Exit Yellowstone. Enter Grand Tetons. I’ve used the word “beautiful” so much this summer to describe what we’ve seen but it’s not really the right adjective for these mountains. The Grand Tetons are indeed stunning yet there’s something so inaccessible and harsh about them at the same time. We wanted to hike within the park but the backcountry trails were taken or the snowed in, even though it’s July.
On we went to Jackson, a small tourist town, where we stopped to look for vegetable oil. Unfortunately, a local had a monopoly on most of the restaurants since he runs on the veg as well, so we skipped on out of there. The second night was spent outside of Boise next to a refreshing little creek under the almost full moon. Matt and I sat next to our first campfire of the summer until it got late.
The next day was when it started to really get interesting. We’ve been very lucky as far as having only minor car problems on this trip, but starting in Ontario, OR, things went downhill fast. We noticed that the car was leaking antifreeze, so Matt spent some time trying to patch it. Then we picked up three hitchhikers by the names of Nikki, Stash and Gonzo. If anyone has seen us in our car so far, you wouldn’t believe we could even fit one extra person in the back, let alone three. Yet somehow we managed.
With their giant, dirty drums sitting on their laps we drove farther North into Oregon. Repeatedly we made stops as the car overheated and we attempted to again patch the antifreeze tube. After dropping off our passengers, we limped into Portland where the car now lies, possibly dead.
Matt and I don’t know if Portland will be the final resting place for the Mercedes as well as our road trip, but time will tell. We have to talk to some mechanics today and if the repairs are too expensive, Matt will have to sell the car. If that’s the case, we’ve had a good run. Next question: How will we get home?
In the mean time, Portland is fabulous. We went on a fourteen mile bike ride yesterday around the city, have gone to Saturday Market and Powell’s is on our list of destinations. Pictures will be coming soon.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
On the road again
Matt and I are in Yellowstone, staying with his parents after having met back up in Minneapolis. Although we’ve thoroughly enjoyed the summer thus far, we’re glad to be away from cities for awhile so that we can spend some time outdoors. Yellowstone is a first for me and absolutely breathtaking. Matt has been here several times though so when I make fart jokes due to the sulfur smells in the park, it just really isn’t that funny….
Matt was able to make it through the Upper Peninsula, down to Minneapolis, up north to his family reunion and back down to get me all on the vegetable oil that we got in Ann Arbor, Michigan. What a relief it is to not have to think about fuel hunting. He said that the time with his family in Minnesota was as bad as the Badlands are bad….because he likes the Badlands.
I took a Greyhound bus to go from Michigan to Minnesota, a form of public transportation I’ve never experienced before. Let’s just say that trains and planes will forever be more boring after this. It was great people watching and I actually enjoyed it, from the driver revealing that he was on probation for bad driving (after he broke his side mirror off of our bus through a tollbooth) all the way to having to fend off a hulk of a man that kept falling asleep on me. He was what I call an “oozer.” The person who sits next to you that ends up taking up half of your seat, forcing you to form a barricade with your carry on luggage. I wasn’t above using elbow jabs either, especially when he started resting his head on my shoulder/lap.
Minneapolis was beautiful and Matt and I love the diversity of that city, not to mention how much it promotes biking as a form of transportation. Amazing. After that, we ended up in South Dakota, a state that is known for three things: The Corn Palace, Wall Drug and Mt. Rushmore. Road trips are all about the weird factor so we went to the first two but somehow skipped the national monument. The Corn Palace was made of, well, corn. We also filtered oil there in the rain while I held a tarp over us. Wall Drug was a tourist zoo, although they did have 5 cent coffee and we had our picture taken in front of a fake Mt. Rushmore.
Western South Dakota = unexpectedly beautiful. We drove through the Badlands and the Black Hills although we couldn’t find a camping place at the latter so we pitched our tent in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Woke up to an old man stepping out of his RV and telling us that we give Arizona a bad time. We’re still not sure if he was joking or not.
We have been very lucky since Michigan with finding oil and haven’t had to search too hard. At a Mexican restaurant in Gillete, the owner told us, “You guys put the green in me. I will get a vegetable car, too.”
Next stop: Portland.
Matt was able to make it through the Upper Peninsula, down to Minneapolis, up north to his family reunion and back down to get me all on the vegetable oil that we got in Ann Arbor, Michigan. What a relief it is to not have to think about fuel hunting. He said that the time with his family in Minnesota was as bad as the Badlands are bad….because he likes the Badlands.
I took a Greyhound bus to go from Michigan to Minnesota, a form of public transportation I’ve never experienced before. Let’s just say that trains and planes will forever be more boring after this. It was great people watching and I actually enjoyed it, from the driver revealing that he was on probation for bad driving (after he broke his side mirror off of our bus through a tollbooth) all the way to having to fend off a hulk of a man that kept falling asleep on me. He was what I call an “oozer.” The person who sits next to you that ends up taking up half of your seat, forcing you to form a barricade with your carry on luggage. I wasn’t above using elbow jabs either, especially when he started resting his head on my shoulder/lap.
Minneapolis was beautiful and Matt and I love the diversity of that city, not to mention how much it promotes biking as a form of transportation. Amazing. After that, we ended up in South Dakota, a state that is known for three things: The Corn Palace, Wall Drug and Mt. Rushmore. Road trips are all about the weird factor so we went to the first two but somehow skipped the national monument. The Corn Palace was made of, well, corn. We also filtered oil there in the rain while I held a tarp over us. Wall Drug was a tourist zoo, although they did have 5 cent coffee and we had our picture taken in front of a fake Mt. Rushmore.
Western South Dakota = unexpectedly beautiful. We drove through the Badlands and the Black Hills although we couldn’t find a camping place at the latter so we pitched our tent in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Woke up to an old man stepping out of his RV and telling us that we give Arizona a bad time. We’re still not sure if he was joking or not.
We have been very lucky since Michigan with finding oil and haven’t had to search too hard. At a Mexican restaurant in Gillete, the owner told us, “You guys put the green in me. I will get a vegetable car, too.”
Next stop: Portland.
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