY I am returning to this place. it can not be healthy to breath this stuff.

Denver, Colorado to Denton, Texas

2005-07-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday
7/31
Gassed up the car, loaded up the boys, a quick trip through McD's for egg buscuits and milk (erik voted for chocolate, magnus for white) and we were hauling down the road. we did pretty good time, made WaKenney by noon. Oklahoma City by Dinner and would have made it all the way into Texas by 8 pm if not for a horrendous road constructiong snarl just crossing out of Oklahoma. it took 2 hours to crawl 4 miles. I was not amuzed! stoped in Denton at Motel 6 for some shuteye.

Missoula, Montana to Denver, Colorado

2005-07-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday
7/30
up at 615 am, finished loading the car, took picture of the clean house, loaded the boys, ran through the house one more time for anything left behind. locked the door, drove into missoula, and realized I forgot all the frozen waterbottles for the trip. augh. 20 minutes behind schedule. get to the atm, get out $40 for food on the trip, drive over to Costco, fill up the Hybrid, and jazz makes that sad little puppy dog face, and points to her gas tank. poor mutt. so she got $17.01 (I owed her $12.99 for diapers, I guess she figured in shipping and handling ;-) heehee) Magnus had to go pee, so we hot footed it over to McDonalds but did not make it in time. so had to change him head to toe. got some egg biscuits and milk for the boys, a breakfast for me, and muffin for jazz, by 8:30 we were leaving. TOTALLY behind schedule now! Drove past Bonner and thought about the water there, the superfund site and what I had done in college for the state of montana for the lawsuit in Geographical Information Systems and Computer Cartography. we made Drummond in short time, and then wizzed past Deer Lodge. I found a fairly fast moving tractor trailer that must have been empty, he was going 78 mph and I was drafting behind him, keeping my mpg up and me awake, early mornings are just not my thing. I was praying for him to pull over for coffee from Anaconda to Butte. ;-) he did pull over in Butte, and by the time I got gassed up, coffee'd up, and a tinkle break, I was G*O*N*E and he was still pumping fuel. bummer. off we went again, over the pass that crosses the continental divide. I usually get 54 mpg over mountain passes, but with two bikes straped to the back of the car, it dropped down to 30, and raising my speed up to 77 instead of 70 dropped me down even more. stopped in Crow Agency for gas again, and potty break. magnus had tinkled in his pull up, so he tossed it in the trash, loaded back up in the car comando. and off we went again, this time south across the border. total time from Missoula to Wyoming border was 7 hours. first town in Wyoming was Gillette, then KayCee, I always remember when I drive through KayCee the time we lived there when I was a child and I was woke up in the middle of the night by a horrible thunderstorm. my room was on the second floor and I could see the lightening race across the sky.
landed in Aurora, Colorado for the night. It was raining, so we opted out on the tent and got a room at Motel 6. in and out, quick as you please and then on the road again Sunday morning.

Clarkston, Washington to Lolo, Montana

2005-07-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Friday
7/29
last visit. Naomi should be here 1.5 hours, we can go for pancakes for breakfast. the sun just came up. I have been up for an hour, checked in with jazz about her bank account. and did my own finances. worked on my brochures for the studio. found a great company that sent me a great deal just to tempt me to print. $100 coupon to use with my $50 coupon as long as I spend more than $100. that is easy. ;-) hunger got the best of me, found some Philly cream cheese and Poulsbo bread (nutty) for breakfast. the boys are still sleeping, lucky ducks.
called Sverre to tell him that I spaced out the Capital One Payment reminder to him, the boys woke up, and I jumped in for a quick shower. noticed when I got out that there was a lot of sunshine and cold air in the room, the boys had left the door open, LOVELY. so I saw Erik, and told him to shut the door so that I could cross the door way to get a towel in the bathroom, and he did ON HIS WAY OUT. so quick as a light, I got a towel, got to the door and called them back in. got dressed pretty fast in light of the situation. both boys had a time out to consider their options. dropped off a note for the manager that the bathroom was still moldy after two notices to the front desk. Naomi requested two rubber gloves. she really loves them.
Naomi came and Jen vented about Naomi's hormones and how she was in hormone therapy.
and we went over for pancakes and ice water. Naomi didn't bring socks, so I bought her a pair so that she could play in the play port. last week she forgot her swimming suit, and her baby blanket I bought at JoAnns, I bought another baby blanket, and this week she can't swim due to her menstruation. now no socks. now Magnus is being a little noisy in the play port and would you believe that there are some 'ladies' (5 grey hairs) that are miffed that the boys are so noisy, hello it is MCDONALDS and we are in the PLAY PORT area. (rolling eyes) poleeeze! they are 'LEAVING' good. kids are allowed to be kids in the play port. *sigh* that is why it is glassed off from the rest of the restaurant. may I never get that "OLD"!
after a group potty break, Erik and Magnus are in the play port and Naomi is preparing to color. we just had a discussion about me buying her a present. totally forgetting that I just got her a Dalmatian stuffed dog last night. she is going to color a frog, she says that the frog is yellow, when asked what they eat, she says that they eat flies, and that flies are yellow. pretty smart girl. she is going to make the frog's tongue red and his eyes are not brown like Naomi's but yellow. but then she changed her mind and the eyes are now "pretty pink"
Naomi: "you know froggy says? ribbet ribbet, ribbet ribbet, ribbet ribbet."
she is pealing all the papers off each of the crayons before she uses them.
Naomi: "you know froggy says? ribbet ribbet, ribbet ribbet, ribbet ribbet"
Erik is joining in on the coloring session. while Magnus is sitting on top the bottom opening of the slide.
Naomi: "I have a cousin named Mike, Mike is my only friend, he is my cousin, he is my nephew, he is my brother, he is my only friend. Don't you have a cousin, Erik, do you? You deserve a good nephew".
Erik bailed out and went back to playing with Magnus. I think it hurt his feeling that Naomi said she had a brother Mike.
Naomi: "Momma, can I get any brothers down.
Erik and Magnus started in again, so it was time to go. packed up and went back to the motel, thought I could take the boys to the pool and visit with Naomi, but she wigged out that she didn't have a suit, so instead we watched some PBS. Erik and Magnus were rough housing and Magnus bonked his head on the wooded headboard, and cried, he was pretty upset and even more so because Naomi had been snuggling with momma, and he told her that that was HIS momma, *sigh* I explained that I was all of their momma's and they must share. he would be going back to Texas, so it was Naomi's turn to snuggle. there was peace for a short time, and then it must have been too quiet, Naomi started crying silently, and then the wailing really ensued. she refused to use any words why she was upset, she was inconsolable for 20 minutes. I asked if she was ready to go back to Jen's and she said no, but she refused to tell me why she was upset. finally got her calmed down with some Elmo, but when that was over, she wanted to go for a walk, so we were getting our shoes on, and Zavoomafoo came on and Erik wanted to eat a snack, and all bets were off. so for the next 1/2 hour we might have some peace. Naomi wants to snuggle, using me as a pillow, Magnus wants to snuggle, using me as a chair, Erik is the only one that is being independent. I was resting my eyes, and naomi started in with the panic stricken voice, terrified that I might get some rest, heaven forbid. Naomi was watching the Kratt Brothers, I was resting my eyes again, and naomi started in with the panic stricken voice again, I shhh'd her and she responded by shoving on my cheek on with the heel of her hand. I would prefer that she not do that again. Magnus thinks that my butt and legs are a chaise lounge. he is getting too heavy to do that. naomi is still banked up on my side and shoulders. sure am glad I am so comfy.
I may even take advantage and load the car unencumbered of toddlers.

Lolo, Montana to Clarkston Washington

2005-07-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday
7/28
car loaded, water bottles out of the freezer, (great idea) and we cruise through the canyon. constantly amazed that yet another truck over turned at the exact same as a couple of weeks ago, this time completely going over the embankment and down in the river. I am sure the driver is toast. it was excessively warm, got to Clarkston, and double checked on the internet rate for the motel before checking in, much better to have the rate up front than get credits back on my card. Naomi came. she started out without emotion and then the flood gates burst and she was completely inconsolable. the crocodile tears flowed out of both eyes splashing down on her arms, then she started slapping her arms in rage and frustration. I told her to stop hitting herself. after 5 minutes, she moved from the table to the bed, laying on her back with her legs arched up in the air her arms folded up like a praying mantis and the hysterical crying continued. I explained to her in a calm manner that we were not go anywhere until she got control of herself. after about 10 minutes, she tried desperately to get control. in the mean time I calmly explained to the boys that she was on her period and what a period was and why she was hysterical. she came over to me and started to crawl on me, and I pushed her away, explaining that she needed to get control of herself and I moved to the bathroom. I got her a washcloth to wipe away the tears from her face, and she came up to me, draping both hands at the wrist over my forearm, she tried desperately to convince me that she had control of her self, but it was obvious that she was still overwrought with emotion. I moved back to the bed and let her burst forth again without talking to her. finally she stopped crying and calmed down. even Erik noticed that she was calmed and asked if they could all go get something to eat for dinner. totally time from opening of door to calm and collected was 30 minutes.
Naomi had a 40 minute episode of sanity and we TALKED. she told me that she didn't want to go back to the yellow house (her father's) and that she wanted to be with me. and she wanted to go to Lolo to go shopping for a present, and she was not going to school and she was mad at Sverre, I asked her why, she just kept ranting that she was mad at him, (sic for not seeing her) and I explained to her that I had to go back to Texas to take care of Sverre and Krystal, that it was their turn. I had spend 9 weeks with her and they had not gotten any visitation. she said it was the court order that she could not go, and I said yes. her dad had asked the courts to say no because that was what he wanted. then I explained to her that I loved her when I was in Washington, I loved her when I was in Montana, and I loved her when I was in Texas, and that I loved her no matter where she was. she kept arguing with me that she was not going to school and that she was not going back to the yellow house. I said that I had to go back to the brown house and I told her I would be back for her turn at thanksgiving and her birthday and it would be her turn again, like I came for last Christmas and January, and then I had to go back and take care of Sverre and Krystal and Jen would watch her for me while I worked. I got some nail polish remover and cleaned the chipped bright pink polish and put on some pretty clear on her nails
She she calmed down, we got our shoes on, and walked over to the dollar store and browsed for 20 minutes and after repeating myself about 49 times that they could have ONE CHOICE, each time they picked up a second item. we finally made it out with ONE ITEM EACH. Erik got a policeman set, Magnus got a Farmer set, and Naomi got a stuffed Dalmatian, I got jazz a lunch sac and me three compression sacs for the sleeping bags, they worked so well, I have to go back and get one more. sweet deal since they are usually $15-20 each at REI.
we walked over the get a chicken sandwich, ice water and ate, I didn't let them know that there was anything else until those were gone. Naomi put hers back in the sac untouched, Magnus ate 1/2 of his and Erik finished his and was surprised with a chocolate milk. I explained that no one would get one until all the dinner was finished, Magnus made short time of his and Naomi fished hers back out of the bag and promptly if somewhat resentfully ate hers. all ended up with a chocolate milk when they were finished.
we walked back to the room, watched ZOOM and then at 7 pm we drove back over the bridge to get some pictures with the water fountain (it is only on late afternoon) which started out rough, got worse, and finally got SOMETHING. the dreadful part is that it is too dark to shoot with natural light, and Naomi blinks with the flash, (have to investigate if the SB600 has a redeye mode with preflash) and the reflector was a joke, the kids ended up ruining it rather that having it help me. I gave up after 1 hour and we took a drive back up in to the orchards in Clarkston for 1/2 hour while I had the kids essentially bound by seatbelts for 30 minutes of not worrying. got back to the room. while I was actually packing the sleeping bags in the compression sacks, Erik and Magnus were raiding the snack sac, Naomi thought we were having a sleep over and proceeded to get ready for bed. she was down to her panties when I looked up, I told her that we were not having a sleep over, and she needed to get dressed. poor mutt loves to have sleep overs, but she must have forgotten that she didn't bring her over night bag with her PJ's, toothbrush.
got the boys dressed for the pool, had planned an hour to wear them out, but they lost interest after 15 minutes due to no one else being at the pool. we we wrapped it up, went back to the room, got PJ's on, and would you believe, after carefully packing just a 4 day essentials bag, putting all the extras in the trunk, I didn't have PJ's? so FORTUNATELY I did not have the bikes loaded, I was able to get the 'extras' bag out of the trunk and locate a nightgown for me. now the lights are out, the boys are in bed, but WILL NOT SHUT UP and go to sleep. so finally with the lights out, the computer off, they decided that it was prudent to go to sleep. we were out by 1030 pm, and guess who woke up at 530 am without help? augh. just when I thought I could sleep in! rats!

Lolo Montana

2005-07-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

Wednesday
7/27
mowed the lawn 1.5 hours without breaking, front, back and sides. even diagonal on the front. dumped all the grass clippings (7 bags) in the garden. ran a load of dishes and a load of clothes, sorted the toys, those that stay, those that go, and those that need to go in the trash. washed the tent in the bathtub, repaired a rip in one of the hooks at the top, and taped up a pole that was splitting. dried in the sun and now all folded up nice and put away. backed up my computer incase of catastrophe, the trunk is packed with all the luxuries, and the car with most of the necessities. just have out three sleeping bags, three pillows, camera/bag, computer/bag, lunch bag DVD case, and purse.
got a good scrubbing shower including hair, feel 100% better. lunch was a mayonnaise and banana on Poulsbo bread. some canned peaches and tons of ice water. I really want to eat out. have completely emptied the refrigerator but for 1/2 gallon of milk, three 8 week old taters, 1/2 dozen eggs and 1/4 cup sour cream. can not think of a thing to do with those items. ;-) okay, maybe a tater salad. but hmmm.
so I go in, clean and cut the taters, make the boys some air popped popcorn, and start cleaning the counters, get to the Jenn Aire and there is a smell. I take both grease jars off, whew, that was gross. Jazz must not know about them, they definitely have not been dumped in 3 months if not longer. one had mold growing. so that is done, now the boys have scattered popcorn all over the foyer, GRRRRR and I cant find the dustpan, Magnus is sweeping it out on to the porch, heehee *sigh*. see. it is a never ending battle. now I have to clean the foyer and the porch.
I started cleaning jazz's room, striped the bed, put the linens in the washer and the blankets are next, wet swiftered under the bed, found the dustpan, the boys are just getting on my nerves, so put them down for a nap. I really need a nap myself, but I also just need some quiet time. which is more valuable? hard to say right now. has been a dilemma for 21 years

Hamilton, Montana

2005-07-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
7/26
guess my phone was off when the battery died. everyone was trying to get a hold of me. there was a nice little earth quake last night, I thought it was the washing machine off balance it shook the house so bad. the epicenter was in Dillon, 5.3 on the Richter scale.
woke up stiff, obviously too much salt in my diet, lots of ham this week. feel a hundred years old. made the boys some old fashion oats for breakfast, I had a nice hot cup of cappuccino. then knock knock knock, Della showed up at my door. great idea for a road trip, which I need to get out of the house so that jazz can get some sleep.
we took highway 93 to victor, then old East Highway to Stevensville, where we went to Charbonneau's for hand made CHOCOLATE, I got some pecan chocolates, Meriwether chocolates, Carmel chocolates, a sucker for Erik, huckleberry bark, and some huckleberry taffy. then we checked out Mary's Cafe, got the boys some grill cheese and split a scoop of cherry cheesecake ice cream. then along the East Side Highway down into Hamilton, we stopped at a school yard that had a very nice playground, let the kids out for 20 minutes, and then back along Highway 93. total trip time was about 4 hours.
picked up my computer and headed into Missoula to pick up email, nothing noteworthy, but I had to update my virus software, found three viruses this morning during a scan that I picked up the 22 (3 days ago). we have an invitation to stay with some parents of some friends in Colorado Springs, Co this weekend, so that appears to be the best route.
just not sure how to break up that run from Colorado Springs across Kansas and down. it is 20 hours, which is probably just too far, but I dont see any other place to stop. I definitely dont want to stay in Oklahoma City or Dallas in a tent. hmm. I am sure I will get a sign to let me know what to do. ;-)

Lolo Montana

2005-07-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

7/25
Monday
slept okay, working with Erik on his 'homework':
full name
my cell number
9, 29, 1999 @ 3:29
street address
Klein, Texas
5 years old
He starts school in 2 weeks and we can't have him wondering who he is or where he lives.
I am getting anxious about my photography business. perused my database and found a couple of errors that I corrected, a couple of duplicates that I removed. now for our trip home in 5 days. where do we want to camp? Zion state park in Utah or Lake Wilson state park in Kansas if we stay in Zion, it is still 2 more days drive, if we make it all the way to Gallup, then it is just one more day, but do I really want to camp in Gallup? we could stop Friday night in Boise, but that is $20. or we could go back to Lolo, and if we are out by 7 am, we could make Colby Kansas by day one. course if we dont make Salina by day one, we cant make Houston by day two and would end up in Dallas by midnight day two. challenges. also taking into consideration the heat factor, do we want to head south right away or east and then south?
Boise route means setting up camp twice, Lolo means setting up camp once.
Clarkston to Boise
Boise to Gallup
Gallup to Houston
or
Clarkston to Lolo
Lolo to Salina
Salina to Houston
the other issues that I had set as goals this summer: Erik wipe himself after using the toilet. Magnus use the toilet. Magnus stop sucking his thumb. Magnus dress himself.
Erik is getting better, he still continues to ask if he is clean, it is annoying, eventually I hope that it will get better. Magnus is getting better about using the toilet, this week he even went on his own without prompting. as for the thumb. I am going to have to cut it off and make thumb soup out of it. he did whine but completely undress his pj's and put on his clothes today including a clean pull-up as well as put on clean socks.

Lolo Montana

2005-07-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

7/24
Sunday
wretched situation. Jazz is so overwhelmed, she made an appointment with the bishop of the church that in summary told her that she didn't attend church enough to qualify for aid, that she didn't give any money to the church so she didn't qualify for aid. and what were her grandparents doing running around the country instead of being home taking care of her. she was really furious at his pompous self righteous attitude. (my words, her were much more frank) ;) I personally feel that if I were to stop giving the church my 10% and give it directly to her that it would be money better spent, so I think I will send a letter to the church canceling my subscription. ;-) see how they like that solution. ;-)
the bishop chastised her for not working all night and then still staying up all day to go to a church service time that was convenient for him, had I been there, I do believe that I would have happily strangled him. what a unfeeling insufferable little man. she is living off of $5000 a year and paying $240 a month in medical bills, $160 a month for insurance and he is a presumptuous sanctimonious indifferent snoid. he told her that he would like to challenge her to go to church, I think he should have noticed her at young women's camp for the last 5 years. grrr. you would think that he could have had the decency to give her a food order so that she could have some mac-n-cheese and toilet paper. it is not the 'no' that bugs me, it is his 'attitude' that her needs are not good enough, that $15,000 in medical bills for a less than 24 hour hospital visit and no insurance, is not good enough, that her church attendance is not good enough, that she is not trying hard enough to meet her financial responsibilities and that she is not donating enough money to the church is his reasons for denying her. what a blasphemous heathen he is. totally discrediting her actually having a full time job and working rather than going to church. I commend her work ethic and condemn his holier than thou attitude.
Got a call from Della, she is taking her kids to walk up to the M, which is a several mile hike, and while I have lived in Missoula for three decades, I have never walked up there. she is welcomed to it. she asked if I would try the L, which is an easier hike, I said I would consider it. It is doubtful. I am much better at peddling with the kids.
watched Secret Garden with Erik, he didn't think it was very kewl. ;-) Magnus is still taking his nap, so things are fairly peaceful. I emptied the dishwasher (Erik helped with the silverware) and loaded it, wiped down the counter tops and made a partial attempt at the floor. I am just so exhausted. I can feel my body preparing for the anxiety of driving home. I am getting worse about my traveling as I get older. less 'flexible' in more ways than one, emotionally, physically, mentally. *sigh* I need a vacation to recoup from my vacation. ;-)

Lolo Montana

2005-07-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

7/23
Saturday
complete zone day. just vegetated. jazz came home with a horrendous migraine, too much stress over her finances. she vomited from the stress several times. tried to get some food in her, but the smell just made her heave some more. got her to sleep, shushed the boys a whole lot but just too tired to do anything constructive with them. finally after the sun went down, loaded Magnus up in the bike trailer and Erik on his bike and pedaled up to the church, over to the truck stop, down to the grocery store, got some ice cream and back the the tent. just a few miles, a little fresh air, and am so totally ready to sleep.
jazz woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. she cleaned and reorganized her room to pass the time.

Clarkston, Washington to Lolo, Montana

2005-07-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

7/22
Friday
EXHAUSTION. put the kids down for bed at 9:00 pm and that went fine, but Naomi woke up at 2:45 a.m. and just couldn't get back to sleep. I dozed on and off all morning, finally Jazz called at 7:15 am and talked to Naomi for a few minutes and told her to go to sleep. that did the trick and I got a solid hour of sleep. still monumentally exhausted. made pancakes for breakfast, but the kids didn't do them justice. picked up the room, loaded the car, and went to Come On Inn for lunch, the kids ordered chicken strips, but should have gotten grill cheese sandwiches all around, wandered around for a little while, too cloudy for the park, and a horrible dust storm through town, finally opted to go to North Pole Ceramics and let the kids do a project. Erik opted for a $1.50 VW Bug, Magnus a $2.00 M and Naomi didn't pick anything, she wanted a $30 angel, but that was not in the budget. Naomi and I ended up just browsing catalogs and picking out our favorites. I like the fairies. after we got that done, it was time for a cookie snack, wash-up and hug and kiss good bye. got gas at Costco, and drove back through the canyon. saw a couple of doe's, a momma moose with a baby, and a papa moose as well as several bucks.

Lolo, Montana to Clarkston Washington

2005-07-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

7/21
Thursday
pack up for drive through the canyon. put all extras in the tent for safe keeping. had a financial chat with Jazz, she has a complicated summer ahead of her yet. Puddles has been overheating and has a slight knock. looks like she will need a new head gasket. poor mutt. made it 85% through the canyon and bam, a car wreck has taken up both lanes, looks like a one hour wait. then while waiting, the unmentionable happened. FLASHING GREEN LIGHT in the NIKON D70. I am not amused! better now than during a wedding, but still, I have little hope that Wolf Camera will do right by me. this is a known issue with the early models. *sigh* possibly if I do well with the two may weddings that have not ordered I can buy a second body while the first one is off to the factory. meanwhile, the clock is ticking, I am stuck on this side of the river, I had only allowed 1 hour leeway to be late, and this wreck is eating that hour up faster than a new York minute. if we leave now, I could just barely make it. meanwhile, we are fortunate that we have a DVD player, air conditioning, and I have put a huge towel over the back window to keep the heat down, and a window reflector over the west side windows. as long as my computer battery holds up, I should be okay.
arived safely. naomi hysterical: first we can not find her swimsuit. then she is wigging over her tooth. erik lost his fourth one this week and she wants me to pull hers so that they match, then she doesnt have a baby blanket (both boys have one) so we go over to jo ann fabrics and get her a new one. then McD's for chicken sandwhiches. the screaming and yelling is so stressful, I am ready to make a pot of bourbon instead of coffee. (;-) did I mention that it was 106'F in Lewiston? 105'F in Boise, Idaho. *sigh* wow

Missoula, Montana

2005-07-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

7/20
Wednesday
quiet day, took jazz's bike into town to the Bike Doctor, $88.00 estimate for tune up, new back brake, new chain, new intertubes, and true the wheels as well as loosen up the seat and clean the rear sprocket.
Patrick got Jazz a bike rack for her car, he is so sweet. was gone 3 hours, picking up email, setting up Jazz's direct deposit. had to fuel up the car and get some groceries, amazing how much milk we go through. spent the afternoon visiting with Brekke, she is moving the Austin from Provo, definitely an adjustment for her. chat with Krys, good visit. looks like another generation of kids being best friends with the parents. strange how that works. I was pretty much best friends with my parents when I was living in Montana, and now that I am in Texas, virtually alone, it is much harder to form new friendships. just so used to my parents being the ones, annoying though they can be.
calculated budget for return home, totals for summer freaked me out.
2376.7 up here
4572 miles while here +460 (estimate to end of the visit)
2376.7 back home9785.4 total estimate for summer

Lolo Montana

2005-07-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

7/19
Tuesday
puttered around the house, just amazes me that I can swifter and 3 hours later, just as dirty as before. house is a dust magnet. took the car in for service, a factory recall to update the software. pulling into the dealership someone had accidentally dumped 5 one gallon cans of latex paint and I accidentally got some grey on the car. fortunately most of it came off. unloaded the Burley and hooked it up the the Trek, loaded in the lunch pail, got Erik's Specialized out and we went out Reserve, down 93, up old fort Missoula road past the golf courses, to the Fort, had lunch, pedaled on to the military museum, around the ft Missoula museum, and back to the fort, down past Community hospital, to the Military Reserve depot, and then on the walkway along reserve, back to the dealership. we were gone about an hour, pedaled 35 minutes, going 4 miles total. pretty good considering it was blasted hot, 88'F.
I made tremendous progress on my brochures for Barefoot Creation's August's open house, the invitation, the flyers to have on hand, and now I really just need to proof them, print them, and mail them. I don't have a printer up here, so that limits my progress. I really need to work on my collages for printing in 20x20 as well. that is more daunting, I am just about out of creative juices. ;-)

Missoula, Montana

2005-07-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

7/18 Monday
called the dealership, the hybrid has had a factory recall regarding the electronic brain, the battery pack, the catalytic converter, have to take it in tomorrow. adopted a bike out of the trash for Jazz, good brand, just needs some TLC, Drove in to Missoula, picked up email and checked bank accounts at the ValU Inn, now camped out with a sleeping bag, lunch bag stocked with bananas, water, PBJ fixings, tuna fish fixings, and fruit loops, camera bag with extra compact flash card, and computer bag with extra battery, at the Lions Park. Magnus is playing in the water, Erik by the water fountain, both have squirt guns and are HAPPY. Della is in from Milwaukee with her two kids, she is meeting us here to play, Jazz is sleeping so that she can go to work tonight. I found a great shade tree centered to the water fountains, the play equipment and the swings and I can not find a single cloud in the sky. what a great day.

Lolo Montana to Missoula Montana

2005-07-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

7/17 Sunday
drove into missoula to get cleaning supplies, and groceries. $1 store: carpet shampoo, scrub brush, window cleaner foam, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, interior car wipes. $9 Big Lots: Armour-All wipes, fig newtons, cheese/crackers $11 Dazzle Car wash: shampooed the carpets in the car, scrubbed it top to bottom, inside out, armour-alled the vinyl, and then ran it through the carwash and got a wax. $10 Safeway: milk, eggs, chicken, alfredo sauce, margarine, $67! Back to Lolo: sad to see two more baby deer on the road. what is so hard about stopping to miss them? visitors from church, jazz's home teachers. talked about family, said funny thing about coffin's, they don't come with luggage racks. movie fest: analyze this, 6 days 7 nights, divine secrets of the yaya sisterhood, blast from the past, legally blonde dinner: chicken, alfredo fettuccini, mashed potatoes, ambrosia, cranberry juice

Lolo Montana

2005-07-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

7/16 Saturday phone call from the Great Grandma, they are in Gatlinburg Tennessee, clean the house festival. stripped down jazz's bed and washed EVERYTHING, sheets, blankets, comforter, pillows, cleaned under the bed, wiped down all the electronics, then tackled the kitchen, dining room, under the buffet's, cleaned the living room, emptied the tent and reorganized, moved all the bookshelves, entertainment center, 4 end tables, tipped over the couches, recliner, and swept, swiftered, and de-dustbunnied. sorted through my goodies and got all the laundry done up. what is so frustrating is that the house is small, and yet, I can run a swifter through the rooms, and three hours later, run it again, and the floor is dirty again. absolutely insane, the house is like a dirt magnet, 11 hours to get the house clean. vacuumed the car with Jazz's vacuum, not too bad. did a computer back up, never know when something will 'go down' dinner: fish sticks, corn, steamed broccoli, milk

Clarkston, Washington to Lolo, Montana

2005-07-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

7/15 Friday trip to Lewiston town center, then Pioneer Park, lunch at McDonalds, picked up email at Quality Inn, Gas at Costco, and Cappichino at Flying J, and back through the canyon. motorcycles induced road rage. stopped at Powell, Magnus would not pee in the restroom, said it was dirty, had to drive 1/2 mile down the road and let him pee on a tree. some people's children. sad to see a dead spotted baby deer on the road. back in lolo, Jazz helped empty the car, she left for work, movie fest: national treasure, the hours, miss congeniality 2, Stewart little 1 & 2 dinner: hamburgers on Poulsbo and romaine

Lolo, Montana to Clarkston Washington

2005-07-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

7/14 Thursday ROAD TRIP through the canyon, 4 hours of twisting and winding roads. Naomi in a great mood. very calm. 2 hours in the pool. dinner at Shari's. chill watching some PBS while Erik 'concentrated'

Missoula, Montana

2005-07-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

7/13
Wednesday
McLeod Park, the last of the Missoula Working Water Turtles. Magnus never even wanted to get wet, he just wanted to play on the merry go round until someone was pushing too fast and he fell down, face first and got a mouth full of sand, got that wiped out with a towel and then rinsed with some water and now he is peacefully playing in the sand. Erik on the other hand got his swim shorts on and is running barefoot like a native. found someone to share not one but two water pistols, neither want to stop for lunch, and it is 2:39 pm. the sky is just so huge today, blue as blue can be. the wind is great, keeping it cool, even though the temps are over 88, the kids are having a BLAST! I do miss this part of Missoula. A PBJ and a bottle of water, sleeping bag and computer and I am set for the afternoon. I used to play at this park in the 1970's, the twins in the 1980's, Naomi in the 1990's and now the boys in 2000's. 30 years and nothing really changes, the equipment has been updated from metal to plastic (other than the merry-go-round) but the bathrooms and pavilion are the same, the concrete turtles that spew water out of the shells and the fountain in the middle for the kids to run through are the same as 30 years ago. I just wish that this town had more of a job market. it is really the kewlest town to raise kids, great bike system, great bus system. just wretchedly horrible housing cost. when we bought in 1990 it was 2x what my parents paid in 1982, in 2005, it is 4.5x what it was in 1990, which is just insane that a 1700 sqft house in 1982 was $35K and now is $215K. but the wages just stink. Jazzer is making $8/hour, I started at $5 in 1984. so $3/hour increase in 20 years. It continues to stagnate, when I left in 1993 I was making $11/hour (course Doug was making $8 and my parents were paying mechanics $15/hr) how people continue to exist here is remarkable. I need to do more bike riding in, I have been hit or miss with it this summer. did more in Boise than I did all other places combined. just too tired most of the time. not sleeping well, the bedroll under my sleeping bag seems to be deflating, I should blow it back up. My hair is in 2 braids and driving me a little crazy. it is four fingers past my elbow when braided, much longer when not. I may have to do something though, it is getting terribly thin and wraps around my bra when I try to pull it on, not to mention, it may start to dangle down when I have to sit to use the toilet, THAT COULD BE A PROBLEM. granted it is already brown, but still. LOL
got Erik's school clothes last week. he dad is insisting that he go at least one year to 'see' how it goes. Erik is doing well here at McLeod Park (beside Rocky Mountain Ears Nose and Throat as well as Rocky Mountain Eye) it is the last remaining water turtle park, all the others were 'retired' and the turtles were scattered in park lawns and the wadding pools dug up and hauled up to BFI. that SUCKS. Magnus is in the sand and Erik is in the water fountain. jazz called complaining that it is too hot to sleep at the house. she is going out to McClay's bridge to swim and cool off. told her that it was downright chilly here with the breeze.

Lolo Montana

2005-07-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

7/12
Tuesday
wow the natives are getting restless, we will be home in a couple of weeks and everyone is starting to call. must be getting anxious. good to hear that I have some photography appointments building up. ;-) that is always good to hear. I hope to really have a momentum going this fall. felt motivated to say a prayer for jazz. to guide her and protect her and look out for her. she drove into town to see the doctor (she is sick with bronchitis) and pick up some Rx as well as drop off a doctors note to her employer, and get a much needed oil change and check her tires (pressure seems to be going down) drove into town after dinner (mac n cheese) and moping the kitchen floor and running yet another load of dishes, got fresh veggies and some bread snacks at the farmers market. was picking up some email and getting the boys some ice water when I got a call, someone had found jazz's cell phone in the parking lot at the post office, and called the last call (MOM) and he said that it was always good to call MOM. ;-) he brought her phone to me, that was such a good deed. met jazz at Rosaurs to return her phone, where her car wouldn't start. finally got it going again. she has had more stress than she can handle today. headed back to Lolo and took a shower and settled the boys down for the night. Erik is watching a panda movie and Magnus is out like a light sleeping on my bedroll in the tent. little mutt. it never fails to amaze me how each boy takes turns stealing my spot in the tent.

Lolo Montana to Missoula Montana

2005-07-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

7/11
Monday
went bike riding on the Missoula greenbelt, let the boys play with jazz's dawgs. cleaned the kitchen AGAIN, I swear, there must be gremlins in there after I go to sleep. took a well needed nap, cooked lasagna dinner for all the kids..
worked on organizing jazz's finances into an easy to understand budget so that she can handle it herself. broke it down in how much she owes and out of which check it needs to come out of. nap changed my sleeping pattern, was up until 6 am before tired enough to sleep. grr.

Lolo Montana

2005-07-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

7/10
Sunday
washed the car, mowed the lawn, did the laundry, got the base camp cleaned up again, never ending battle when you are living out of a suitcase and not settled in your own accommodations.
MOVIE...MOVIE...MOVIE... binge:
Bringing Down the House... 2 weeks notice... Harry Potter III...Tomb Raider II...10 thing I hate about you...Sleepless in Seattle...A knights tale... lots of air popped pop corn for snack food, keeping our budget costs to a minimum while we hang out in between visits with Naomi. Naomi was not cooperative on the phone visit. Jennifer said that she was in a bad mood, would try back later, but never did hear from her again.

Lolo Montana

2005-07-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

7/9
Saturday
whoohoo I packed the Leapfrog Tablets for the boys, and they showed no interest in them in June, so I packed them away, just pulled them out and WOW, they are fascinated with the new toy. how lucky is that?
MOVIE MOVIE MOVIE:
Wedding Planner.... Where the heart is.... Woman on Top... Save the Last Dance....Hanging Up...Whatever it takes...Blue Crush....Drumline... Bring It on... got a call from Jennifer, Naomi threw up and is feeling much better, she got something 'bad' possibly canned peaches on Thursday and that was what was fermenting in her tummy causing the ruckus. after barfing, she proceeded to fill her tummy with an assortment of tacos and whatnot and seemed better.

Clarkston, Washington to Lolo, Montana

2005-07-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

7/8
Friday
cherrios and cold milk. for 6 weeks I have been making pancakes and I am just TIRED so now we are doing cold cereal and I am not ashamed, I am exhausted. well naomi is not constipated anymore, she is just the opposite. she has horrible burps, and gas, smells like a full blown case of yeast. goodness gracious. had a full morning of PBS, loaded up the car and set off for the park. BACK through the canyon. I really should 'document' just how treaturous that canyon can be.

Clarkston, Washington

2005-07-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

5912miles so far.

Lolo, Montana to Clarkston Washington

2005-07-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

7/7
thursday
oh man... one more time through the canyon to go on the adventure. a Swift truck was not paying attention to his speed, the weight distribution of his truck and did not make a corner, he, his tractor and the trailer were laying on thier side poor mutt. Got checked into Motel 6, settled in, grabbed a little nap before naomi came. once we had her settled in, we dashed off to Wal-mart for some snacks and a couple of treats. then a nice dinner. tried to visit McDonatuna fish sandwhiches. then the POOL. for two hours. Naomi and Magnus were so tired, they had to ge back by 7:44pm and go to sleep. nice hot shower to get everyone rinsed off and ready for bed. Naomi had a horrible night. terrible tummy ache. constipation. got some tumms in her and she settled down.

Lolo Montana

2005-07-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

7/6
wednesday
laundry, dishes, movies, movies, movies. Mac n Cheese for dinner. trip to walmart to get diapers / wipes and band-aids to replentish the first aid kit.
free concert in the park. met della and her kids, played on the computer listening to live concert music. chocolate frosties and ice waters for treats.

Lolo Montana to Missoula Montana

2005-07-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

7/5
teusday
wow what a bunch of chores, trip to community medical clinic for Patrick, Post office to send Sverre's phone charger, then over to Walgreens to get my Rx, up to Old Navy for some great bargains for Erik, then to Wendy's for salads,
got jazz's reddot cellular one spreadsheets printed out (shipping depot computer was down, but emery valcom was working) then picked up email, then to Montana Job Service to get the forms filled out and notarized, then to the post office, sent registered, THEN logged in to get Jazzer's Insurance benefits set up. gassed up the cars (Ouch) and zipped into Golden Corral for a surloin steak dinner. back to lolo for laundry duty.

Lolo Montana to Missoula Montana

2005-07-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

7/4
Monday
Happy Fourth of July, our country's independence. sneaked into town to check email, get some groceries. and then back to Lolo, was going back in to the mall for the show, but needed to just have a down evening to rest. We set up our chairs and watched the neighbors blow off close to $1000 worth of goodies. one tipped over and nearly took out three houses. spent hours working on my personal website, trying to get it into the new format. more of just file management than actual content development.

Missoula, Montana

2005-07-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

7/3
Sunday
happy surprise with Naomi. Zipped into Wendy's for fruit bowls for the kiddos. trip to collect school clothes at the mall for HRH Erik, we scored some Levi's and T-shirts at Herburgers. but not without Magnus getting a total goose egg from the dressing room door slammed into his forehead from Erik. JCPenney down the other end was not successful, they didn't have anything for the twerp. sorted through jazz's closet (serious downsize for Naomi to inherit, two 20 gallon sacks worth.) A trip to subway for sweet onion chicken teriyaki subs, and Naomi had a thermal nuclear meltdown. Kay Jewelers torqued me off trying to get service. finally headed back to Lolo and smacked down some veggies / fruit and fish fillets for dinner. bought a lovely Boston silk pie and candles for Magnus's 4th birthday. finally had 4 of 5 kids at one table for a delayed birthday party. we even scored some ice cream. and then the dreaded photo shoot of the kids. now mommy loves photos but it does take a lot of patience to get everyone to look in the same direction and have a 'normal' expression. just a couple hours of torture. total visit 10 am to 9 pm. ;-) happy day.

Eagle Idaho to Missoula Montana

2005-07-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

7/2

Saturday

cartoons.. a very special treat for Erik, he has a buddy staying here, Dirk is 6 and they are good pals. so they are quietly watching Disney channel, Buzz Light-year and Kim Possible. Sverre is getting his daily mandatory shower.

LOAD the CAR is the catch phrase of the summer. take all of Sverre's stuff out, put our 'extra' stuff back in. went to Boise Co-op for some Organic snack supplies.

loaded the boy's in their car seats and then headed north. got some pictures of the whitewater rafters one even mooned me. there is a fantastic bridge that I did get some great photos. we did not hear from anyone so once I got to Grangeville (with RV's a total of 4 hours), I called to see if I needed to head NW to Lewiston or NE to Kooskia. Kooskia was the winner. and by the time I got to Lolo, it was +8 hours total for the day. boy, some of those hairpin corners would have put some grey hairs on Sverre's chest. ;-) serious potty stop at Cougar Canyon in Syringa for emergency gas, but all in all, it went well.

Redfish Lake in Sawtooth Wilderness to Eagle Idaho

2005-07-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

7/1
Friday
rise and shine to no fog, yippee, sneaked up to the toilets ALONE and then down to the lake for some peace and quiet ALONE. back up to camp to wash-up the griddle, and make some pancakes. 4 for Sverre, 3 for me, 2 for Erik, 2 for Magnus. then clean the grill up, and make some pancakes. 4 for Sverre, 3 for me, 2 for Erik, 2 for Magnus. then clean the grill up and start packing the car for the trip back south. made much more difficult by Erik's 'accident' which soaked not only 'my' sleeping bag, but his clothes and his bedroll. not sure why, he went pee twice before bed. got the car completely loaded, and headed out. the campsites were getting doubled booked, and it looked like the holiday weekend would be standing room only. the Camp ground had cut down 10% of the Lodge pole pine (true dog hair thicket) and most were just laying down rotting ;to provide protection for new trees (hello, takes a fire to open a lodge pole pine cone, but WHATEVER) and two were laying crossways, Erik and Magnus were pretty resourceful and used them for a teeter todder. it was pretty cool to see them so ingenious! Later on, Erik managed to borrow some bigger kid's 20" bike, he is just dying to get one of his own. once the car was loaded, we drove back down to Lowman, and then cut down through Idaho City, showed the boys lots of tailings piles and talked about gold mining, then on to Lucky Peak Reservoir and talked about basalt lava flows and crystallization. then through Boise's Hyde Park area, into Eagle, and finally back to the Swain's to get de-slimed, and cleaned up. started some laundry and then set off in search of some dinner. found a nice little restaurant called Whitewater Pizza & Pasta. I got a soup / salad and Sverre got a pizza and the boys got Mac n Cheese. they were so tired and hungry and cranky, that we ordered the mac n cheese ASAP before we ordered drinks and it was a good thing because once they ate, they were much better spirited. the food was fantastic, and the service was pretty good. I drank something that was a D Do, which is 1/3 ice tea & 2/3 lemonade. pretty good. polished off two 20 oz glasses. nearly died at the price $40. but it was hot, it was filling and it was good. went and picked up email, scouted houses in the area, and then back to put the boys to bed.
bed was a quiet but totally drawn out affair. teeth, potty, and pj's were easy enough, Toy Story II took forever, had to shut the house down completely for Erik and Magnus finally went to sleep. Magnus is so freaking annoying, sucking his thumb noisily all night, I was about ready to send him out to sleep in the car, Sverre got upset with me for telling him to stop and making him cry, I now have a month to get him potty trained and thumb broke without interference. I have a 50/50 chance.

Redfish Lake in Sawtooth Wilderness (Idaho)

2005-06-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

6/30
Thursday
rise and shine to completely socked in by fog, sneaked up to the toilets ALONE and then down to the lake for some sunrise photos of the mountains, lake and forest. back up to camp to wash-up the griddle, and make some pancakes. 4 for Sverre, 3 for me, 2 for Erik, 2 for Magnus. then clean the grill up and watched the local chipmunk help clean up the extra pancakes. don't feed the animals didn't apply to him, and he was constantly stealing from Magnus' plate on the picnic table. Magnus must be on a growth spurt, he is sleeping in pretty late each day, not waking up until 10 or 11 am. Once we got the camp picked up, we headed off for and adventure. we made it 1.5 miles to the beach, and not only did the boys play, but Sverre stripped down to his shorts and wadded out until ht was waist deep and sank down a couple of times, BRAVE DUDE, it was 32 at night and 58 during the day, when he went in the air was 9'C and I bet the water was not more than 40F, After he left the water, I needed to get Magnus cleaned up, he wet his pull up,., was covered in sand, so I did the quick and dirty and sluiced him in the frigid water and he didn't scream but he was not happy, since his daddy had just done it, he was a little more cooperative. I had to set him on a rock to properly sluice water on his legs, boy was it cold. I was brave enough to wade out to my calves, Sverre and I got the boys dressed, and we set off to work farther around the north shore of the lake. we made it another 3.5 miles to the Guest Lodge, had a nice lunch (redfish chowder / salad / water for 4 was $31) and then came the bathroom issues again. I swear, it is enough to drive me to drink. Erik is 5.75 years old, takes FOREVER to do the deed, and then REQUIRES royal attention to the paperwork. aauugghh. Magnus SAYS he has to go, but then REFUSES to go, after I got them both back out of the bathrooms, (35 minutes later) I STILL had to change Magnus because he had NOT gone in the bathroom, and HAD gone in his pull-up. I was FRUSTRATED. back on the bikes and made it to the last campground, no way to go further to the headwaters of the lake, back around and stopped on the shores to play at the beach for a few minutes. we had a spot of snack (Idaho spud bites and water. Magnus threw a fit, he is definitely tired and needs a nap. then we had to load back up and go to find (you guessed it, a TOILET for Erik). this time, his father had to cope, I am DONE.
we loaded up yet again and peddled a mile farther, to the last camp ground, just couldn't get further on bikes, only a hiking path, so we turned around, went past the lodge, and eventually I got some pictures of the river leaving the lake and going under the bridge, and Magnus taking forever to proceed on.
FINALLY we pedal back to camp and I am just tired enough to take a nap, but instead I load up Magnus and we drive 5 miles back into town to call Naomi since I have no cell service. Tried 4 times from a payphone, no luck. get some food fixings, drive back to camp, wipe up some dinner, start a camp fire to finish off the marshmallows, Erik is a Champion marshmallow baker, lightly crusty on the outside, totally liquidy on the inside. Sverre and I got the camp cleaned up, I headed to bed, leaving Sverre to watch the embers. I did some downloading of my photos, editing my final selection. narrowed down to 225 images from the week. and then roll over and crashed.

Cascade Idaho to Sawtooth Wilderness (Stanley Idaho)

2005-06-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

6/29
Wednesday
finally woke up to a fairly dry camp, only the morning dew falling from the Douglas Fir that we slept under but the lake was completely socked in by fog for hours. no photo op until late in the morning. I got up and make blue berry pancakes and everyone devoured them. Sverre had 4. and the rest of the orange juice was polished off.
essentials for camping should include not only:
Coleman grill for hot dogs, fish, chicken, and veggies / and griddle for pancakes, bowl with Wisk and pancake turner, but also a generous supply of baby wipes and paper towels. Plenty of plastic bags for trash, a store of paper plates and plastic utensils as well as paper cups for orange juice. tons of sports bottles for water. we survived on peanut butter and jelly and bread as well as bananas and apples for lunch, Cliff bars and trail mix for trail food. dinner was pretty easy with dogs and fish.
bedding issues are being resolved, while Sverre prefers his rolled up egg crate, because he can take it outside, I prefer my self inflating but much more delicate one to sleep on. we have a couple extra sleeping bags that we are using for additional padding or warmth that adds to the bulk of the load, now without the trailer, that would not be a problem, but either way, we will most likely upgrade next year to some more slim line choice gear.
laundry, for some reason I packed 4 days worth of clothes for 4 days and we needed 2 days of clothes and 8 days of socks. ;-) Sverre utilized baby wipes each day for a quick body wash, pretty ingenious. I am still drooling over a camp vehicle (15 passenger van size) so that I am not constantly packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking. I would take out all the bench seats but the first row, so that it is long enough for Sverre's 6ft 4in body, and could still put in a mini kitchen cabinet in the back, so with the tailgate open, I would have a chuck wagon kitchen. I have seen where they even raise the bed to provide storage underneath. too handy. Sverre says no way in hell.
we tried to bike but the gravel was just too soft. we did play down by the beach when the fog lifted, and that was fine for a few minutes, but then I was just exhausted, so I crawled back in the tent and took a 3 hour nap. Sverre woke me up to pack up camp and get out, that it was getting to crowded. Erik was the social butterfly, making lots of new friends, and even driving one girls pink Barbie jeep. When I went down, there was 3 tent trailers that were just 'swatting' for the weekend, (fireworks party) and one other camper a good 300 yards away. by the time I had my nap, the place was getting packed, and the area just 300 yards the other was was OVERFULL with Bus/RV's it was going to be a zoo. so we packed up and headed out. the
trip back south to banks, Idaho, and then left through Lowman (major fire recently) and on to Stanley was pretty scenic. the trees, the rock cliffs, and winding road was pretty cool. we spouted to get some pictures and wouldn't you know it, I twisted my ankle again. I was just sick.
we climbed over several passes, the highest was 7200 feet. the first camp ground that was on the suggestion list was Lola camp ground, it was PACKED and there were tons of kids for the boys to play with, but it was stifling. the second one was Stanley, very picturesque with the Sawtooth mountains in the background, but it was FULL. checked out XXX campground, drove over a washboard road very carefully, found the campsite to be quite, primitive, well spaced, but nothing to do. went into Stanley to get food supplies, WOW, the prices were Outrageous. a Cliff bar in Houston is .99, there it was 1.59, trout in Boise was $10/lb, there it was $15/lb. teach me not to plan ahead. made it to Redfish Lake and WOW, perfect. we settled in Sockeye Campground and it was pretty near perfect. while we unloaded the car, set up camp, Erik was fulfilling his social agenda, we really wonder where he gets it from, his dad is so very shy of strangers. We took a tiny ride (4 miles) where we ran into a doe wandering around, had some toilet issues with the boys, Magnus just hates to use a camp (no flush) potty, opted for a tree, and his trajectory was off, had to change his clothes, Erik also had some #2 issues, we finally gave up, I got some sunset on the lake photos, collected a $5 bundle of firewood from the camp host. and headed back to camp to roast some marshmallows. had major issues with fire safety with the boys, fell into bed, but not without some major issues from Erik stealing my sleeping bag. remind me again WHY oh WHY I do this for them?

Boise Idaho to Cascade Idaho

2005-06-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

6/28
Tuesday
rose with the sun, tried to dry out the camp, soaked from the night rains.Paid our $20 to the camp owner, had raisin bran muffins, drinkable yogurt (smoothies) and orange juice for breakfast.
loaded up the car and parked it in the general parking lot for the Boise Greenbelt, headed out on our bikes to tour Boise. destination: Boise Co-op and Ann Morrison Park. we did alright, all things considered. found the Idaho Candy Company by shear divine intervention. I was deliriously happy. 4 pounds of heaven for $5. had a picnic lunch at the Capital West Lawn and enjoyed the park and fountains and a tour of the park. got caught in a torrential downpour from hell on the ride back to the car, we were soaked to the gills. I hated that part, it was freezing cold rain, I couldn't see, I couldn't stop, and I hated to go. parked under the lean-to at the RV on the River, and I went and fetched the car, we had a hot shower and a picnic snack waiting for the clothes to dry. I cut up the vegetables and drowned them with a raspberry marinade that we would grill when we got to the Lake for dinner.
loaded our car and drove 2 hours to Lake Cascade, Cascade Idaho, that was the most scenic but irritating, Sverre has issues with the curves, bends, and narrow roads, since I have been driving highway 12 for so long, it was nothing to me, but he insisted going the posted speed limit of 35 mph, which was fine, we just had to pull over every other mile to let 10 people pass.
Played our $11.42, and Pitched a tent under the tree and and grilled our veggies and Sverre a salmon and me some chicken. a good thing we gave the boys a late lunch/snack at 4 pm, they crashed before the tent was even set up. and slept through the night. cooking and setting up the tent in the dark was awful.

Clarkston Washington to Boise Idaho

2005-06-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

6/27
Monday
Happy Birthday to Magnus. we celebrated with dinner with the Swaim's in Eagle, Idaho. pork chops / peas, salad for everyone (Sverre had salmon) and a nice browning for the birthday. he blew out 4 candles with a lot of help from his brother. the day was spent trekking from Clarkston, Washington to Eagle Idaho. once we arrived, we spent the afternoon reorganizing the car to accommodate Sverre and his camping gear.fighting the big fat hairy black rain clouds threatening to downpour. which they did 20 seconds after we got everything packed or stored. sorting the extra gear at the Swaim's house. fortunately the skied opened up and by dinner the sky was blue again, we checked online the weather channel and formulated a plan, to skirt the rains, we would spend the first night in Boise, the second night in Cascade and the third and fourth in Stanley, and the 5th night back in Eagle.
After dinner, we set out for our first night in Boise at the RV by the River. we got the bikes and trailer set up and the tent up and tarped, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. and while it was blue skies when we went to sleep, during the night, the clouds rolled in and burst. everything was soaked but us.

Clarkston, Washington

2005-06-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

6/26
Sunday
we woke up and headed over to Albertsons for some supplies, blue berry pancakes for breakfast, PBJ for lunch with bananas and water, and dinner will be spaghetti. didn't hardly make it in the door and the kids were giving me attitude. so had to go back out and have a CHAT and try again, they were much better the second time around. considered going to the park, but since Naomi has no bicycle, and I had the car full of sleeping bags when I dug through the trunk to get the pancake griddle, we opted out. watched some TV, colored homemade birthday cards for Magnus, worked on Naomi's spelling / penmanship, and then played with paper airplanes. brought back a memory my grandmother Allen gave me once. she tried to get the twins interested in papers dolls, depression era paper dolls were cut from the new paper and catalogs, as were the clothes. and for a while it worked, albeit brief while. with this generation of kids, it works a little bit better. they love paper cards, paper airplanes, and would probably love paper dolls as well.
today is the last day of this visit, and then after an early loading of the car and an early bed, we should be on the road EARLY tomorrow. will whip up the pancakes tonight and reheat them in the microwave in the morning, so that we are all loaded before going to bed. theoretically if we go through walla walla Washington, cut down through Oregon, we should make Boise by noon if all goes well.
the staff here at Motel 6 have been phenomenal on customer service and making my stay more pleasant. definitely feel like a mix between family and elite guests. McDonalds are also so used to use and give us such good treatment, even if we just order 3 ice creams and 3 chicken sandwiches. they are just happy to see us. I just wish that Magnus would potty train and give up the thumb. it is so irritating to change diapers at this late date and beyond aggravating to hear him sucking so noisily at 2 am and 3 am and 4 am on that thumb. I am [-this-] close to putting some tobacco sauce on it. ;-) at least some duct tape.
Now that Naomi has gone home we have hit the pool, the boys are alone, so it is pretty peaceful and quiet. I.e., perfect. I may even grab my suit and climb in for some rest and relaxation. my ankle has healed remarkably fast after modifying my diet and eliminating so much salt. so this would probably not aggravate that.
Magnus 4th birthday. he has requested a strawberry cake. I can not believe how fast it has gone. 4 years. what was I doing 4 years ago. nervous. anxious. apprehensive. but never would I have thought that it would have gone so fast.

Missoula, Montana to Clarkston, Washington

2005-06-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

6/25
Saturday
rain during the night, got the car loaded with only a few sprinkles. the boys were still asleep as I was ready to pull out. they were so over tired. got them dressed, loaded and headed into town for the market. the rain threatened all day, I was very surprised at the number of vendors with ORGANIC on their goods. some of the goods were obviously brought in in a truck from California. absolutely hopeless, a farmers market should be LOCAL PRODUCE not just produce shipped in on a truck. sad. got a 1/2 decent coffee from the Caboose, requested cr�me's only and it was still too bitter. at a profoundly ridiculous price. Erik scored two bunches of organic baby carrots for $1/bunch. got some good snacks at the great harvest bread company. too early in the season for what I wanted which was bell peppers, onions, broccoli, and other grill food. strolled around the farmers market twice, ran into Leota and her mom, Della and her friend, and Nikki and her daughter. headed down to the 'people's market' which is crafts and artesian. that has grown as well and now they are starting up another farmers market in Caras park, called River Front Farmer's Market. I didn't have time to check that out this weekend, but hopefully in a couple of weeks.
Road Trip through the pass at noon went well, extremely fast with very little traffic, the boys watched a DVD and I kept my mind on the road.
weather in Clarkston is hot, sunny and dry. since Naomi was not allowed to bring a swimming suit this time, we had more of a quiet day. An early dinner in Clarkston, Washington was unbelievable. Erik, Magnus and Naomi were on their very best behavior. They went way over board being quiet and sitting still, we went to Tomato Brothers and was seated right away (5:30 pm is very little crowd) we were in the corner which helped the kids. they were extremely patient considering it took 20 minutes to get our meals from the time we ordered. as we were leaving however the entire meal was ruined by an elderly couple. the husband was so completely uncouth, telling me that I really need to control my kids, (we had our check and was leaving for heavens sake, all they were doing was standing at a different table while I was figuring the tip. the woman was so snotty telling me that I should be a better mother and teach my kids some manners and I lit in to her, told her that her mom should have done a better job teaching her manners. after we departed, me in a fury, she sitting in a haughty snit, I was trying to regain my composure with the kids, they were invited to play bubbles with some of the other motel kids, when the one child kept going off on Erik not to pop the bubbles before they touch the ground, and I said, what happens when they touch the ground, he said, they pop. well hello, what harm was Erik doing? finally after 4 more times, I just gathered the kids up and we went into the room, I had no patience left for other people's issues.
we settled down and got ready for bed by 7 pm and the fortunately the kids were asleep by 9 pm. a first for our Naomi sleep over's, usually it is very stressful, terribly difficult and fraught with frustration. this time was great. we had a small tragedy, she ate Magnus's and Erik's muffins that they got at the Farmers Market and they were heartbroken that she had done that without asking. she apologized and after awhile, all was forgiven if not forgotten. Magnus ended up camping with Naomi instead of Erik, that was a deviation from the usual but it worked out well. the dynamics between the three have always been lumped with Naomi and Erik and to have Magnus and Naomi be closer would be a good thing. I however couldn't go to sleep until much later. Krys called fussing about door alarms, boyfriend issues, and step dads, Jazz called fussing about this, that and the other. and Sverre called, he had successfully rode 15 miles to the base of bogus basin, 15 miles up bogus basin, 15 miles down, 15 miles back. where he collected an additional 30 miles I am not sure, but he swears he got in 60 miles for the day.

Missoula, Montana

2005-06-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

6/22
Wednesday
going to kill the teenagers. Krys called when she got off work at 3 am and jazz called when she got off work at 7 am, monsters
went to Costco to get proofs printed, cruised around, only two sample tables, WHAT is UP with THAT? really want to buy a 1 gig card for $75
went to great harvest bread co and got a loaf of apple crunch as well as some cinnamon rolls / rhubarb oat squares / peach scones
took the snacks to Bonner park and spread out a sleeping bag to sit on in the shade, while the boys played. Maggie ran barefoot for a few minutes (more details later)
5 hrs working on portrait order, originally had it online, but the online fulfillment is no longer available. had backed up the JPG files to a DVD, but while Costco could read it for proofs, I could not read it on my computer. had to go back to the original raw camera files and start all over again. the challenge was that I really messed up when shooting the pictures, I had it set to 2 full f stops and all the pictures were way too dark, it took some serious manipulation to recover the pictures.
went back to Costco to get final prints done, went pee again, :-) ordered blackberry sundae and split it between the three of us (boys and mom) while waiting. finally got the order done well enough.
got back to Lolo, watched miss congeniality and Krys called, she is wigging about the week that Sverre will be out of town, she is not sure she wants to stay with boyfriend for 10 whole days!
got jazz to open and sort through her collection of boxes that has all her goodies packed. she is a WORLD CLASS packrat. looking for her 2004 tax papers, applying for financial assistance from the hospital.
she is pretty helpless when it comes to dinner, she gave me some attitude that it was 730 and I was like, so. she was like you have not even started dinner, I giggled, like that is a news flash. I just dont 'do' dinner. opened up two cans of beef stew and heated then while throwing a squash in the microwave.
after the house has settled down I pulled 6 huge slivers out of Magnus feet, poor mutt. he was not happy.

Clarkston, Washington to Lolo, Montana

2005-06-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

6/21
Tuesday
today I need to pack up the car, much easier today, and then after our visit with Naomi from 1-4, we will trek to Montana through the canyon. my ankle is marginally better. doesn't feel nearly as swollen. wonder if riding my bike for 15 miles a day, or the additional salt in 'fast food' was aggravating it more than sitting in the car and cutting off the circulation, or just a combination of all of the above.
Drove through the canyon, did great time. left at 5 pm arrived in Lolo at 9 pm. before leaving talked to jazz, she was to tired to drive herself into town, she was going to have her boyfriend pat drive her, but she said she was going to leave the house key under the floor mat in the car, all the doors locked in the car, but the back passenger window would be cracked enough to get my hand in and unlock the door.
had to pee from Colgate Licks, but held it to keep my spot on the road, hate getting behind a SUNDAY driver or worse, a SLOW RV. stopped at the store to get some groceries so that I would not have to reload the boys again. gave jazz call as soon as I realized that her car was not in the driveway and that the house key was not in her parts car. heathen. now I really had to pee. she giggled and informed me that the car was at home depot. key was in where she told me, I just had to drive to Missoula. oh and BY THE WAY since I was coming into town ANYWAYS could I bring her dinner. she really needs to be strangled. told her that I would only bring PBJ, she said fine. (that is desperate) ended up giving her 2 left over $1 menu chicken sandwiches. drove BACK to Lolo and got the boys settled, watched the end of pride & prejudice.

Clarkston, Washington

2005-06-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

6/20

Monday

After a very hectic week, just chilling by the pool and resting my ankle with bags of ice, has been very pleasant. I am finally catching my breath after 21 days of whirlwind. this time instead of unpacking the whole car, I just pulled out the ESSENTIALS: camera and computer bags, three bags of clothes, a cooler with our snacks, my media backups of my pictures on DVD (hope to compress that soon) and the bag of bathroom supplies. we have hit the pool daily, the boys are loving that.

Leaving the pool was a crisis, Magnus was over tired and he was just hysterical. granted it was only 9 pm here, but in his world (Texas time) it was 11 pm and he was so tired. I watched 50 first dates and it was so good, I cried at the end. definitely on my wish list to own.

Magnus is getting better about his frustrations of not being home. I asked him if he would like to have papa and his toys and his blanket in a house in Boise, and he said yes, and have jasmine (krystal) there too, and said papa, and momma, and Erik in Boise. ;-) then he changed his mind and krystal can stay with Jason and Justin because Jason and Justin are funny to me'

Will be meeting up with three girl friends from all over the country on Friday for an impromptu reunion. it has been 14 years since the last time we saw each other all at the same time. I have seen Leota (Townsend, MT), Della (Milwaukee, WI) but not Margie (Cincinnati, OH). just a fluke that we will all be in the same day.

Boise Idaho to Clarkston, Washington

2005-06-19T01:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday
Happy Father's Day
Rise and shine with the birds, packed up the camp, loaded everything in the car and headed at a breakneck speed (5 hours) to Clarkston, Washington. did pause long enough to snag some good cinnamon rolls in Cascade, and digitally capture a new waterfall as well as some 'wildlife' pedaling to McCall they announced. Arrived in Clarkston by 12:30 pm, the Motel Management are tickled to see me. they are so cute. ;) got the wireless rebooted, and up and running. Naomi was in a animal mood at first, refused to go swimming, finally got her coaxed to go, she and the boys had fun with the floaties in the pool, 2.5 hours. Dinner was at Pizza Hut, three personal pan pizzas. after some continuous discussion that we were not going back to the pool, Erik and Magnus finally settled down and went to sleep. watched some movies and then it was time for me to crash and burn as well.

Boise, Idaho

2005-06-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

6/18

Saturday

Farmers Market is on the agenda, called due to RAIN. rode around Eagle and Garden City shopping for neighborhoods, and then bike riding, first we attempted to find the magical trail that connects Garden City to Eagle. there is a path on the south side of the Boise river, but it dead ends 1.75 miles, we went up over the bridge and down on the north side, and that trail cuts back and then after .5 miles BLAM, big fat 'no bicycle' sign, just pedestrians with their dogs. ;-( that sucks. so we turned around and tried to go towards Boise on the North side of the river, BLAM big private golf course blocking the path, so back to the south side and headed eastward. made it all the way to ann morrison park, turned LEFT and headed into town, pretty easy path until you actually hit down and then NOTHING to guide you, not a bike path, not a bike lane, nothing. we wandered around, using the sidewalks, and made it back to the Grove. a big fat line of people trying to buy tickets or to get in to see some event.

up the street to the LeParis restaurant for a bowl of soup and a desert. easily locked the bikes up outside the restaurant and was waited right away. the cream of mushroom was very good but had just some whipped cream piped on the top, not actually a cream of soup that Americans are used to. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars, Magnus has the potato / carrot / onion soup, I could only convince him to eat the potatoes, both he and Erik agreed that the carrots were not very good, the broth was very watery minimal flavor, that would have gotten a 3 out of 5 stars, and Erik had the potato / leek soup and while that had some good consistency, great taste, it was a little too salty, so it also got a 3 out of 5 stars (familiarity making up for salty taste) as for desert, I had the crème's Brule's and it was a mix, the topping was too hard and thick, wouldn't crack properly and what I did get broke off and into my mouth imbedded into my molars, so I opted to chisel it off and just eat the egg custard, that was very good. a definite 4 out of 5 stars, Magnus had a Bavarian cream filled pastry that was good but must have been to rich for his tastes he ate a little over 1/2 of it. Erik devoured a green custard filled pasty and was in heaven. not one crumb was left a definite 5 out of 5 stars in his palate.

pedaled back to the camp in the rain, not a hard rain, just enough to feel brisk, saw an amazing WHOLE rainbow with three bands, and for once, I didn't have my camera, rats. even Erik thought that I should go get it and get back, he would wait for me. ;-) total of 15.3 miles on the bikes. Erik is getting really good at this, hit the BMX trails and he went down the beginner trail and impressed the dickens out of a 10 year old that has been riding it for years, and then he tackled the Expert (black diamond) route without incident. what an amazing boy! Magnus wanted to exercise, he stretched, and then jogged, and pushed the cart, my bike and me quite a few yards. he is awesome. packed up the trailer to get ready to head back out in the morning for Clarkston for a visit.

car mileage: 2376.7+1245.9

bike mileage: 192.1

Boise, Idaho

2005-06-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

6/17
Friday
left the very soggy bikes and trailer pinioned to the fence and took the car out for a jaunt around town. investigated Eagle Idaho, Located HP campus, revisited the east Boise residential (warm springs) area, and finally parked the car downtown to adventure into the GROVE. for a Friday night it was DEAD! walked down town to city hall and played in the water fountains, walked a little further to see the capital building, and then walked back to the GROVE and played around the water fountains. the town has a thing about fountains. paid my parking $6 for 1 hour and 42 minutes. YIKES. was supposed to be $1.50 / half hour and $3 for the evening. I got there at 4:17 pm, they did not cut me a break on the evening rate. lots of sidewalk cafe's. smells from the Parisian cafe nearly temped me in, but I had already got bagels at the bagel shop down the road in warm springs. they were a disappointment. *sigh*
found a nice wifi hotspot in Garden City at the best little espresso shop, Moxie Java. finally found what I think is the perfect blend. she says that it is a tall (16 oz) with white chocolate and the espresso is just the cr�me's it was lick-the-lid roll-the-eyes from-the-diaphragm-sigh good. worth every penny of the $3.25. started calling the coffee cup (whispering) 'precious'.
one of the neighbors in the RV campground has been evicted by assistance of the police. they had a tent, a gazebo and heaven knows what all covered with a frayed green tarp that resembled a 'tent city' tent from some refugee camp. I was alerted to the situation when they drove by an asked what I was paying per day and how long I was staying. they were HOPPING MAD and cussing up a storm as they were taking down their 'camp'. my set up is so plain Jane, just a tent and two baby camp chairs. I guess boring is good. no one complained. however there are some RV's here that have definitely set up squatters rights, they have permanent structures attached the the RV's and I am not talking just porches and 100 gallon propane bottles but some serious storage sheds, green houses and other amenities. 13.3 miles on the bikes. maggie did really good running about 1/4 mile. he is going to be my IRON man player.

Boise Idaho

2005-06-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

6/16
Thursday
got back out pedaling after making blueberry pancakes, by 9 am. Have packed up the Burley to go off exploring. We made it 2.5 miles, found the BMX track again and Erik HAD to have a GO at it again. wearing long pants this time and gloves, he did much better both staying upright and not fussing when he fell. one other little guy was not so lucky on the flat's of the path, he wiped out and fortunately only bellowed for a little while before a parks and rec cart came along to give him and his bike a lift back to his parents. wrenched my ankle AGAIN. got an emergency ice pack out of the first aid kit, and applied it until all the cold was gone. then we progressed on to the Veterans Memorial Park, Both boys nearly equally frustrated with me that we were not stopping more than to get a drink. Pedaled on and then had to make an emergency stop, Erik had bent his chain guard and the chain was rubbing on a bolt, fixed that and peddled on to the Ann Morrison park to play in the sandy beach and river, water was very cold, felt great on my ankle, if it were not for my tummy rumbling and my bladder screaming, could have spent another hour in the cold river. Made some PBJ's and then on to the AWESOME playground for a couple hours of fun, the squirrel was back, but I was wise to his shenanigans, I buttoned down the cart, so he tried hard to get in but was deterred. rotten little rodent. Found a toilet. they are pretty readily available. about 1 / mile, along with clean sanitary water fountains and trash cans. Finally Erik got to go to the Fountain. he LOVES the fountain. Magnus got soaked, slipped an fell, hitting the back of his head, and decided to call it a day. but Erik kept playing long past 6 pm. some 'guy' shows up with a live snake, MONSTER size, he is definitely the snake type. tat's and black beard, no shirt, no shoes, just baseball hat on backwards and mountain bike shorts. quite the effect on the local park crowd, did I mention the pony tail? ;-)
Magnus is taking his siesta, Erik lost interest in the fountain, wants to return to the play area, so I gathered Magnus up, still sleeping and reclined his Burley, stuffed a pillow in the corner, and he is still snoozing in his cart, and we are back at the playground. Erik is smacking down his PBJ, finally, hunger out wins attention. he has found a "friend" and they are hanging out. Erik finds more friends than I find projects to do. he is off again, scampering with the natives. ;-)
.....RAIN.....
well, it happened, the first time in 12 weeks of use, we got hit with rain and water - resistant does not even come close to meaning water proof. where the pillows touched the tent, the water seeped in, and where the rain bonnet touched the tent, the rain dripped in. so at 2 am, I popped into the car, ran to a 24 hour Wal-Mart super center, looked first in the sporting goods, no luck, looked in the paint (drop cloth) no luck, finally found one in the RV section with the toilet blue and the bungee cords, and bought a 10x20 tarp and dashed back and unfolded the precious item, draped it over the tent, the folding camp chairs, and then drove over one end so that it was anchored and then climbed back inside. took one of the boys dirty t-shirts and sopped up the worse of the water inside and took the pillow cases off and hung them from the suspended nest to dry, and curled up with the DVD player and watched 1/2 of the first disk of Pride and Prejudice for 1.5 hours waiting to make sure we were not soaked in our sleep. it worked perfectly and so we were just a little moist by morning.

Boise, Idaho

2005-06-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

6/15
Wednesday
feeling very brave, pedaled all the way in to the university via the greenbelt and back. 15 miles. farthest either Erik or I have ever gone in one day. the city is a not only a diverse melting pot of cultures and classes, there is an Oscar Meyer wiener song going through my head. the greenbelt is utilized by big kids, little kids, kids that climb on rocks, smart kids, sissy kids, even kids with chicken pox. tall kids, fat kids, some kids are 6 months old and others are 60 years old. it is very diverse! After touring four major parks, we were pretty bushed when we finished. The Boise greenbelt is the ultimate in family recreation. the road way it self is as carefully marked as a busy thoroughfare, with white dashed lines for passing, double yellow lines for no passing, underpasses that bypass all the auto roads, and yield markers to let everyone know who has the right of way. all interactions are pointedly polite and civilized. roller blades, skateboards, walkers, runners, joggers, street bikes, mountain bikes, double bikes, bikes with trailers, bikes with tandem bikes (hitchhikers, piccolos) are all well represented. lots of different styles of panniers, some with just back packs, some with fully loaded front and back bike packs, saw some personal water packs as well as simple sports bottles mounted on the bikes. personal wear is also a varied as the population. everything from the "Lance Armstrong' wannabees to the starving college student recycled shorts and t-shirt are well represented. Grandma and Grandpa are right there as well. there is no generation barrier, no culture barrier, no language barrier and no class barrier to discriminate between the citizens of the greenbelt. it is as varied as it's suburban automobile driving counterpart, but with a friendlier twist and a nicer smile. people actually make eye contact and say Hello out there.
The Greenbelt goes on for MILES and it has lots of side loops, almost all through kid friendly parks. there is just so much stuff to do along the beltway: zoo's, parks, fountains, play area, access to the river with sandy beaches, Frisbee golf, BMX tracks, we just can't see how anyone gets any WORK done. found security in all types of vehicles. volunteers in white golf carts, police on TREKS, parks & recs in red 'lil mules' as well as mounted police on horses. all in all I would say that it makes them more 'approachable' and part of the community instead of farting around in their a/c cars with their cell phones 'lurking'. I felt safe, but not imposed on by 'big brother'. Erik and Magnus have not been bored yet, just frustrated when I tear them away to get to the next adventure. there was a very brave squirrel that climbed up into the back of the cart, swiped not one but two blue berry pancakes and hauled his bushy tail out of there. THIEF! there are not enough hours in the day. we have to limit ourselves to 1-2 hours at each stop, just to get 7 miles down the road, and 7 miles back. Erik found the BMX park to be both extremely cool and somewhat dangerous. Erik wiped out three times on the BMX track and needed first aid. picked up deli chicken at Albertsons on State Street and Glenwood along with some juice and milk for breakfast and some more bread for PBJ for lunches. After we ate dinner, we got a HOT cleansing shower and with some first aid, pj's and a story from the local 'free press' magazine, the boys were out for the night. One of the notables about these parks is that they are not 'sportsplexs' they are PARKS. the play area is a play area, the trees are restful and you dont have a baseball game going on competing with the peace and quiet. the kids are giggling and laughing, but it is not an unpleasant noise. while there is a sports plex near the BMX bike trails, and it has a children's park adjacent to it as well, the main parks, Veterans, Morrison, Albertson and Julia's are all very tranquil and modestly populated. there is literally enough 'space' for everyone to enjoy, it is not 'empty' it is utilized, maybe under utilized, but during the work week I am sure we are not seeing the full population, like there would be on the weekends.

Boise, Idaho

2005-06-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

6/14
Tuesday
fell and sprained my left ankle TERRIBLY... cried for several minutes from the pain. frustrating that Magnus laughed and told me that grownups don't cry. spent the day driving around looking at neighborhoods. stopped at Veterans Memorial Park for several hours, and then dozing back at the camp, fighting a horrible migraine, no energy, and overall just flat lethargic. fortunately, Erik made friends with some 'neighbors' from Arizona, and the dad set up the gas grill and warmed up some hot dogs. even sent over a bag of ice, a cold juice drink and some chips for my dinner. the ice helped more than I would have thought possible. After a couple more hours, I got brave enough to hook up the trailer and pedaled west from the camp, 2 miles (in Garden City, at Glenwood and Marigold towards the town of Eagle) to the very western end of the greenbelt of the city and 2 miles back. passed a nice apartment complex that butts up to the greenbelt, good possibility for some domestic tranquility. Erik was having so much fun, he 'popped' out his bottom tooth, second one this trip, third one this year. At a buck a tooth, the tooth fairy is getting a little frustrated at his expenses this month.

Meridian Idaho

2005-06-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

6/13
Monday, explored Meridian (dry treeless desert) got camping supplies, self inflating bed roll, 0' sleeping bag, Coleman propane stove and fuel. Drove up to Shafer butte (20 miles from base of mountain to camp grounds. first 13 miles are a treeless desert. very dry and depressing. a very dry hot and brown state devoid of vegetation. USFS campsite is $8 a night, PLUS $4 for the car, $3 for fuel to get there, no power, no sewer, no flush toilets, and very primitive. Settled on the RV by the River as a final destination. showers and running water and electricity not to mention no driving to get to the greenbelt, definitely worth the extra $5 a night. Wendy's catered sac dinner at Julia Park, saw the rose gardens, and the "train" depot for the 'train' rides around the city. followed the roads skirting along the northern edge of Boise. trip to Wal-Mart for food supplies, PBJ fixins. woke up three times after midnight with Krys calling and one by Jazz, not up to this anymore.

Clarkston, Washington

2005-06-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

6/12
Sunday packed everything up and then a trip to the park to play. Got some pictures of the kids, Naomi works really hard at posing for me. someone has been coaching her to smile using her teeth, and while it is better than some photo techniques, getting her or any child to say YES makes a much more natural smile. After lunch, Jennifer picked Naomi up. Gassed the car up and we drove to Boise. Also normally 5 hours of twists and turns. The tree covered mountains give way to cow dotted pastures and then back to the rugged mountains, it is a dance of nature, back and forth. I took an extra 2 hours stopping along the way to take pictures. Made it in LATE, found a Wal-Mart to call to book a room, drove downtown, tried to get to the airport, ended up wandering on I184 to get to 84 which 'should have been a straight shot". very frustrating. stayed at Motel 6, hoped to get Erik's baby blanket back, but so far they have 'seen it' but do not know where they put it. logged it in that they did find it. ;-( looks hopeless that we will get it again, sure someone sold it on EBay (original 1980's Critter Sitter Baby Blanket.)

Clarkston, Washington

2005-06-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

6/11
Saturday
spent the day at the pool, not up for much of anything else. Naomi did fine until last 30 minutes. She kicked Erik's bike and knocked it over, and I had to give her consequences. She had a thermal nuclear meltdown which lasted for 20 minutes. Got the wireless set up at the motel. that is really sweet.

Boise Idaho to Clarkston Washington

2005-06-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

6/10
Friday
drove thru Idaho to Washington. never fails to amaze me how beautiful and lonely that road is. 210 miles of twists and turns, sheer rock cliffs shooting straight up on one side, and sheer drop offs down to the river below. checked into Motel 6, ooops, the clerk gave my room (that I reserved the week before) to some elderly couple. grrr. I specifically requested that room so that I would have nonsmoking and access to the wireless internet. the pool is open, that is great news. the kids love it. not too deep, great spa. have had a hard time finding a good loading routine for the bikes on the car rack.

Missoula, Montana

2005-06-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

6/9
Thursday
Jazz was getting pretty crabby and tired staying up all night and sleeping all day to keep in her schedule for work. Loaded up the boys and drove on an adventure down the Bitterroot to Hamilton. there is a fairly continuous paved bike path going from Lolo to Florence, and then it becomes intermittent at best the rest of the way. the California poppies were blooming and looked great. WOW, it has 'grown' and is heavily populated. found several WIFI hotspots. cruised around and had lunch, drove back home.

Missoula, Montana

2005-06-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

6/8
Wednesday
drove jazz to the doctor, she is having issues with her post operation (appendectomy) and needed a recheck. come to find out she has also had relapse with the antibiotic resistant staphoccaucas. so back to bleach therapy on all surfaces and heavy duty antibiotics. I am personally getting a little sleep deprived. I need my own bed and my own kitchen and my own 'routine'. traveling is great fun for adventure, but my body is craving more 'home' environment.

Missoula, Montana

2005-06-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

6/7
Tuesday:
bleak looking weather, so freaking cold, feel like hibernating, eating more and can definitely feel the bear instinct to curl up and conserve resources. the wind is blowing pretty briskly across the lake, making some decent sized ripples. the bottom of the lake is green, the grass is green, the leaves are green, the sky is so dark from the storm clouds, it is nearly green, the whole place is GREEN! banged the dickens out of my end digit of my right middle finger and I saw stars and nearly fainted from the pain, I swear I am physically a mess. I picked up a copy of Sierra at the dealership yesterday and was interested in the articles about 'green' houses. sure hope to have more 'green' features in my next abode.

Lolo, Montana

2005-06-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

6/6
Monday:
cold days night, 42'F at night and barely warmer than that during the day. I just want to burrow in and hibernate. set up tent and laid out the bedrolls, sleeping bags, and snuggled in with the boys to keep warm. need more blankets. too bloody cold at night. breakfast was pancakes, then into Missoula for several errands. Honda Dealership for oil change, Verizon dealership for a phone change, Walgreen's for a Rx, REI and Sportsman Surplus to look for camping / biking supplies, Sparkles car wash for a thorough car de-slime, while vacuuming under Magnus seat, I found a way to break my left ring finger right in the middle joint. holy bat crap that hurt. (Note: REI has NOTHING, and what they do have is INCREDIBLY over priced, and Sportsman Surplus was much better stocked for gear with high but not unreasonable prices), Costco for some supplies, welcomed snack, and price check, over to jewelers for a watch battery, and back out to LOLO for dinner. mozzarella stuffed ravioli with Alfredo sauce. and a rhubarb upside down cake. Jazz's first night back to work.

Clarkston, Washington

2005-06-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

6/5
Sunday was a wet load, (note to self: pack car the night before) got the car fully loaded in the rain. augh. cold wet rain. visit with Naomi was fairly good, she had a decent trip through Albertsons, but total thermal nuclear meltdown in Joann fabrics over some fabric choices. had to put everything down and go out and have a time out before she got control of her self. we had a successful trip through the second time. I think it has something to do with the sensory issues of the fabric, because she consistently wigs out in that store. whereas in dollar store or Albertsons she is fine. After lunch, drove through the canyon from Clarkston, Washington to Lolo Montana, 210 miles of 45 mpg twists and turns. extremely scenic, white knuckle ride, but luckily the car knows the way. the area is unusually green, owing a lot to a heavier than normal rainfall this year. magically hit the waterfall again, and got some great pictures, some bear grass photos at Jerry Johnson's. quick run into Missoula for supplies, pancake mix (bisquick) and back to Lolo. Magnus is over whelmed, he is not happy, he wants to go HOME. he misses his dad. he misses his routine and he is just not happy. Erik lost his tooth, second one this year, first one this trip. dont know what it is about his being up in Montana, but he is definitely loosing them up here rather than at home.

Clarkston, Washington

2005-06-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

6/4
Saturday was a day of stress and challenges. I got the bikes loaded up and the trailer wheels in for new heavy duty tubes to reduce the effects of puncture weeds, hope to get in a good ride in the afternoon.
Naomi was over stressed with a trip to Costco, and then finally settled down to watch a Disney movie (shrek 2) and was calm until a quick trip to McDonalds for a ice cream Sunday just wigged her out. transitions are still nearly impossible. after Naomi left for the evening the boys and I loaded up the bikes and trailer and headed down to the snake river walking paths, towards swallows parks. 2.5 miles to the boat launch, got some great pictures, and then 2.5 miles back. quick shower and a light dinner. Magnus fell asleep exhausted before eating his dinner, and ended up sleeping through the night.
2376.7 car mileage
120 bike mileage

Boise Idaho to Clarkston Washington

2005-06-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

6/3
Friday

Friday was a small jaunt through Boise before heading north on 55 through what can best be described as god's country. mileage improving marginally in the mountains (34 mpg) climbed and dropped over about 5 mountains. went from the gentle foot hills of Boise with adorable neighborhoods, out the main drag to Eagle, Idaho, and quickly climbed over the rugged terrain, dropping gently down into the picturesque valley, and then up again, over the lush green tree covered mountain, and then down again into the richest farm fields of wheat and mustard, quick climb back up in the the rugged mountains and down again, we passed lakes and valleys, and was never board. the two lane road was pretty fast, light traffic kept it pleasant. many post card pictures all along the way if only I had allowed more time to stop and take them. last bit of drive from white bird to Clarkston was tedious with construction and some s-l-o-w traffic, but over all the trip was a good 5 hours. Magnus is requesting that we go home now, he is tired of traveling and just wants to go home. he really misses his dad and is teary eyed.
arrived in Washington at motel 6 and still had enough time after unloading the car to get in a short 30 minute 4 mile ride down along the river wharf. learned quickly about puncture weeds. holy bat crap, that stuff is uncivilized. 2 mile and Erik's tires were worthless, I had to load his bike in the back of the burley trailer and him in with Magnus in the front, and then pull them all back to the room. that is about 5 lbs for the specialized, 45 lbs for Erik and 40 lbs for Magnus and 10 lbs for the trailer behind my little Trek. I did it, but I was not enjoying it. the heat was not too terribly bad, about 90 but still I worked up a sweat.
visit with Naomi was for the most part a disaster. instead of meeting at the motel which is familiar for her, the plan was changed to the park, and she was out of sorts the whole day. then the biological father was insistent on demonstrating the 'hard ass approach' the parenting, and how reasonable expectations are. all it succeeded in doing was destroying Naomi down to -0- self esteem and making her cling to him for love and affection, he seemed to enjoy the physical restraint of her in putting her in a upper body lock, pulling her off the monkey bars, and holding her off the ground until she raised her feet up and then he was loath that she was being defiant. before the whole theatrics were over, she had urinated on herself, and he gave me a story that she had not done that in 5 years. and that she was capable of 'normal' behavior and he felt that she as just acting like this because of my visit. I found the whole spectacle reprehensible, but rather than defend my child, I left her to his tactics, the courts had appointed this 'person' to be fit to raise her over my objections and my firmly held beliefs that she as in danger due to his power trips and need for absolute domination. the more I struggled to protect her the more he attacked us both, so despite my own anguish, it was better to just leave her to his cruelties and not get involved and thus avoid personal attacks on myself. personally I have always hated that my own mother opted for this technique. that she would leave me to fend for myself and save herself, but after 15 years, I can see the benefits and have tried it, the trick is to learn to live with myself afterwards. we cut the visit short, he took her home to change her, and then meet me at the motel room. Naomi was pretty abusive to Jennifer and Doug when they dropped her off. I told her that was not acceptable. and she ended up returning to the van with Jennifer for her punishment. she returned and seemed to be calm is not happy.

Grand Junction Colorado to Boise Idaho

2005-06-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

6/2
Thursday

Thursday up and at them again, got in a good 1/2 mile ride before storing bike on car. out the door and on the road by 8 am, the area is desolate at best, not a tree in site, lots of rugged plateaus and some small dry brush here and there, almost as if a bomb went off many decades ago and nothing organic has returned as of yet. ran in the a horrendous thunderstorm in Utah on highway 6. stopped salt lake city to visit with a good friend, have some lunch, and let the children play. she had wifi which was a good deal for I was able to fulfill a portrait order before continuing on my journey. arrived at 1 pm and left by 430 pm, but better rested from the break. the ride into Boise was fairly pleasant, there was gentle hills climbing out of Utah and into Idaho, once over there was a definite farming valley with mountains in the far north distance. the sunset was spectacular and worth stopping the car to capture. gas was pretty spendy, $2.27 a gallon, but the attendants were all pleasant so the atmosphere in Mountain Home was very sweet. Boise was good, easy trip in, a wrong turn sent me on a long loop on the freeway to find the motel which is on the south side of the freeway and thus south side of Boise proper.

Amarillo Texas to Grand Junction Colorado

2005-06-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

6/1
Wednesday

Wednesday, up and at them early enough, out the door by 8 am, even got in a couple of laps with the trek in the parking lot to work the kinks out of the old body before another day of driving.
too I40 west to just under Colorado and then north on I25 to Denver, left on I70 through the canyon. went through several mountain tunnels, saw some snow, brr., had to stop at a local rest area and let the kids get some playtime in to de-stress. arrived into grand junction Colorado. found motel 6 by the airport. the prices were pretty high considering there was a baseball tournament in town, only a $2 discount for online booking. to tired to continue on safely. the motel was on the north side of the freeway, just south of the airport and even that close, the flights were not a bother. the motel had seen better days, it was definitely a first edition in the chain, very clean, but had a 1960's feel.

Houston to Amarillo Texas

2005-05-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

5/31
Tuesday

by Tuesday we ready to go, or so I thought. I 'said' that I was leaving at 6 am so that no one would expect any 'interaction' well, krystal (did#2) woke me up at 5:45 am, by 7:30 am I was wasted and had to go back to sleep. after a 2 hour nap, I was ready to try again. loaded and out the driveway by 1030 am we were 2.5 hours behind schedule. during the drive, we wore out a couple of DVD's, and I quickly discovered that we would have two sets of movies, and rotate them so that I didn't have to hear the same dialog over and over more than one day in a row. drove from Klein Texas on I45 the place is already burning up from lack of rainfall this year. it has been unseasonably dry this spring. Then cutting over on 287 to Amarillo Texas and called it a night at motel 6, called Sverre to book online and got about a $5 discount for the night. gas prices were atrocious, started out at $1.88 a gallon, by Amarillo it was $2.04, bikes on back are KILLING my gas mileage. Normally the hybrid would get 42 mpg on the flat lands in Texas, now I am getting 29 mpg. taking the bikes off and storing the specialized in the car with the bike rack, hauling the trek up stairs to store in the room is a pain.

Houston Texas

2005-05-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

day one was postponed 3 days due to exhaustion from unplanned but much needed kitchen remodel (smashed and broke last digit of middle finger on right hand) and honey do list and shooting portraits for 3 weddings in 20 days.
5/30
Monday was spent packing and getting ready. 9 weeks (63 days)
2003 Honda Civic hybrid:
IN trunk: One 4-man tent, 5 sleeping bags, 2 foam bed rolls, and a pillow.
first aid kit
3 bike helmets, 1 tire pump, 1 burley bike trailer for two,
1 Coleman two burner propane stove, a battery powered lantern.
A counter top griddle, mixing bowl, Wisk, pancake turner and can opener (daily pancakes a must),
1 bathroom 'kit' tooth brushes, tooth paste, pit stick, various soaps and hair brush, pony tail holders, tweezers, nail clippers.
ON trunk: one 16 in Specialized hot rock bike and one 26 inch Trek mountain bike mounted on a Yakima bike carrier.
In the car:
back seat: 2 booster seats: 1 Graco Ultra Cargo belt positioning booster and 1 Evenflo Apollo V 5 pt harness booster, a Portable DVD player with dual headphone jacks and back pack of DVDs sans cases and two sets of headphones, and on the floor boards individual clothing bags. a 20" for mom with 4 sets of warmer weather clothes, 3 sets of cooler weather clothes, and one set of Sunday best. medium backpacks for the younger travelers with 4 sets of warm weather and 2 sets of cool weather clothes.personal comfort blankets and pillows as well as a huge towel to cover and protect the car seat. finally for the back seat, 1 case (24 bottles) of bottled water. as well as individual sports bottles with easy open tops. 1 pack of huggies wipes, and 1 pack of huggies pull-ups. and two reusable snack bags for packing individual lunches for easy access during drive, 1 pouch of hot wheels for diversion.
front seat: MOM gear,
collapsible lunch cooler: filled with sports nutrition bars, apples and oranges travel best, and dried trail mix.
lowepro pack: for Nikon D70 Camera with two lens, extra battery, Nikon battery charger, lens cloth, 2 1-gb cards, electrostatic brush and can of compressed air, sb600 flash and light sphere.
computer bag: with Compaq Presario r3000 laptop equipped with wireless WIFI internet and a DVD burner, two extra batteries, power supply cord and supply of blank TDK DVDs for backing up.
Backpack: with 1 pack of music CD's, hand lotion, blistex, sun screen, lactaid, Advil, water bottle and car cell phone charger, bank envelopes for storing receipts neatly (tax deductions)
moms purse: cell phone, bank cards, drivers license, keys.