Our Home Away From Home

Well, so, it's true, we freaked out! The town of Interior was nice and all, perfect for shooting a film about not much. We got to experience the simple life, the ranch life, the feeling of utter desloation and removal from a society that (now that we have a little perspective) really isn't that bad. But after a few days of such perspective, it was REALLY time to get the heck outta Dodge.

So we hit the road and spent the night in a town of 36 people: Beulah, MT. Next morning... On the road again!

Beulah? Buelah!

Onward to Yellowstone!

Nope, sorry, the East Entrance, which had re-opened the previous morning is now closed due to landslide (it had been closed the previous week for wildfire - someone tell Al Gore we've got a crisis on our hands!)

Oh well, we'd talked about checking out Bozeman, MT, just an hour or two from the north entrance, and since our buddy Luke is moving there this week, it'd be cool to see where he's headed!

As it turned out Luke was already out there, just for the weekend, apartment hunting. What a great bonus, getting to reconnect with a good friend from home while on the road. We now had all the motivation we needed to make the haul to Bozeman. Sadly, our alternator lacked said motivation and went toe-up about 2 hours before Billings, 4 hours from Bozeman. Not wanting to be so far from nowhere, we decided to push on to Billings so we could get the truck fixed.

Luke, being the true MAN that he is, drove the two hours out from Bozeman (leaving behind what I'm sure was the beginnings of his new Harem) to spend the night with us in Billings. I hope he found it as worth it as we did. We had such a great time! Billings is a surprisingly cool city with a fun downtown nightlife, and the Montana Brewing Company did not disappoint.

Sunday Morning, Truck Fixed, Errands run, Breakfast down the hatch. On to Bozeman for a couple of days.

Bozeman, as Jim put it, is kind of Montana's Northampton. A hip, artsy town chock full of restaurants, bars, fun boutiques and coffee shops. Bozeman's one-up on NoHo is that from just about anywhere you stand, there's a 360 degree panorama of a Rocky Mountain Landscape to behold.

I'm not sure whether we enjoyed the town or the nearby farm landscapes more, but suffice to say, we stayed an extra day or two in Bozeman just to soak it all up.

The Badlands

The Badlands were anything but bad. They were beautiful, wild, foreign, and humbling. We stayed in the town of Interior, and our campground felt like it was right out of an old west movie. The owner would stand with his boots propped up on the bottom rung of the split rail fence, blast Johnny Cash and answer any question asked with as few syllables as possible. He was the real deal!

We took a trail ride the first morning we were there through some of the most amazing country I had ever seen. The horses were really good on the steep and rough terrain, and our trail guide, Candace, was wonderful with us as well as the horses.

We patrolled the Badlands National Park by car and by foot finding some of the most incredible views imaginable. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, keep in mind they are missing the amazing scale of everything. It was a really good reminder how small we are as human beings, and how huge and unclaimed parts of this country still is.

The afternoon after our Trail Ride (one of the hotter days) we drove to Wind Cave National Park with a short stop to tweak the nose of our first president. The cave promised 50-55 degree temps. We took an hour and fifteen minute tour and were awed by the vastness that can be found underground. This particular cave boasts 275 miles of explored passages. They believe that the 275 miles is only 5% of the actual caverns. Our guide Mary told us that the rest of the passages may be too small for a body to fit or they might be one giant room.

Josh and I also celebrated our minus one year wedding anniversary on August, 16. We stayed at the beautiful Black Forest Inn (courtesy of Terry and Sue Nagel) in Rapid City. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Fireside and then a hot tub and champagne (courtesy of Candace and Tim, our good friends from NH)

After leaving the Badlands and heading toward Montana we realized that even though the Badlands were amazing we needed green, and mountains. The first time we saw hills after we left we both sighed, and smiled each other. On this trip we have visited so many wonderful landscapes, sometimes it is nice to just know that we are leaving somewhere that we would love to visit again.

Madison, WI

"My Heart Aches for Madison."
- Our friend Maggie Grum

The heat seemed to have followed us from Bloomington. The Madison Parks & Rec Dept recommended a nice new park, with camping! The only downfall was that the trees were new too, so we barely got shade. We tucked ourselves in on the edge of the park, and immediately, one of the most "interesting" families we've ever seen parked themselves, and enough stuff for a small town (kitchen sinks included), right between us and the next RV over (who we'd later meet: Terry & Larry). We had a great time the next couple of nights with Terry & Larry marveling at our shared neighbor.

Like a beacon in the night, Whole Foods drew us in. It was such a nice piece of "home," and they had real live hippies there! Horray!

We heard from Terry & Larry, amongst others, that the Madison Farmers Market at Capitol Square was definitely worth checking out (it's famed to be one of the top 5 in the country and did not disappoint). For those of you who have never been to Madison, the capitol building is simply majestic. It sits a top a hill in the center of the city. From any of the streets that lead to it, the building provides a stunning view in all directions.

We stocked up on fresh corn, tomatoes that you could eat like an apple and three plants for the RV. You know our love of plants, we're delighted to have some life in our home. Now our windows are home to Boris (Bolivian Wandering Jew), Natasha (Verigated Bridal Veil) and the third which hasen't been named is a Pilea.

The timing has blurred with the passing days, but in our remaining time in Madison, we took advantage of their plentiful (and beautiful) bike trails. Visited State Street on multiple occasions for a Comedy show and dinner out. We even managed to take a stroll to the Union Terrace and sit by the lake for a bit.

Bloomington, IL

We spent a little less than a week in Bloomington IL. We were lucky (or unlucky) enough to be there during a heat wave. The days were 95+ and humid and the nights were just darker than the days. It was a beautiful little city with an unfortunate sprawl problem.

The first night we were there, after setting up at Kamp Komfort, we set our GPS to take us to dinner at a local smokehouse. When we arrived and found the restaurant closed, but happened upon an amazing sushi place right next door.

We spent the next few mornings and afternoons at the Coffee Hound, a really good coffee shop with AIR CONDITIONING! We also happened to be in town for the Shakespeare Festival that was performing in the park. We immediately bought tickets for Love's Labor's Lost and enjoyed an amazing picnic dinner on the lawn of an incredible estate. The play was brilliantly acted, the set beautiful and the occasional breezes that swept through the outdoor theater few and far between.

The second to last night we were there I had a hankering for pizza. We looked up the local pizza place and found Lucca Bar and Grill. After parking our truck in a somewhat dark and deserted part of town we found the back entrance of the restaurant. The smell of good food, and loud laughter engulfed us as we made our way toward two seats at the bar. What followed will be one of my favorite memories from our trip. The pizza was delicious, the drinks were expertly made and we met some great people sitting next to us who were amazed that we had found "the best pizza place in town" without really trying. At some point, someone started telling dirty jokes, of course we all tried to one up each other. The winner and champion was one of our new friends who shamelessly brought an innocent bystander into the mix with a really funny joke that you will just have to make me repeat to you in person.

We headed out the next morning in search of grease and of course immediately thought of Lucca's. When we stopped by, the owner remembered us, was impressed with our truck and was happy to let us fill up.

By the next day we were ready to move on from Bloomington. We packed up and headed almost due north to Madison WI hoping to escape the heat.

Family Fun, Dayton Ohio

We have been having so much fun over that past few weeks that it has been hard to find time to sit and write it all down for you, so here it goes.

The first weekend of August Josh and I spent three days with my awesome family. We laughed a lot, swam a lot, ate a lot, sang a lot, played Ladder Ball a lot, and ate some more. It had been a really long time since some of us had seen each other so we spent a lot of time catching up. It was a really nice respite from the road and we enjoyed relaxing with everyone we love.

Josh was a huge hit with the kids, Anna and Craig, because he was the BEST at flipping them off the floats into the pool. I got to see my parents again after about a month, it was hard to say good-bye because the next time I see them there will be snow on the ground.

As usual, the time flew by much too fast but it was wonderful.

Return to Childhood

It's like that every time I go back to the Lynn Homestead. The little pond makes me remember "don't go near the pond." The Root Cellar recalls naughty boys with cans of spray paint. My amusing father brings back memories of... my amusing father!

Our trip to bloomsburg was full of reaffirmations that I lived a somewhat normal childhood, and that I remember it as such.

We arrived with promises of:

"Blackberries the size of golf balls! So many of 'em the brambles are bent to the ground."

"The living room has been turned into a bit of a drum workshop!"

and...

"More Thai Grease than we could know what to do with."

You know what... every bit of it was true.

Lindsay said she wanted to really "do" Bloomsburg this time (because usually we just lounge around the farm.) What did that mean? We went to Berrigans for Subs. They are still the best I've ever had. We picked blackberries in the fields. We took a (last minute) tour of the barn, and we even took a stroll on main street. Tara cooked for us all one night. Amy and Dad provided endless amusement at the dinner table. We even ate steak.

We may have had even more fun, but I spent ALL of Thursday inside the engine bay of our truck. It seems I have overestimated my mechanic skills. While I did not render anything inoperable, I managed to work for 10 hours on a project that was supposed to take 2. And only got it half way done. The good news is that we've since hired a real mechanic to install the new water pump and the truck is happy.

And now, as I hear it... Dad is playing more drums than ever. The blackberries are still ripening. The Garden is now bearing fruit. The Barns haven't fallen down. My sisters are still growing beautifully. Bloomsburg has continued its slow and steady march towards not changing all that much.

Back to Burlington

We have been BAD BLOGGERS!

Here we are in (near) Dayton, OH, at a campsite surrounded by cornfields, accented by a cute, little, mysteriously artificial blue pond. Ironically, some guy fishing told me he was catching Blue Gills. Blue indeed.

In any case, what's important here is for me to get you up to speed, I know Lindsay has already written a great post about Ithaca, and she's just waiting for a complement of pictures before she goes live. But before Ithaca, there was Burlington, VT.

Worst campground we've stayed at yet: Burlington, VT. Not that it was too bad, but boy was it stale. The monotony, however, was shattered momentarily by my attempts to blow off my own hand with a complex balance of propane, oxygen and spark. Lighting the gas H2O heater is supposed to be simple, and henceforth, I assume it will be. God bless the guy who came over to help and was nearly more successful than I... in blowing his hand off, that is. Long story short, we got it lit and it works fine.

On the contrary to our campsite, Burlington was wonderful. We ate well, enjoyed a little nightlife and the people were friendly. We loved the charm of a big town/small city right on the picturesque lake (tragically, no photos were taken, it was too hot out to carry a camera.)

On our second day there, we took a quick sojourn to Montreal, QB.

The drive up was magical, we bounced from island to island traveling north via Lake Champlain. South Hero, North Hero, just beautiful, green, alive and unspoiled. Tasteful architecture the whole way up and a lot of space for the sweet air to carry off the lake.

The arrival in Montreal would have been great if we had gotten where we were supposed to get to earlier in the day. We may very well have been the first Americans to see the parts of Montreal we saw. It was really like being in France except the people weren't as helpful (except for Leah, our Guardian Angel for the day). We did finally find the funky, lively Plateau after downing what was easily one of the best cappuccinos I've ever had (Thanks Leah!), enjoyed a really strong beer, and had a great time meandering. I can not even begin to describe how terrible our only Montreal meal was. Oh well, at least it was cheap.

Since returning to Burlington, we've been to Ithaca, Bloomsburg and now Dayton, tomorrow we leave for Bloomington, IL, and we promise to continue the updates over the next couple of days, because there are more stories to tell.