The Poop Deck

Sleeping In Seattle

After 3 and a half days of driving, lot's of snack food, and about 2 dozen gas stations, Andy and I finally made it to Seattle. The trip conformed to our every need, and the roads treated us well. For the most part, the highway was empty, as were many of the towns we stopped in. As Andy (aka 'The Hammer') said, "it's as if everyone knows something we don't." It was kind of the theme for the entire ride, as we encountered very little traffic, and many deserted towns, to the point at which we got a little scared and had to flee. Otherwise, we had quite a few adventures for such a fast trip. (a link for pictures is at the bottom of this horribly long entry)

Adventure 1: Ohio
Ohio was a very boring state, much worse than Wyoming or Pennsylvania. It's long, and not very scenic, and just all around dull. Oh yeah, except for the crazy sniper who shot someone the day we drove through it! Man I hate Ohio.

Aventure 2: Wisconsin
As I just said, I hated Ohio. Wisconsin, however, made up for it. I LOVED Wisconsin. More specifically, I loved a certain gas station in Wisconsin that treated me very well. The Hammer jotted down the reasons why Wisconsin is my favorite state.

I ♥ Wisconsin

Rest Stop: Wis Dells, Wisconsin
Gas Station: BP, right off exit 87 on I-90 West.
1. This was the first gas station that had French Vanilla flavored creamer for my coffee, and it was very good.
2. I found a backscratcher for .99¢. I have always wanted one, but never found one, and this one was under a dollar.
3. The restrooms had their own toilet seat covers. As andy wrote, ''nuff said."
4. Also in the restrooms, were automatic paper towel dispensers. I've seen automatic bathroom items in the past (faucets, blowdryers, etc) but never have I seen one that shoots paper at me. It was so awesome.
5. The guy behind the counter gave me my coffee for free! After lusting over the flavored cream, I thought I was in heaven, but then he just gave it to me. He was the only gas station attendant to do this on the whole trip.
6. We only had to fill up 3/4 of a tank of gas, so it seemed like I spent less money, at least for one stop.
7. For the first time on the ride, the cat walked to the back of the crate and showed little concern for his own well being. Prior to this point, he just kind of snuggled deep into a pillow and didn't move, eat, drink, or anything. In Wis Dells, however, he moved around. He likes Wisconsin, too!

(please click here to see The Hammers reasons why he ♥ Minnesota)

Adventure 3: South Dakota
I had been to South Dakota before, and other than seeing the Corn Palace for a second time, it's not really a state I needed to visit again. This trip further enforced this feeling.
A: Gas Stop
We stopped for gas in a small town... I'm talking, maybe 100 people big... but we needed gas, and weren't sure how much further the next exit was. The town was Presho, (ok, 588 people) and it was scary. The sun was out, the fields were glowing, and Presho sat upon a small hill, looking innocent enough with it's water tower and two gas stations. The problem was, however, there was not a soul in this town. One gas station was closed, but the other was displaying it's open sign clearly. We pulled in, and tried to pump, but nothing happened. I tried to get into the building, but it was locked tight. There wasn't a person in sight; no movement, no sounds...
We were hit with a sudden vibe to leave Presho, as if the town was sending us a subliminal message "you're not welcome here, leave our town!!" I'm pretty sure it was a ghost town. Either that, or the owner of the gas station saw us coming and hid behind the counter, frightened that someone new was in town.
B: Mount Rushmore
I had been here before, and it's definitely worth checking out if you're ever in the area (though I don't know why anyone would be in the area, unless driving cross country, or going to Rushmore to begin with) It's neat, and impressive and all, but what you see in pictures pretty much does it justice. However, we came upon Rapid City around 6:30 at night, after the sun had set, and decided to head into Keystone (30 or so miles from Rapid City, and the town where Mount Rushmore is located) We had planned to stop early, take in the super bowl and Survivor, and relax for a night, and check out Rushmore early the next morning. But much to our surprise, we were hit with yet another ghost town. You would think that maybe one or two people, a security officer, or even a mountain goat might be in the area, but it was empty. I refer to the statement "it's as if everyone knows something we don't." We continued on towards the mountain, confused and scared. The only good thing about all this was the view of Mount Rushmore we did get, lit up in all it's glory in the clear mountain sky. It really was pretty nice, minus the nervousness for lack of people. We decided to flee Keystone, and South Dakota, and make our way through Wyoming that night, but got stuck in some very thick fog and stopped an hour or two down the road. Stupid South Dakota.

Adventure 4: The Rest Of The Midwest, Including Butte
My previous experience in Wyoming was not the greatest, but this time I really enjoyed it. Much like South Dakota, there's not a whole lot to look at, but with the snow lacing the landscape, it really looked pretty cool. Not a place I'd like to stay in for long, but it was nice to drive through very fast. The roads were empty, too, and the sun was shining, so the drive was really easy. Montana was the same, treating us well, and giving us some good views of the Rocky Mountains. We also had a chance to stop in Butte. Andy ate Apu in Butte, and I had a gas spillage in Butte. Please note, we pronounce it Butt, and continued to do so in public before realizing we were saying Butt, rather than Butte.

Adventure 5: Idaho and Washington
So we made it this far, and had relatively no problems. Minus a minor snowstorm in Minnesota (we just barely beat out the big storm, this was the fringe of it) we had excellent driving conditions, and literally no problems. Coming down the backside of the Rocky Mountains from Montana into Idaho was a bit frightening, as snow was piled probably 5 or 6 feet on the side of the roads, and a woman at a gas station told us in the daylight, we'd be able to see cliffs right next to the road- I guess it just drops right off- but it was dark so we weren't worried (what we don't see can't hurt us) I thought that would be the tough part... I thought we had been going downhill for a long time, we must be near the bottom... I thought that once we crossed into Spokane, WA, we were home free... I thought wrong. After such great luck for 2700 miles, we finally ran into a snowstorm. It wasn't all that bad, but it was enough to make it very stressful, and slow us way down. At this point it was about midnight Pacific time (3 a.m. Eastern) so we were tired, we'd been in the car for 16 straight hours, and this was not what we wanted when we were so close. My knuckles were probably white from grabbing the steering wheel, trying to keep control of the car and trailer in the slippery snow (still going downhill, by the way. The Hammer and I learned that once you get through Butte, it goes downhill all the way to Seattle... literally)

But in the end, all that matters is that we made it. It was about 4:30 a.m. when we pulled in, did some unpacking, and fell asleep. Now The Hmmer and I sit here in the apartment, enjoying unemployment, being lazy, while poor Chase is out being employed. Sucker. Also, if you want to see pictures of our trip, check out The Hammers collection here.

There will be many new and exciting things to share in the next few weeks/months, so keep an eye out. Till next time...

Cheers!