the WU reborn

god's country

ok i duno who said that but someone did.  i've got a few points that related to montana and god.

1. country music revisited:  today, i left missoula, mt (think "a river runs through it")  for miles city, mt. (think "billy bobs banjo hits vol.1").  my car is chock full of stuff, and the passenger side seat is crammed way forward to make room for the boxes on the back seat floor.  sadly, my iPod adaptor cable is stuck in that seat.  enter...the radio.  the only channel that i could get about 40 miles out of missoula was a country one.  when faced with the choice between country, and nothing, it's an easy vote, nothing.  so i turned it off.  an hour later, i turned it back on, just to see if i could deal with "god's country".  twenty minutes later, i nearly drove my car off the road on purpose, so i figured it would be a good time to turn it back off, which i did.  in short, nothing really IS better than country, although not in the way that hillbillys would have you take the meaning.

2. i've got a habit of seeing cop lights in my rear view window, and clenching the steering wheel, and hoping they pass by, which they usually do.  "thank god," i'll say.  well, today, a mere 70 miles out of miles city, my little prayer wasn't answered, as a cop pulled me over for doing a mere 91 in a 75, forever dispelling the age-old myth that "there's no speed limit in montana."  or is it a myth?  let's break it down:

the ticket isn't going to be reported so my insurance rates won't go up

the ticket has been paid, a mere $40

i average 15 mph over the speed limit

the entire trip is 2163 miles, which at an average speed limit of 70 mph would take 30.9 hours.

at an average (speeding) speed of 85 mph, the trip will take 25.44 hours.

those of you who know me know that these numbers are modest.  i'm glad i wasn't pulled over today on a montata straightaway going 110.  anywho......

speeding saves me 5.46 hours, which at a total cost of 40 dollars, is only $7.32/hour.  i'm quite certain that when i'm 80, whatever cash i have left over, if i could spend $7.32/hour, i'd do it if it would extend my life.  that said, i feel that the 40 dollars was well invested, and i'm happy that montana has given me the opportunity to recoup that lost time, time that i never would have been able to get back, and at such an affordable price to boot. 

cheers, montana!

tomorrow, on to fargo. 

heading home for the holidays

three days ago i lost my cell phone.  i never found it.  first time in 10 years i've lost a cell phone.

yesterday, i left vancouver around 1pm.  the weather was fine.  I5-405 to bypass seattle.  i noticed my gas was getting to about 1/3 tank, so i would pull over at the next stop.  then it started shitting snow.  driving in the snow is no big deal, but it gets dark around 4pm now, so as the snow picked up, i figured i'd just see if i could find a place to stay near the gas station.  too bad for me i was in snoqualmie pass, wa.  as i was getting off the ramp, my gas light went on, letting me know that i have about 60 miles to go, then i'm out of gas.  no problem.

i headed to the gas station, only to find the lights out.  puzzled, i drove to the only hotel around, the summit lodge.  the clerk told me that because of the storm, the power was out in most of western washington, and the gas couldn't pump because of course it ran on electricity.  thankufully, the lodge had a generator.  i asked for a room, and got the last one available, which had no heat.  he gave me a space heater, and i went to my room in a daze.  guy down in the lobby talked about waiting for AAA for 4 hours in his car only to have them not show up.

i guess you never realize how dependent you are on a car until you can't get gas.  tons of people were stranded because many of the nearby towns were out of power, and thus out of gas.  frankly, i was a bit scared, because what the hell to do?  icy snowy ass roads, with no way to go anywhere.  lights flickering on and off as the generator groaned.  i was seriously considering getting back to seattle, if i could acquire gas, flying home and shipping my car, but found that would have cost $950 for the car shipment alone.  needless to say, i was not in a good mood last night. thankfully, i slept for like 10 hours...

i had some crazy, fucked up dreams:

1. joyful: unknown beautiful punky girl and i wandering through record store and she finds a first pressing of led zeppelin II.  she gets down on her knees and weeps tears of joy, and immediately purchases it.

2. scary: i was in charge of watching an old woman's dogs.  for some reason she died.  the dogs kept going to the 2nd floor bedroom and barking.  eventually i went up there and found a bunch more dead dogs, that the live ones were slowly feeding on.

3. unsure: something about hell.  i'm sure this was related to my waking up at 1 am to find the room a sauna as the space heater kicked into overdrive.

this morning, we brainstormed.  there was a guy, probably 21 years old, who had a sister in a town 60 miles away that had power. but his car was out of gas.  there was a woman, probably 60 and her daughter 30.  they had separate cars, full of shit.  however, the 30 yr old woman had performance tires, and needed chains.,  then there's me, with no gas.  so eventually, the 60 yr old woman agreed to take the guy to his sister to get gas for the two of us, and chains for the womans daughter.  i waited a the lodge with the daughter.

meanwhile, the korean lady who owned the gas station decided to start pumping gas by hand.  well, she had her mexican flunkies do it, and charged 5 bucks a gallon.  i duno, im pretty sure that's illegal, since this is the USA and not some war-torn third world nation.  anywa, after checking with the mother to make sure she hadn't already bought my gas, (she hadn't), i coughed up 25 bucks for gas to get me to the next town and was on my way.

after about 80 miles of white knuckled driving, the roads cleared up a bit.  armed with about 5 cups of coffee and a general disdain for careening off cliffs, i made my way all the way to missoula, mt, where i sit typing in a marriot inn.  i room serviced a burger, played a few hours of coh with eric, and now i'm gonna hit the sack.

the loose game plan is:

17 sunday missoula, mt - miles city, mt

18 monday miles city, mt - fargo, nd

19 tuesday fargo, nd - eau claire, wi

20 or 21 eau claire, wi - milwaukee, wi

i have photos as far back as karl's wedding that i need to post. i'm a slacker, i know. 

frankly, i'm just happy to be alive, and not stuck like alot of those other people in WA.  1.1 M people without power.  holy shit.  i literally escaped a disaster zone.

home for the holidays

well, after two weeks of living with mike and emily, i'm heading home for the holidays.  i was going to go to vegas for johnny's bachelor party, but sadly, my car was broken into, and with my worldly possessions in it, vegas probably isn't the most secure place.  so yes, i'm actually passing on vegas.  crazy.

the way home will be shorter, but perhaps slightly more perilous.  mountains + december = snow.  i'm hoping to get to missoula on day one (tomorrow), but if i get only as far as spokane, no problem.  luckily i have all season radials on the poopy jetta, so i'll still be able to drive 100 the whole way.  ok maybe not.  sigh.

i'll likely stop in ND to my pal eric, and see regi and amy on the way home through eau claire, if they read this or if i remember to call them in time :) 

saw sar ee, uncle john, oliver, and gerald last night for a good bye dinner, and was able to meet up with loong and elizabeth before they headed to malaysia.  also met up with my pal rick.  been trying to get a hold of james but no luck.  if you read this, call me tonite, beyotch.

love you all

wk

commies

so i moved out of my apartment today, and was going to stay at my parents' condo, but my friend mike offered me to stay with him instead.  he even helped me pack and move, and hell, it was snowing.  what a guy.  thanks mike.

i went to the post office to change my address, and after filling out the form, the clerk told me it would be $70 for six months of forwarding.  i told him that it just wasn't going to happen but thanks anyway.  unreal.  anyway, if you have to send anything to me, send it to my parents' place in milwaukee.  if you need that address, send me an e-mail.

see you soon!