fat squirrels
Well everyone, here Shelley and I will put our Boise stories and experiences over the next couple years. Enjoy.
Saturday (the first day)
After a morning wrapping up packing in the scorching heat, Rick and Lois treated us all to lunch. At 5 o’clock we were off. The Prairie Home Companion theme played it’s opening notes as we hit the highway. Since it was such a late start we decided to stay the first night in Heron Lake MN with Shelley’s grandma. We arrived around 11:00 and hopped into bed.
Sunday
Sunday started at 7:00 o’clock with Shelley’s grandma shuffling into the living room, up to the pull-out couch, taking a deep breath, and belting out a very loud and cheerful ‘Good Morning!!’. Which not only woke us up but almost made me say a bad word as we both jolted awake. Luckily I stopped myself after, ‘holy!’. She has surprising volume for someone just under 5’ tall.
We got up and had quick breakfast of donuts and coffee and chatted with Vi (Shelley’s grandma) and Steve (Shelley’s uncle), then we chatted with Vi some more, and then we chatted with Vi some more…..this went on for little bit. Eventually we said our goodbyes and hopped back on the highway.
After a little while I found that listening to the radio was not going to cut it keeping me awake and my mind off the road. This is mainly because radio station reception areas are few and far between through South Dakota and up into Montana. Also the stations that you can tune in are usually either country music or religious talk/rock. So when we did a quick stop in Mitchell, South Dakota to check out the corn palace we also stopped at a bookstore. I picked up three books and Shelley (who didn't seem to be as bothered as me by the monotony of the radio stations) picked up one. I popped in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and we headed back out on the highway.
The rest of Sunday was pretty uneventful. We drove almost straight through South Dakota. By the time it was dusk we realized that the closest city of any size was Sturgis. We could have backtracked an hour to Rapid City, but I didn’t want to waste the gas and mileage.
For those of you who don’t know, it gets a little crowded this time of year in Sturgis as the motorcycle rally is gearing up. I totally forgot about this. Now I have nothing against bikers themselves, however the hardcore biker lifestyle does not exactly imbue you with a sense of clean living. Add to that the fact that Sturgis is well known for it's rowdy parties. Then add my natural aversion of staying in a strange bed which I know has seen a lot of use. Finally add my experience helping my friend out at his first job cleaning rooms at a local, and admittedly seedy, motel. The housekeeping staff would do a sight test on bed sheets and if it didn’t look dirty then they didn’t change it.
As I navigated the truck through the parking lot around clusters of touring bikes flashes of 20/20 episodes titled ‘hotel’s dirty secrets’ flitted through my head. I kept seeing some correspondent going through a hotel room with a black light, while I tried to remember if they ever did an expose in Sturgis. This is why I always try to stay in name brand hotels when I travel, because you can usually be sure that they are clean, or at least cleaner. So, of course, when we went into our first room there was a pair of socks on the bed, a hairclip on the floor, and a few stray hairs around the bathtub. Needless to say I was a little pissed and went back to the office to get a different room. Our second room seemed clean enough, but was poolside so it was very humid.
Shelley ordered pizza while I went and got our overnight bags from the truck. As I came back up I noticed a large green grasshopper right by our door. Now, as you come up the stairs you take a right down the hallway. At the end of the hallway was the door to the outside and other rooms. To the left of that door on the inside was our door. Anyway, this grasshopper was jumping around our door. I didn’t want it to get in the room so I grabbed it by the wings. It started buzzing as I opened the outside door and I tossed it out as quick as I could. What I didn’t notice is that when you open the door to the outside there is another room right there. They had their door open, so when I opened the door I gave the grasshopper a good toss right into their room. I realized what I was doing right as I let it go. The grasshopper flew in the room, got its bearings and luckily flew right back out the door. Thankfully the 3 people in the room were in the midst of an argument and didn’t notice the guy who opened the door and tried to throw a bug at them.
ok well, I’m tired so I’m stopping for the night. Tomorrow I’ll fill in the rest of the trip
1 Comments:
Another highlight worth adding to Sunday's summary...the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD!!! And a photo of Kaz with a giant hotdog.
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