The Drive

Once we decided when I was moving out to Montana we had to figure out how my "stuff" would find its way to Montana.  I voted for a magic carpet, but since those are running low I had to come up with other ideas.  Since Henry was flying out here for Christmas it seemed like a good idea to just have him drive back to Montana with me and as much "stuff" as we could squish into my Equinox.

Christmas came and went (Henry's flight was actually delayed until Christmas Day) I moved out of my appt in Turlock, headed back up to Grass Valley and headed East!  Saying goodbye to my family was hard!  My sister made me cry my eyes out and so did my mother, the only difference is my mom looked at me stone cold in the face and made no facial expressions as I stood there with snot and tears oozing out of my face...thanks mom

ME:



My Mom:



I'm sure she had a really hard time once I left... (love you mom)

The whole time I was preparing myself to move to Montana the one thing I was dreading was the drive.  I usually don't mind long drives, but 17 hours!?  That is a long drive.  Growing up in my family I was used to some long hauls... one time my mother stuffed my siblings and me into a single cab truck with a camper to head to some sheep show a million miles away.  My brother and I decided we would sit in the back of the camper while my sister rode shotgun in the front seat.  I am assuming my brother Pat and I thought sitting in the back was a better idea than the front?  Looking back now, it makes no sense, maybe our mother didn't want someone stuck back there by themselves?  Who knows.  ANYWAY, we are driving and I remember it being really hot and going over a bump and my brother biting his tongue so hard that it was bleeding down his face.  As we are pounding on the back window of the truck (no slider mind you) he is screaming "I BI MU THONG, I BI MU THONG!"  My mother, who was less than unimpressed was not pulling over to fix some "Thong" and made him suffer through it.  Lesa was probably laughing in the front seat.  I hope the AC was out that day, in fact I am sure it was in that truck.


Sorry, that was a random side story.

So Henry and I decided to make a two day drive, first we left about 11am Friday after Christmas to get to Elko Nevada, we were told to stop at the Star Basque Restaurant and man were they right, SO GOOD.  It was also PACKED, apparently the place is a favorite among locals and tourists.  Henry of course sparked up conversation over a Picon with the guy next to him, they chit chatted about farming/snow/manly things, while I downed my Hot Toddy, that was more whiskey than hot water.  The common saying is "if you leave hungry, you did something wrong" and although it was after the holidays and you should then start to "diet" as they say we threw caution to the wind and had ourselves a nice steak, and about 45 other side dishes they kept bringing to the table.



Before we got to Elko we decided that after we ate dinner we should continue our drive a few more hours to get the most out of the day to make the drive a little shorter on Saturday.  We made it to Twin Falls Idaho, it was FREEZING COLD there and someones tongue would definitely get stuck to a pole in that town.  basically once we hit HWY 20 after leaving Grass Valley, it was snow the entire drive.  I really liked that since driving through northern Nevada can be quite ugly.

Waking up Saturday I realized I was SICK, I had not been feeling well a few days prior but kept thinking it was just a little bug that would go away.  Well I felt like death had run over me, I pulled myself together as much as I could and we got on the road by 8am.  Henry drove the whole day since he doesn't know what to do with himself sitting in a passenger seat twiddling his thumbs.  So I sat shotgun and did this the whole time:
  

Yes, I was that attractive too.

The drive on Saturday went by pretty quick.  We stopped at the border of Montana so I could pee take a picture with the Montana sign.  Very exciting stuff people!

We made it to Molt Saturday evening and was excited to finally make it, I popped champagne and went to bed!  Overall the drive was not bad at all.  Probably because I am so much fun to hang out with in a car for 17 hours... yeah I am sure Henry would agree :)