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A good day for driving – Day 38

October 17, 2010 by altatwood

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Day 38 was all about covering ground – getting across Montana, to be specific. It is one long state. More than 500 miles. I will never again complain about Pennsylvania when driving to Gram’s in West Virginia. I used to think that was the longest state. Ha!

Montana is a beautiful state, with so much changing scenery and way more mountains than I’d imagined – I thought it would be all flat for some reason.  I wanted to stop to take pictures all the time, but knew it would take forever if I did.  I’d intended to stop in Bozeman and Missoula at the recommendation of Jeff and Lisa, and I did but only very briefly for gas and food as it was raining. They did look like nice places to visit, places with real character and history – more places to go back to.

It was actually the perfect day for just driving: mainly drizzling, so just enough rain that you don’t want to be outside, but not downpours that make driving dangerous. For the first time I put the heated seat on (it’s cold!), listened to a book on my ipod (Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner – it’s really good so far, I’m about halfway through), and just drove.

I did have an ultimate destination (Couer D’Alene, ID), unlike most nights when I’ve just driven until I’ve found somewhere to stop. I took several friends’ advice and tried Priceline.com. This is the second time and it really does work! Both times it’s beat both the coupon book rates and the AAA price. I’ll definitely try it again, although there are some cons to it, too, like not being able to just stop and stay somewhere when you’re tired or see somewhere cute or being sure that the place will have free parking and free internet access. But it’s nice having a definitive address to give Aidan and having a firm destination in mind to count down to. Less than 500 miles, less than 6 hours, less than 400 miles, less than 5 hours, less than…

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Inspired to think about the future on Day 37

October 16, 2010 by altatwood

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I must start taking advantage of my cousin’s wildlife sanctuaries (Mass Audubon) – there is something incredibly peaceful and invigorating about hiking in the middle of the woods, just you and nature (well, and the occasional fellow tourists, since I was thinking this at Mount Rushmore). I wish I’d discovered this years ago and taken Nicky to more places like this when he was little rather than Boston all the time. No wonder he’s such a city boy! (I know, look who’s talking…)

Anyway, Mount Rushmore – and the surrounding Black Hills Forest – are breathtaking, and the little towns (like Keystone) in the area are just like the Old West towns you’d picture and want to visit. Yet another place I wish I had more time for. But what I realized was that this is just like a cruise (only driving): I’m getting a taste for all different places so I know where I want to go back and spend more time (and possibly move to) later. I just had no idea I’d love so many!

These thoughts actually brought me – finally, on Day 37 – to thinking about my future, and what I’m going to do when I grow up. Yes, every day I have been doing my ‘real’ job search and applying for jobs in communications, but I haven’t really done any in-depth thinking about what I’d  LOVE to do. Don’t get me wrong, I really love all facets of corporate communications, but given the choice of doing absolutely anything in the world, I don’t think I’d get dressed up and go to an office every single day. (Although once I get into it, I typically love it – especially when there’s a lot going on – I thrive that way.)

So what could I do that doesn’t involve going to an office and takes advantage of all the travel I’ve been doing? And combines many of the other things I love? How about a bed and breakfast, perhaps at the Cape or in Boston, called The Travel Inn or similar? It could be a place where people not only go for a holiday, but where they are also inspired to plan their NEXT vacation. The whole place would have a travel theme, including a huge resource library (I’d hook up with the travel bureaus all over) and every room would be named after a different location and decorated with items from there. I could also offer a separate service to help them plan the logistics of their next trip. What do you think? Could it work? I think I’ll have to start roughing out a business plan as I go…

After Mount Rushmore I knew I had to stop at Crazy Horse – you can’t see one and not the other. Crazy Horse, a memorial to the North American Indians, will be the world’s largest mountain carving. It’s still a work in progress and will be for many years to come.  There’s a great little museum there and artisans selling their wares throughout.

After that, other than a brief stop at Jewel Cave National Monument (I’m afraid I was too late for a tour), it was a lot more driving – about 400 miles. Much of it was spent back in Wyoming (would have liked to see Devil’s Tower, which Teddy Roosevelt named the first national monument, but didn’t want to veer of track that much). As it was, it was after 9 pm when I got to Billings, Montana. Jeff and Lisa had recommended either Bozeman or Missoula, but I knew I couldn’t drive that far – and I’d rather hit them in the daylight when you can actually see things and appreciate the area! So I will check them out today…

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Am I there yet? Day 36

October 15, 2010 by altatwood

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Being on the road is not always fun. And when you drive as much as I did on Day 36 (400 miles and seven hours) by yourself, you can go beyond antsy. By the end of the day I was getting a bit tired (not too tired, don’t worry), but to the point where I was what Vanessa has dubbed ‘driving under water’ – a bit giggly, a bit hyper, a bit over tired and a bit anxious, so everything is amplified. Add to it the fact that I was in the middle of nowhere and my phone wouldn’t get a signal most of the second half of the day, and, well, it wasn’t pretty. I resorted to talking to myself on my tape recorder.  I was actually intending to put the transcript here – even though I’m sure you’d all think I was insane – but believe it or not (and those who know me will believe it), none of it recorded. All my stuff from Texas is still on there! It seems I’d pressed some pause button on the side that prevents you from recording. Oh well…

I’ll just say that it was a long, boring drive. Lots of flat land, a few rock formations and not many places to stop. (Denver, though, was great – thank you, Jeff, for telling me to go to Red Rocks Ampitheater – I loved it! Just wish I could’ve seen a show there. And I’ll never forget those incredible apple pancakes – yummmmm…) Toward the end of the day, when I finally got to a rest area (and I mean just a rest area – not even a travel brochure to be found) in South Dakota, there wasn’t even water in the toilets. It was more like an outhouse. It was at that rest stop, just as it was getting dark, there was no phone signal, nothing around for miles and only one other car, that I first started feeling a bit intimidated. I began questioning my sanity, why I was doing this crazy drive by myself. I started seeing flashes of horror movies. As I got back on the road I also realized my tank was going low again and I prayed I’d make it to some town, any town. The darker it got, I couldn’t see anything around me as there are no lights seemingly anywhere. I began to question if they have electricity in South Dakota (wasn’t much to say about Wyoming, although I’m sure there are some nice places to visit there), but eventually there was a house with a lamp-post. It looked so inviting I was tempted to stop and beg the person to let me stay the night. I held myself back, though.

Eventually I did find gas and made it to my ultimate destination: Mount Rushmore! I had mixed reports (thanks Jake, for Googling it) about whether you could see it at night, and thank goodness you can. I was rather nervous driving through the Black Hills and not knowing where I was or what was around me (you really can’t see anything except the road directly in front of you, as you go winding up and down, trying to follow the small road). I was wishing I was back at Jeff and Lisa’s comfortable, safe, friendly home in Colorado! But it was worth the drive (and the anxiety) as I got some great night pictures of the Presidents. (Thank you to the phone people for making there be a signal at Mount Rushmore and to Tara for staying on speakerphone while I pulled over by the side of the road and hurridly got a few pictures before any bears, strangers or other things came out of the mountain to get me.) Now it’s time to go back during actual opening hours to explore the National Park I’ve driven so very far to see…

Posted in Alone, Country, Road trip | 2 Comments »

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