Don't get me started on that. We'll be here all night.

I've been a single girl all week. Paul went to Mexico for business and I've been flexing my independence. I slept with the tv on and right down the middle of the bed. I turned the temperature up in the house to a toasty 72 degrees. I ate cereal for dinner. I cleaned the house like a fiend. And I hung out with my gal pals a lot.

Dani came to visit for the weekend. Friday we went to a really bad Asian restaurant and just kind of hung around all night.

On Saturday, my sister Karen came over and we went to the Reading Public Museum. For the next few weeks, the museum is showing an exhibit from the Post Secret site. I love this website and check it just about every Sunday when it updates. In case you don't know, people design post cards that contain their secrets and thoughts and send them in anonymously. I've even gone so far as to contribute with my own deep dark secret.

The exhibit displayed a lot of the secrets that are featured in the Post Secret book, which I own. I forgot about some of them. But there was a lot of repetition. There was even a mailbox sculpted out of packing tape and post cards available for anyone who felt inspired enough to leave their own secrets. I didn't participate in this, however. If I'm going to spill, I'm going to be creative.

Upstairs, there was a Keith Haring exhibit. I love Keith Haring. I like the whole squiggly graffiti type stuff. It never ceased to amaze me how the man could deliver a complex message in a simple drawing, many with bright happy colors.

The first piece that we saw was a very detailed map of Berks county that Haring drew when he was in high school. Many people don't realize that he's a native of Kutztown (known mostly for it's artsy state party school and being just on the edge of PA Dutch and Amish/Mennonite country). Keith eventually migrated to New York. And it's a good thing because there isn't a subway in Kutztown. The subway is where he did some of his best work. On display were big chalk murals on the black paper that would cover out-of-date advertisements on the subway. There were videos showing Keith, young and lively, before he was diagnosed with AIDS. There were pieces of large murals, one of which was a collaborative project with high school students in Chicago. Keith created the outer framework of the mural and the students filled it in with their own creativity, some of which was very intricate and creative.

At the landing at the top of the steps was another mural of a city. Inside the windows of the buildings were hundreds of little mirrors at varying angles. These mirrors showed the reflections of little cards that were attached perpendicular to the mural, giving it the effect that when you looked into the mirrored windows, you were actually peeping in on a little scene that was on the card. I'm not sure if that makes much sense, but it was really cool. On the wall across from this mural was a bunch of dry erase boards so that people could create their own art on the walls, too. Dani drew a dancing cat.

In the next room, there was nursery furniture that Keith painted. Ironically, this display was right next to a portion of the exhibit that "might be offensive to some" or "might be inappropriate for children." This was Keith's darker stuff. Right in the corner was a picture of Keith with William S. Burroughs. Aside of it were two very disturbing pictures featuring a photograph of a child with bird like feet drawn at the bottom and another one with a photograph that had 50's style mother with an infant and dark and disturbing images around it. There was also a large painting of two very pregnant women hugging. Oooh! Yeah! Real offensive, there! It's funny how you can see a billion naked people in a museum and it's art, but when you put two pregnant almost stick figures of the same sex hugging each other, it's offensive. And apparently William S. Burroughs will make you dark. There was also a picture in this section that was shot by Andy Warhol of Keith with Brooke Shields. That was offensive, too, I guess. Maybe for the Scientologists?

There was another piece that Keith collaborated on with Jean Michel Basquiat (see now THAT is a disturbing movie...but with a kick ass soundtrack). This lead me to ask what a lively guy like Keith was doing hanging around with all those junkies. Some other points of interest were an Easter egg that Keith drew on that was from the White House Easter egg hunt. The owner was at first pissed that he drew on it and thought that he ruined it. Now it is a prized possession (and probably worth a pretty penny to boot). There was also a funny photograph of Keith and a bunch of other hip New York artists. "I wonder if any of them are gay," my sister pondered aloud just to be funny since most of them very obviously were. "Planet Clair" also played non-stop in one room for no apparent reason as well.

We left there and had a nice Mexican lunch and ice cream at Cold Stone. Dani and Karen were both Cold Stone virgins, but I think they liked it. Then we went back to my house and lounged around watching movies.

Paul is home now. I have to share my house again...and the blankets, and the remote. I've already started cleaning up after him (I didn't bust my ass cleaning all night Thursday just for him to mess it up). But at least now I have someone to talk to besides the cat. I'm sure the independent woman routine would get old sooner or later. And somebody has to mow the grass. Just kidding. Welcome back, Paul. Glad to have you home.

Movie Confessions

I hated the following movies that everyone else seems to love:

-Star Wars

-Raiders of the Lost Ark

-Titanic

-Brokeback Mountain

-The Princess Bride

-Monty Python and the Holy Grail

-Grease (Yeah, that's right. I fucking hate Grease...I've finally admitted it.)

-Aladdin

-A Hard Day's Night

-Neverending Story

-Risky Business

-Caddy Shack

I have no interest in seeing the following movies:

-Any more of the Star Wars movies (although, I loved the last one...but I'm fascinated with villains)

-Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino, Scarface, etc. (I can't focus on mob movies...although, I love the Sopranos).

-Gone with the Wind

-Casablanca (I've tried numerous times...just couldn't do it)

-Anything with the Marx Brothers

-Anything Lord of the Rings (I missed them on the big screen. That would be the only way I'd want to see them).

-Shrek

-Moulin Rouge

-Oceans 11 through 68 (69, on the other hand...as long as Brad Pitt and George Clooney were still hot...)

-Any of the Harry Potter movies (Again, I just can't get into them)

Some more confessions:

While I love Office Space, I think it could have been funnier.

I don't like horror movies. This is not because they scare me. In fact, they don't scare me at all. I know they're fake. My friend Evy and I used to rent them when we were kids and laugh the whole way through them. The Shining...Ooooh! Creepy twins in the hallway! Old lady in the bathtub! I'm shaking. *yawn* (Note: There is an exception to this...anything with snakes. I have an irrational fear of them and just looking at pictures of them gives me anxiety. When I first heard about "Snakes on a Plane" I laughed. I thought I'd like to see it because it just sounds goofy. But after seeing the trailers...mmmmmnotsomuch...But I loved the movie "Sssssss!" for some reason, probably because it's really cheesy).

On the other hand, documentaries freak me the fuck out. This is probably because, unlike horror movies, there is a real element involved. I joked with my friends when I saw "Kurt and Courtney," that I was afraid that Courtney Love would find out through Blockbuster that I rented it and she would have me killed. Nick Broomfield's other movies are pretty dark and creepy, too. I've never seen Monster, but Broomfield's documentary about Aileen Wuornos had me pondering about death and God and damn near close to going to church. Michael Moore movies just make me sad for our future. But they freak me out a little, too.

Coen brothers movies make me sleepy. And I swear you can doze off during scenes and never miss anything.

I never found Mel Gibson or Kevin Costner attractive. And I hated Tom Cruise before he was a whack job.

I can't watch M. Night Shyamalamadingdong movies without second guessing what the twist is.

Every Christmas day, I watch "A Christmas Story," but I don't think I've ever seen the whole thing in chronological order because I'm always in and out of the room or only briefly visiting someone else who is watching it.

I have had no interest in any of the Disney movies since Beauty and the Beast, even though I saw a few due to peer pressure.

I love all of Cameron Crowe's movies, even Vanilla Sky.

I'm annoyed that they had to renumber all of the Star Wars movies. And aren't there more that come after Jedi? I hate quitters.

I'm sick of remakes. Doesn't anyone have an original thought anymore?

Cross Country Jaunt III - Eastward Ho!

Wednesday, July 5, 2006

We left Seattle for our ultimate destination - the beach in Astoria, Oregon where we got our car stuck on a previous trip. This time, we would see it in the daylight. We loaded up the car. As we were driving a rock flew up and chipped the window of our rental car. Ssssshhhh! Don't tell the rental company.

When we got to the beach, we discovered a parking lot literally a few yards from where we got the car stuck last time. That would have been useful. A bunch of other people were there with two horses. We tried to walk down a path in the tall grass that lead to the beach, but ended up just walking in the grass because there was horse shit on the trail. We walked on the beach briefly and called our dads. Then we started a slow ride back that was ridden with traffic and construction. Curses! We lost a lot of time because of this. I started eating the crack balls and found a cool radio station. The dj told this funny story about David Hasselhoff at Wimbledon that I couldn't wait to get back and share with everyone. I stayed awake until we were just outside of Portland. Then I dozed off again.

My slumber ended abruptly when Paul saw mountain sheep on the side of the road and started screaming. He's always looking for mountain sheep when we travel. I fell back to sleep. Paul said I missed a waterfall. I also realized that I lost my comb at this point. I was getting cranky again.

We stopped for gas and drinks in some little podunk town in Oregon. Paul pumped the gas and I went in for the drinks. When I first walked in, the cashier was hounding some guy who apparently owed her money. He was very obviously blowing her off and she was getting pissed. He then walked out without paying her and without giving her a clear idea of when she would be paid.

I found a comb. I walked up to the counter. It's important to know that I was the only person in the entire place by the time I was ready to check out.

The chick behind the counter looked at me and said, "Is that all?" I told her it was. She said, "You need to get in line over there. This is the diesel line."

"Where?" I asked because her point was kind of vague. I took exactly two steps to my left.

She sighed deeply, obviously annoyed with my stupid question. "Right there," she said as she pointed to where I was standing (again, two paces from where I originally was). And no word of a lie, she rang up my purchase at a register that was an entire arm's length from where she was standing. I gave her a look that basically said, "WTF?" And she started to explain that I was standing in the diesel line. I rolled my eyes. She made it sound like it was a whole other planet and that it would be really really far for her to get to the register that wasn't for the diesel line. Then I poured on my sickeningly sweet voice that I use when people are obviously annoying me, my fake politeness. That bitch met my tone, obviously using the same tactic. Whatever. I guess if my job involved being a cashier in Middleofnowhere, Oregon, I'd be a pretty bitter bitch, too.

I went back to the car and realized that I had now officially hit rock bottom. I was so cranky and uncomfortable from just sitting around in a car for hours on end and eating poorly (I swear I gained 500 lbs on this trip). I generally was not feeling well. I was also homesick and missed Shmuffin. I wanted to jump on a plane and head straight for my five B's (basement, beer, blanket, book and bad tv).

We stopped at a scenic view point. I took some pictures and a few deep breaths. Paul said that he felt ridiculous in his old shirt and glasses (which I love...I have a weakness for guys with glasses). I gave him a once over and shrugged. "I lost my comb," I said in a tiny voice. We both laughed.

We continued on to Boise, Idaho and stopped for the night. We had strawberry Poptarts and Dr. Pepper from the hotel vending machines for dinner. Paul fell asleep. I, on the other hand, had a lot of trouble. My mind was racing while watching "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer," contemplating my own death. It freaked

Thursday, July 6th, 2006

So there we were, driving along some main highway in Idaho when, low and behold, we see a lot of black smoke up ahead of us. As we got closer, we saw a tractor trailer with it's cabin completely in flames, tiny explosions going off as we passed. Either it had just happened, or Idaho is really bad at closing their roads when something like this happens. But it was scary. It could have completely blown while we were passing. We just passed it as quickly as we could. And I believe we were a good five miles down the road before we saw a cop traveling down the other side of the highway with his lights on. We continued into Wyoming.

The mountains in Wyoming near Grand Teton National Park do not look real. They look like a movie set. We stopped a few times to take pictures. We passed a guy selling buffalo jerky out of the back of his truck. No thank you! I'll pass on that one. We also saw a few moose and a bear.

Yellowstone is adjacent to Grand Teton. It was gorgeous and we could have spent a lot more time there. As we were driving in, we were getting this really mellow alternative station on the radio that played things like The Church. As we pulled into the area where Old Faithful is, we noticed that it was going off. We realized that we would have to wait awhile for it to go off again. We made our way to the gift shop. The woman behind the counter was probably the first person to discover Old Faithful. She was old and took forever to ring me up. There was a long line behind me. I felt bad, as if everyone was staring at me because I was making her take so long. She looked at me and said, "I know there's a line, but every customer is important." I guess that was sweet. But I still felt like an asshole.

We waited and waited for Old Faithful. That thing is a tease! It spit a little bit of water out and then just steam for minutes before it finally went off. It was well worth the wait, but I half expected someone behind me to say, "But the fountains at the Bellagio have music with them!" The guy sitting on the bench next to me walked over and sarcastically said, "Oh look. Another geyser." I wanted to punch him in the nuts at the time. But as we started to make our way out of the park, I realized that there are a bazillion geysers in that park.

It was a long ride out of the park and we saw a lot of wildlife. There were buffalo roaming. One walked right in front of the car in front of us and I thought it was going to charge a minivan pulled over on the side of the road. It did not. However, the look on the face of the guy driving the minivan was one of a man who had just soiled himself. There were other buffalo just hanging out and grazing. People were getting out of cars to take pictures, despite the little flyer they give you when you enter the park that warns you that buffalo are wild animals and like to gourd people.

It was getting darker and darker and we still were not out of the park. An Elk crossed in front of us, and I swear it laughed at our little Kia and would have chucked us the finger if it had one. We also saw a coyote eating something on the side of the road. When we got out of the park, we decided to backtrack to Jackson because we were not sure if we would find a place to stay for the night if we continued east.

This proved to be a good decision because we found this kick ass inn. At first it looked a little skeevey. The office was closed and we had to register and get our keys (yes, actual keys and not those plastic card type things) from the gas station convenience store that was adjacent to the hotel. A guy who walked out as we were walking in looked a little sketchy, as did the guy working there. But he turned out to be really nice. And the room was awesome! It had six pillows for our king sized bed, an extra blanket, lots of big fluffy towels, a little kitchenette and about 80 channels on the television. What luck!

Friday, July 7th, 2006

We got gas at the gas station at the hotel. I cleaned out the car and found my comb while Paul was pumping the gas.

We made our way over the mountains. We actually saw a chick on a unicycle going over the mountain. I'm not kidding. I wish I would have been able to get a picture because I doubt anyone will believe that I saw that without first consuming some sort of mushrooms.

We stopped in Rawlins, Wyoming for lunch and more gas. A lady at the gas station told us that there was an accident on the interstate, but we never saw it. I fell asleep once we got back on the road.

Here's something that burns my ass. Wyoming also has a good alternative radio station, and yet Philly does not. Life is unfair.

The next time we stopped for gas we were in Nebraska. There was a wacky Mormon family with a bratty kid waiting for the bathroom. The parents seemed really emabarrassed by their child's behavior and I almost felt bad for them, except there were w a million of them in line and I really had to pee. We also found Zots! Remember Zots? They're those hard candies with the sour fizzy stuff in them. I had similar sour ball type things at the Franklin Covey seminar, but I don't think I've seen actual Zots in years. And they were watermelon flavored! I've never seen those. I love watermelon candy.

We stopped at a fast food place called Runza's for dinner. I had never seen one of these before. They have their own special onion ring recipe and these sandwiches that are kind of like stuffed homemade bread. We continued on, determined to get to Iowa before stopping.

We made it into Iowa. Nebraska is a really big fucking state. We wanted to stop at the first stop, when we crossed over the boarder, Council Bluffs. Unfortunately, every hotel in town was booked due to a tattoo convention. We drove for about another hour, past some skeevey looking local hotels. We stopped at a Super 8. The lady there said they were out of rooms, but called a Days Inn about 20 minutes away and asked them to hold a room for us. She was obviously an import of some sort, because all the other hotel clerks we met that night were less than helpful. We made it and swore that our next night's sleep would be at home.

Saturday, July 8th, 2006.

I don't have a whole lot to say about Saturday. I got sick. I spent most of it sleeping through Illinois and Indiana. Paul and came to a conclusion about cover songs after everything we heard on the radio. A good song is a good song, no matter who does it...unless it's Metallica. We saw more fireworks. We stopped at a Steak and Shake drive thru, which we had never done before. We heard a lot of Billy Squire on the radio.

We finally rolled back into Reading, Pennsylvania at about 4 am. We needed gas by the time we got off the turnpike. We stopped at a nearby Wawa. Paul was actually dancing at the gas pump. He never dances. We came home. I gave Shmuffin hugs and kisses. I went to bed, but couldn't sleep, too wound up from the excitement of being home. I settled back, watched "The 40 Year Old Virgin" on cable, finally dozing off as the sun rose.

Cross Country Jaunt Part 2 - Electric Boogaloo

Monday, July 3rd

We had the greatest breakfast ever at the hotel in Missoula. They had everything imaginable and it was so good. The people were sweet in Missoula, too. Except for the bitch who cut in front of my in the juice line while I was patiently waiting for an elderly lady to finish what she was doing. It was no wonder the bitch was sitting in the corner by herself. I'm sure nobody loves her.

There was a gas station and a Starbucks right next to the hotel. That worked out nicely. We filled up and I had a tangerine juice blend. We backtracked just a bit to the University of Montana, drove around looking for the bookstore and then started wandering around on foot. The lady in the admissions office gave us bad directions (it was on her right, not ours), but we had a nice walk. We bought sweatshirts and then got a little lost getting back to the car. People said hello as they passed us on the sidewalks. It was a really nice place.

We continued on through the skinny part of Idaho, finally crossing into Washington. We made our way to Spokane and wandered endlessly on Gonzaga's campus looking for the bookstore. It was hot. I was cranky. And when we finally found the bookstore, they didn't have anything I liked in my size. Paul got a sweatshirt. We went back to the car.

We stopped at Sonic for lunch. That was the first time I was ever at a Sonic. They are few and far between here in PA. We ordered chicken wraps, what we believe is the equivalent of going to Yocco's and getting the fish sandwich (local reference...sorry), strawberry limeades and tots. I put the tots in my pocket for later. Ha! Just kidding.

We drove through the state of Washington, looking at the pretty mountains. We finally made our way to Jam's house. She came out to greet us and I made her carry her extremely belated birthday present into her apartment. We hung around there and I played with her cats. She has three very cute kitties, including a bit of a skittish kitten. She also has a bird. We tried to teach the bird to say "Seeeeeaaaaaatttle" like the girl at Zipperhead said to us, but to no avail. Instead it just made zipper sounds at us and pretended to be a bat.

We left her apartment to have dinner with her friend Carl. I finally got to meet the infamous Carl who copies everyone on emails to Jam's mom. I didn't realize that he was the same Carl until well into the night. Nice guy, but he seemed a little too disappointed that I no longer have big hair. I guess he and Jam differentiate me from all the other Chris's in her life by calling me the "Chris with the big hair." I guess they'll need a new nickname.

Dinner was at this Italian place that was pretty good. The waitress turned out to be a total bitch, though. When it came time to pay, we decided to have the bill split because everyone but Paul wanted to pay by card. She lectured us about how we should have told her sooner. Jam helped her with the extremely old computer system that they had. We got our check. Paul paid with cash and the waitress just assumed that he didn't want change and the rest of the cash was hers to keep. Granted, he was going to give it to her anyway, but it would have been more polite to ask. She then went two tables behind us and loudly apologized that she took so long to get back to them because she "had to split a check for the other table that didn't tell her that they wanted it split." Whatever.

Carl started popping these weird Japanese sugar candies that he referred to as "crack balls." After having a few, I'm convinced that "crack balls" is the literal translation of the Japanese label on the pack. Jam later gave me a pack of these things that did not make it past Wyoming. They have a bit of a citrus flavor to them and if you suck on them and roll them around with your tongue just the right way, they come apart in this powdery way that's almost like a pixie stick. It's crack, I tell you! Crack!

Carl noticed that the killer mosquito bite on my arm had now swollen to the size of an egg and asked me about it. Now that somebody else noticed it, Paul finally took me seriously that something was wrong with my arm. After leaving the restaurant (and Jam taking a few pictures of the moon with her camera on a tripod...fucking weirdo) we went to a drug store and got me some Benedryl. That knocked me out when we got back. I slept hard.

Tuesday, July 4th, 2006

We poked around in the morning a little, taking our time before going to the Pike Street market. The entire ride out, Paul kept talking about how he wanted a salmon hot dog. When we got there, the salmon dogs were temporarily discontinued. I joked around with the guy behind the counter, who told me that I should have called before driving 2800 miles for a salmon dog.

We walked around the market. I bought some cool post cards from the Allen Ginsberg photo collection and this cool travel journal. I started to get bitchy so we stopped for lunch at a place called Sisters. We had sandwiches on focaccia bread and listened to street musicians play bad Beatles songs. A guy in an all black suit chased them and then this chick started playing. I think the guy was the pimp of street musicians or something. Creepy. My sandwich had good west coast avocado on it. I'm definitely an avacodo snob. You can't get good avocado anywhere but the west coast. Even the avocado in Vegas was not as creamy and good. We grabbed coffee at a Seattle's Best, which had weird service, and made our way to the park for pictures.

After that, we went back to Jam's apartment and lounged a bit. We decided to go see "The Devil Wears Prada," which was good, but not as good as the book. We thought about going to see fireworks after that, but nixed the idea. We goofed around in the apartment some more and then went to Denny's. We played our own version of Pee Wee's Playhouse with a secret word that is and isn't dirty depending on the context. How we did not get kicked out of there, I will never know.

We came back and crashed out. The next day Jam would have to go to work and we'd start our trek back east.

To be continued...

My cross country jaunt (pt. 1): Where do I even begin?

I have no idea even how to go about writing this. I even kept a travel journal this time, but there's a lot of nothing to discuss.

Friday, June 30th, 2006

Paul and I decided that now was as good of a time as any to road trip across country like we always wanted to. We jumped into our little rented Kia Spectra (which I swore would be the death of us) and headed west.

We got about as far as Lancaster when I realized that I left the map on my dining room table. Oopsy! We later picked one up at a gas station. We were making pretty good time until a camper overturned about 100 yards in front of us on the PA turnpike. That held us up for about an hour. I played Yahtzee and waited. Eventually, we made it out of PA and stayed in a little town outside of Cleveland.

Saturday, July 1st, 2006

After a good night's sleep, we got on our way again. I found a station that played polkas and drove Paul nuts. We saw a bus being towed. The bus had a big sign on it that said "Out of Service." Yeah, no shit.

The rest of the day is a little fuzzy. I slept. I passed out somewhere in Indiana and woke up in Wisconsin. Paul's contact was acting up, so we stopped at a big gas station and he put on his glasses. I got an orange slurpee that had a weird taste to it...like gasoline or something. We continued on, debating who is the hottest female lead singer of our generation. Susannah Hoffs won out to my suggestions of Debbie Harry and Kay Hanley. Eh, I'm a girl. My views are a little different, I guess.

There were definitely some clear signs that we were in Wisconsin. The first was that the people on the radio were talking about how they wanted onions and mustard on their bratts for their 4th of July party. We had cheese curds and root beer for dinner. And we saw a place called "Bong Recreational Area."

We continued on through Minnesota. Some sort of freakish mosquito made its way into the car and gave me the West Nile virus. Ok, maybe not, but my arm developed a large red weld. Paul thought I was just being overly dramatic about it and blew me off. It wasn't really itchy or anything. But it was huge, red and hot. We saw a lot of fireworks going off in the various towns that we passed. We listened to a lot of oldies on the radio. We even heard some little kid call into one to request "Suspicious Minds," my all time favorite Elvis song. We also seemed to continuously hear Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Knock Three Times." I believe this also annoyed Paul.

I know. I know. I said I was going to activate the XM before I went on the trip. And I did! The problem was that I had a slight malfunction with the device and decided not to take it along. Besides, listening to the local radio stations on the road gives you a feel for an area more than anything else. I can figure out a place better by knowing what the masses listen to. It's a talent.

Eventually, we stopped for the night in some little town in Minnesota.

Sunday, July 2nd, 2006

When we hit the road the next day, we saw a bald eagle. This is the second time I saw one. The first time was also in Minnesota.

We decided to go to North Dakota State for sweatshirts, but the bookstore was closed. To get there, we managed to drive the wrong way down a one way street. We also stopped for directions at a gas station that boasted to have the best buns in town as well as the tastiest buns in town. After leaving the university, we went through a Starbucks drive thru. The guy working the drive thru was very effeminate. I had no clue he was even a guy at first. Fargo is a really weird place.

By the time we made it to Bismarck, we needed a little break. So we stopped at this place called Space Aliens Bar and Grill. I'm not sure if this is a chain or not. I've never seen one before, but it seemed a little chainy. The hostess seated us in the lounge area where we ate popcorn and watched an infomercial on some sort of pet comb that keeps your pet from shedding. When the waitress came to the table, I ordered a drink. Paul got a coke. She carded both of us. I thought this was odd. Remembering the numerous Bob's Lemonades that I consumed in Bloomsburg before my 21st birthday, I assumed that they wanted to make sure that if he just happened to start drinking the drink I ordered all would be legal. But later, when the two girls in the booth behind us ordered Diet Cokes and were still carded, I started coming up with conspiracy theories. Maybe space aliens really ran the place. And now they knew where we lived. Anyway, it was still a cool place. The bathrooms were labeled as "She-Roids" and "He-Roids." They had black toilets (if you can't see the mold, it's not there, right?) and mosaic tile that formed moon beams and stars. There were Space Invaders mirrors on the wall.

We tried to get sweatshirts at Bismarck State, but they were also closed (you'd think it was a Sunday in the summer...on a holiday weekend or something).

We carried on to Montana. There we saw a storm for miles and miles above us because it's so flat. Somehow, we dodged it. We also saw a van pulled over on the side of the road by the cops who were pointing a gun at it. Freaky. Because of its high latitude, the sun didn't fully set until nearly 11 pm. But when it got dark, it got really dark. And who knows what kind of animals were roaming around. We stopped in Missoula for the night. And I'm really glad that we did. We followed a few cars down the road that we thought would lead us to the hotel. We ended up turning around and being the first ones there. And we got the last room in the place. It was so "Amazing Race." It was good practice if we ever end up on the show.

We got a good rest. The next day would lead us to Seattle to see Jam.

To be continued...