Our life, so far

(please ignore the "red state" connotations--the "visited states" site wouldn't let us change the color!) Anyway, here's where we were: create your own visited states map Whew! Now we're REALLY tired!

So many miles, was it worth it? Yep!

We're back! Still getting back to normal. What a trip. Now the photo uploading can begin!

I knew this "free blog" site was too good to be true... Sorry about the technical difficulties (e.g. not being able to see the weather, etc.). We're working on it! Thanks for your patience!

Tripometer this morning: 4,889.5 Here we are at the Austin Public Library ...no, not the one in Texas! We actually stopped in town to visit the Spam Museum --yum! This library is a BRAND NEW building, set right on a pond, and is gorgeous! Curry got all of the architect's info and George took plenty of pictures to show Martha when we get back to Eastham, all too soon. Also today, we stopped in cute little Blue Earth, Minnesota, where George made a spectacle of himself, walking down the middle of Main Street taking pictures of the beautiful brick buildings. We stopped in the Rainbow Food Co-op, recommended by Dar Williams in her book The Tofu Tollbooth , and bought tons of good road trip snacks (no SPAM, however). Yesterday, we drove through our last of the "side roads"--we saw Mount Rushmore (or the "Big Head Presidents" as George calls it), but before that, we marvelled at the CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL ! Curry's mom, Donia, wrote a novel (as yet unpublis...

Tripometer: 3,862.3 Word of explanation: we were "off the grid" for the past several days and were unable to update the blog online...and we have also been unable to upload pictures for a while... However, we kept up a "low tech" version of the blog (otherwise known as Curry's diary/journal), so SCROLL DOWN to catch up on our adventures! (updating this from the Red Lodge, Montana library--one of the Carnegies!)

Odometer: 3434.8 Camping is hard work! It took us 3 hours to break down camp, which put us a little behind schedule. Curry cried several times at the thought of leaving this beautiful place, which will soon look very different, as Pete and Robin have sold the lower part of their property and will move the current buildings "up the hill" closer to the pond. However, we will NOT miss the fear of bears (this fear was much stronger in Curry; practically non-existent in George). After going to a bronze gallery (expensive but beautifully made pieces from local resources) and getting a mini-tour of the workshop there, we headed to Seeley Lake in search of Deer Country Quilts , a cute and nationally renowned quilt store right on Route 83. Along the way, we went to Montana Artisans Center, which we heard about on the very cool local station, Montana Radio Cafe , Kalispell's answer to the Cape's own WOMR . The artisans center was not a gift store as we'd though...

Another gorgeous morning , with us waking up to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains and anxious dogs at the gate of the pen. Everyone except George went for a walk on the property, discovering a small colony of buildings made from reclaimed wood and recyled farm structures (a few old chicken coops, for example). Jadwiga pup, lightning rod for bodies of water, discovered the pond that Curry remembered from her trip to Pete & Robin's property ten years ago. Enjoyed a delicious breakfast of turkey bacon, eggs, and bread. Thanks, George! Shopped in very cute Whitefish --nice little stores...pottery & jewelry & some touristy stuff, plus a Wiccan lady on the outskirts of town who sells organic hot dogs during the summer. Drove the Going to the Sun road --East and back again just in time to enjoy a GORGEOUS sunset--as if Montana's big sky were saying a sweet goodbye to us and reminding us why we should return as soon as possible!

We're finally here ! Curry still thinks this is the prettiest part of the country...when we can finally upload pictures, you can judge for yourself. Woke up stiff from camping out on the cold ground (well, under a tent). The dogs slept fairly well (once they stopped woofing at every little sound in the forest) in Pete & Robin's dog pen. Ate at the Avalanche Creek Cafe, although a downscale-looking diner/casino (they're everywhere here!) called Nickel Charlie's was recommended to us. It's the "cute" versus "authentic" schism that has been prevalent during this entire trip. Library was too busy for us to check email/update blog, so we went back to our campsite and chilled out. Wanted to watch the REDSKINS game, and we needed to do our laundry, so we did both at the IMPERIAL cleaners and laundromat, the best laundromat ever. There were well-kept bathrooms, an available TV, a Baskin Robbins across the street, and oh yeah, clean washers...

Odometer: 2, 144.5 Today we went "off the grid," quite literally, when we left Lamoine and Ully and went in search of the site of the Wounded Knee massacre. We looked around the cemetery there and talked to a teenager who sold us some "arts and crafts." The visitor's center there was closed, and left to our own devices, we turned down a road that was barely navigable for a 4-wheel drive, let alone a Ford Focus wagon with an X-Cargo on top and 200 lbs. of dog inside! After what seemed like forever, we arrived at the Red Cloud Indian School , run by the Jesuits. It is the premier school on the reservation, but as Phil, one of the Jesuit teachers who we met on the grounds told us, it still has a long way to go. Along with Phil we met two volunteer teachers, who get free room and board in exchange for a small teacher's stipend. "It's a great place to be if you don't know what you want to do with your life!" one of them told us. When we to...

IMG_0694.JPG Here's Angie, who seems to be Kyle, South Dakota's mother hen. Her tiny Mexican Indian food hut is located conveniently on the main road through the Lakota reservation; across the street from the restaurant is a large school, which ensures business from children and teens in the town. Angie helped so many folks and gave out so much advice during our brief meal at La India Bonita that when people said her name to thank her, Curry thought that they were calling her "Auntie." Without Angie, we would have never discovered the wonderful UPO and Lamoine and Ully. Truly one of the singular quirky moments we've had on this trip, so far! Originally uploaded by Curry Rose .

Today at about 5 p.m., we pulled into Kyle, South Dakota, after driving through the amazing Badlands National Park. We wanted to go to the Lakota Cultural Center (or whatever it's called), but it was closed. In the same parking lot, however, was La India Bonita, where Angie, the owner, exclaimed, "Where have you guys been? We've been waiting all day for you!" We enjoyed a very inexpensive "indian taco" (open-faced, on frybread) and watched as most of the small town's residents came in and out of the cafe. We struck up a conversation with Angie, who kicked into networking mode (truly, she seems always to be in that particular mode--she knows everything about everybody) when she learned that we were looking for a place to stay. "Oh, you need to stay at UPO . Let's call Lamoine!" She sent us down a dirt road and at the big UPO sign, we turned down the lane into a beautiful 80-acre farm, with horses, dogs, cats, and a very friendly bed-and...

Odometer: 1,846.3 Mitchell, South Dakota is another typical Western town, with a historic Main Street and small, safe neighborhoods. We visited the world's only Corn Palace this morning on our way out of town. Mmmmm...corny! After another night of Motel 6's hospitality, we had two interesting "lost and found" experiences: 1)Curry's earring went missing ("It was just here a second ago!") and was only discovered hanging off of her wrist, attached to her watchstrap, after several minutes of looking, when she was gesticulating wildly with her hands. 2)George's beloved coffee travel mug was left on the car roof as we were getting ready to go to Bette's Diner, but when we parked in front of the diner--wow!--the mug was still on top of the car! (a testament to Curry's smooth driving, perhaps?) Off to Wall and Pine Ridge!

Well, we decided to take a scenic route, not remembering that a scenic route loses most of its value after the sun goes down...anyway, check out the Yankton, South Dakota library website for a glimpse of where we are driving through right now...and once again, we find ourselves in a library at closing time, so off we go!

being there coffee house Originally uploaded by Curry Rose . Right now I (Curry) am sitting in what might be the coolest place in Iowa--the Being There Coffee House on First Avenue North in Altoona. It is a one-room establishment with a full espresso bar and 4 beers on tap. The walls are painted mustard yellow with literary and musical quotes painted in maroon on the walls. There's a cool mural painted by Tim Wirth on one of the walls. He's a friend of a friend of the owner, but look out for big things from this Picasso-inspired artist! When I walked in, I was immediately greeted with this quote from Wilco's _Summerteeth_: "Let's turn our prayers into outrageous dares and mark our page in a future age." (which might well be the mission statement of this road trip and blog!) The owner, Kara is really sweet and cool. She started the coffee house about 3 months ago and is still building up a clientele, but the coffee house has a HUGE set of fans in my parent...

mom & curry & quilt Originally uploaded by Curry Rose . Here we are in our "intermediate" destination, Altoona--temporary home to Mom and Mark Steele . For the past two summers, they've worked at the Adventureland Amusement Park and had a great time hanging out with all of the other RV-ers/amusement park workers after their shift.

north liberty cakepans Originally uploaded by Curry Rose . This is the circulating cakepan collection at the North Liberty, Iowa library --famous (at least, to Curry) for its great youth services, especially teen services. Anyway, library patrons can check out these cute cakepans just like books! (this photo only reflects a small portion of their collection!) We just came from cute Davenport, Iowa, 1/4 of the "Quad Cities." We stopped into a cool coffeehouse, Theo's, on Brady Street (sorry, they don't have a website yet). Altoona awaits!

Odometer this morning: 950 We had our first bad driving experiences today-- 1)Horrible backup at the border between Indiana and Illinois--sandwiched between tons of trucks on I-80/90--not fun. 2)As Curry was passing a Consolidated Refrigeration 18-wheeler on the left side, she noticed that the truck driver's arm jutted out of his cab with his middle finger sticking up. Thinking that he had some sort of problem with the way she was passing him, she moved behind him into his lane, thus allowing him (presumably) to do as he wished. Once our car had moved into the truck's lane, however, he threw on his brakes, as a final insult (for what, we had no idea). We would have chalked up his behavior as just another trucker making his own entertainment had he not been so ANGRY. Making us stop short was not just annoying, it was dangerous, and if he was doing it to us, it was probably not his first time, so we picked up our cellphone (I knew it would come in handy at some point...) a...

Coldwater library Originally uploaded by Curry Rose . This is the Coldwater, Michigan library, photo taken at dusk...

Starting the morning with a delicious breakfast at Denny's with Steve Russell, we headed out I-90 West through Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania, stopping for gas in a tiny town called Girard, Pennsylvania, whose entire pet population hangs out at the local gas station (pic to follow, we hope). Here we are in lovely Coldwater, Michigan , population 13,000 (as of press time, George had not learned the tax rate yet). The library has a ton of links about this cute little historical town, and that's where we have been generously allowed to update this blog...we've only got 8 more minutes till they close! Anyway, check out the link above for pics of their sweet Victorian houses that line the main road (Highway 12, Chicago Street). Curry had a nice conversation with Reference Librarian Heidi, whose ancestor was a Massachusetts Bay Colony resident, back in the day. Curry recommended Eastham Library's genealogical collection... Okay, I (Curry) know how it feels to have so...

Russell Originally uploaded by Curry Rose . Here's the infamous Steve Russell looking way too cheerful for this early in the morning. Or maybe he's just ebullient at the thought of putting down the Red Sox...

Here we are in George's old stomping grounds (well, not too far past them...). After driving 275 miles with our new black "belly straps" (rubber bungee cords) flapping so loudly that it sounded like tiny manic tap dancers were on our roof, we figured out a better way to build an X-Cargo strap, and--ahhhh--relative quiet. We're staying in the Motel 6 right off of the New York State Thruway. It took a seemingly inordinate amount of time to check in because the computers went down right as we arrived. No matter, George struck up a conversation with the night desk worker, who we learned has a son in middle school. By the finish of our check-in transaction, we learned 1) the boy gets detention a little too often, and that's stressful on a mother, and 2) the late bus schedule for the North Syracuse School District isn't what it should be. George's WONDERFUL best friend from college, Steve Russell, was supposed to meet us here tonight to play a little cribbage...

allpacked.JPG , originally uploaded by Curry Rose . This is it--day 1 of this crazy road trip. Tonight: East Syracuse, New York. Stay tuned, and wish us luck!

bestcircusdogs.JPG , originally uploaded by Curry Rose . Here they are--our faithful and loyal travel companions... ...will they be able to all lie down at the same time in the back of the car? ...how do three dogs share two windows? ...exactly how much dog food are we bringing on this trip? Stay tuned!

All of you blogfans are wondering, so when are they leaving, and where are they going? We leave Monday, September 20th. And here's where we're headed! Where we're staying is between the Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park. Can't wait!

Yes, we made it another year. The 7th anniversary is the WOOL anniversary (or COPPER or DESK SET anniversary, depending on what Hallmark pocket calendar you've got your hands on...). Not wanting to go the Hepburn-Tracy movie route, George and I each independently decided to go with WOOL. Not only that, but both sweaters are RED! His: a classic wool crewneck. Hers: a luxurious CASHMERE shawl. So when you see two nattily, sanguinely dressed married people, you'll know that you've met your bloggers. Photos may follow...

Not only did our wonderful neighbors, Paul & Annie, sell us their old x-cargo for a very low price, Paul came over and helped George learn how to get it onto the car. AND they loaned us their propane cookstove, thus surely saving us dozens of dollars... AND they're going to take care of Euchere and Sopalali while we're away... Having good neighbors ROCKS!

Well, here we are on the eve of our 7th anniversary! We're starting this blog to record our trip to Montana (and back) and maybe share some photos and thoughts along the way. Anything goes, so let's get going!

The DCeiver is my blogger role model. You DC denizens--don't miss it! I'm also a member of Fabluece . That and a dollar will get me a cup of coffee.

true love kiss , originally uploaded by Curry Rose . I just can't get over how beautiful this wedding was, nestled in the mountains around Charlottesville (right next to Shenandoah National Park), underneath an arbor festooned with flowers grown by Anne's mother and friends!

Anne's big entrance , originally uploaded by Curry Rose . A week ago today, our friend Anne Peterson married Corey Chamberlain, and here it is--the best entrance I have ever seen by a bride!