We're on the Road to Bozeman

The last day of any vacation is always a little sad and depressing.  Time to return to normal...time to worry about your job, answer your e-mails, pay the bills,  fix the car, put the screen back into the window, do the  laundry, clean the bathroom, take out the garbage, wash the dishes, pick up those rotten lemons out of the yard and all those other daily, routine, not-so-exciting activities.  Well that's what I usually return to after vacation.  But after this back-to-back Jersey/Florida family-filled adventure, I was ready to set sail for a new change of pace... life in Montana.  Trevor is starting a research fellowship in Bozeman this summer, and well, like any super-awesome girlfriend with a passion for change, and a fear of loneliness would do...I'm going with him!

My flight from Orlando is set to leave Sunday afternoon in time to get me back to Santa Barbara around 11pm. Trevor and I are planning to leave for Bozeman the next morning around 8am.  There is no time for flight delays or cancellations. There is hardly enough time to make this work with the schedule the way it is!   I am not too sad leaving Orlando because  I have no brain capacity to be sad.  At this point I am making mental list after mental list of all the things I need to do the second I get home in order to ensure that we get on the road on time....do the laundry, get the suit cases out of the attic, pack the camping stuff, clean out the fridge, clean out the dresser, get some groceries for the road,  fill up the gas tank,  bleach the bathroom, dust EVERYTHING, vacuuum, mop, pack my clothes, pack CDs,  pack my work supplies, call the credit card and the bank and tell them we're moving, forward the mail, and continue to look for a place to live in Bozeman since we haven't figured that out yet....AHhhhh  get me home already!!! There is so much to do! 

So you can imagine my mental anguish when, after leaving for the airport, my sister calls me from back at the rental house to say that I forgot my necklace and did I want to come back and get it?  I don't really want to go back, buecause when I'm in a rush I can't stand the feeling of being late.  But at the same time if I don't go back and get that necklace now, I will probably never see it again.  My brother-in-law turns the mini cooper around and I go back and get it.   We were  barely down the street when she called, so it didn't affect my timing too much... but I am so glad I went back because I forgot not just my necklace, but my new jazzy jacket, and my credit card as well!!!   Jeepers creepers, Julie, get it together! I am finally dropped off at the airport and  pull up to the electronic check-in counter with all my bags.  I scan my credit card that I almost left behind.  Error message.  Big. Red. X......The screen says "We are sorry but check-in for your flight is only available 24 hours prior to the flight's scheduled departure."

I'm like "What the heck is that?  My flight is scheduled to depart in 2 hours!! Let me check in darnit! I've got things to do and places to be!" 

I scramble through my phone to pull up my itinerary, focusing on the frustration that there has to be something wrong with the airline computer system, and trying to stifle the knowledge that this could just as easily be a very severe error on my part. ...  I am horrified to find out that the flight that I scheduled and paid for (I don't know how long ago), is scheduled to depart on Monday, June 11th!!.... I am, in fact, a whole day early......  Mortified!

Luckily the lady at the counter helped me out and was able to get me on the same flight leaving today and it only cost me less than $300.  Phew.  Sure I could have used that $300 for something a lot more fun, but at this point I think I would have paid my whole life savings to avoid having to admit to anyone that I am such a moron!

I made it back to the Santa Barbara apartment around midnight and packed and cleaned my little fanny off....and we were on the road to Bozeman listening to David Byrne's Talking Heads' song "We're on the Road to Nowhere" by 9am.

Good-bye Santa Barbara!  See you in September

This guy's on the road to nowhere with us.

open roads

Shasta Lake.

In this small little town called Shasta Lake in Northern California  we spotted a billboard that said something like "METH..Fueling  Shasta County since 1955"....Oh small town America, how you terrify me so....

Shasta Dam

Shasta Lake

Why would anyone need to do drugs in a beautiful place like this?!

Veggie delight anyone?

Our first wild animal sighting

Oh Deer

Shasta Dam

Facing his fears



I didn't do a very good job of cleaning the windows at the last rest stop...



Later that evening we decided to go camping.  We followed signs off the highway, drove down a small little windy one-way road that eventually turned into a dirt road at the end of which was a great big sign that read "CAMPSITE CLOSED".  We thought maybe we could just camp there anyway, just for the night.  It was getting late.  The campsite was right next to a little river that spun off the lake.  Trevor and I walked around the area and couldn't help but notice the ruckus of noise going on in the water.  A group a young kids (maybe late teens / early 20s) are in a boat that appears to be in trouble. The boat is smoking (or maybe it's inhabitants were smoking).  It is taking in water.  There is a good chance it will sink.  They're definitley having some problems.  Some of the firends are in the boat, some are on the shoreline near their cars.  The boat is not far from the shore and there is no real life-threatening concerns. They people in the boat are making some noise and don't seem overly concerned that their boat is sinking.  I am convinced these people are all on meth.  Our cell phones are not getting any signals and these are the only people within shouting distance.  My mind keeps focusing back on that billboard that had suggested that everyone in this tiny town is drugged out on meth. I can't imagine that if we slept here overnight that we wouldn't get robbed for drug money by these kids...

We left.

And we found a much more comfortable campsite called Lakehead nearby.  It is open.  There are other seemingly sober people there.  And they even have luxury tents with a bed, carpet, and electricity.  So we treated ourselves to what the hipsters would refer to as "glamping."

we played some b-ball

Made some jiffy pop

found a lizard

We were a little spooked out because it was pitch black out and we could hear some sort an animal snapping twigs and rustling around in the night.  We were thinking it might be a deer but then thought it might be smaller, like maybe a raccoon or a rat.  We followed the noises until Trevor spotted this big, fat toad:

He croaked.

Then we went to sleep in our luxurious tent.