Missoula > Seattle

I stayed at the only hostel in Missoula, Hutchins Hostel, where I met Michael from London who is biking across America (his blog)! I also met a couple from Clinton Hill, Brooklyn (the neighborhood I lived in for close to 7 years) and they were biking from Missoula to Glacier then over to Washington and down to Portland. I had no idea Missoula was such a biking destination! Michael and I went to a pub trivia night (team name Mustard), we did alright in the first two rounds but not so hot in the end. It was fun though, I will totally do another trivia night!

Thursday morning I started driving, heading to Seattle. I was super tired so pulled off the road somewhere in that sliver of Idaho and took a nap. I think I only napped for 15 minutes but it was like a quick recharge for my batteries and I continued on feeling much better!

BB up on the lift

I stopped to get gas in Eastern Washington and when I got back on the road, I noticed the Check Engine light was on. I pulled off I-90 to Moses Lake and did a quick google search for car repair shops. I found Woodward Auto & Truck and called to see fi they were open because my clock said 6:17. The guy who answered said, of course we're open, where are you? You are calling from New York? I explained that I'm on a road trip and my check engine light just came on and I just got off the freeway in this town. I headed over to their shop and the mechanic (whose name I didn't catch, I'm terrible at remembering to catch people's names!) plugged in the digital diagnostic machine. It was an o2 sensor that needed to be replaced (he showed me on the diagnostic). I asked if I could make it to Seattle and was told yes, but it will burn more fuel so you should get it replaced asap... and you'll pay more in Seattle! So I asked how long it would take them to fix it. Bill, the guy in the office, said it was more about hte part and then about 30 minutes of labor. So Bill called up some place with parts, they had it in stock, drove it over, the mechanic (who I had a nice conversation with about design, he's an aspiring Industrial Designer) replaced the part, cleared the warning, test drove it to make sure it was still good and I was done! I was in, diagnosed, fixed and out within an hour! I arrived in Seattle at 9pm! As far as car trouble go, that was a pretty lucky situation!

I'll be spending today in Seattle, hopefully catching up with one of my old roommates from Brooklyn who lives here now, and tomorrow heading to my Unitarian church camp at Seabeck, WA... arriving in time for the 2pm all staff meeting. This means taking the ferry to Bremerton! Yay ferries! I think today I'll go for a bike ride, my friend lent me her awesome bike map of Seattle and there are a few paths nearby, she lives on the West side of Green Lake for those of you familiar with Seattle.


Oh, I forgot to post a final picture of the finished root cellar! (Well, it needs a little paint and more soil on top and around it, but I had to go West, so hopefully my uncle can sort that out!)

Isn't she lovely :)

So tired

When you find yourself in Minnesota and someone tells you something is going to be delivered after dinner... that means after lunch! My uncle and more importantly his check book wasn't around when the second to last delivery of goods arrived today! That was hectic but we got it all worked out. Now I have the materials for the roof as well as the perforated drain tile (pipe). It's pretty exciting! Early next week we'll get the material for the shelves inside (so I'll be making a cut list for that soon!)

This morning a cow got stuck again in the fence. I saw it happen. These girls! There is an opening in the interior door of the fence so that when it is open they can get their heads to the drinking water. Well they pulled off the bungee that was put on yesterday because of a similar incident (different cow, same position) where a cow tries to walk through the opening, gets her head and front legs through but trips over the lower bar and gets stuck. Luckily neither of the girls (yesterday or today) broke a leg but what a pain! Hopefully the metal carabiner with twist action will keep this from happening again. It's easier to deal with a few seconds of work every time you open the gate rather than several people's time and the threat of a broken cow leg every time a girl gets so excited for her silage (fermented corn, basically beer for cows... they love it!).

The goal today was to get to the 6th course and drylok (waterproof paint) what we'd finished so far. We just started it in the evening but the sun was beating down on us hard from the West and we both hit the wall... it was time to stop. So we cleaned up, K2 and I went to town so I could buy ice cream and beer and supplies for Mojitos and came back and we got to play Agricola! It was a very close game, I think K2 might beat me soon, and I'm looking forward to the real game on Tuesday- tonight was more of a learning game for Brandon and Dan :)



Building is going well, tomorrow we'll need to finish about 3 courses and then we can finish the last course (well, second to last course) on Sunday morning before Brian the Mason comes after "dinner" to help with the final course.

The plan is to pretty much work everyday and take off the 16th for farm days and a few evenings for games with the boys. Tomorrow night we're going to a celtic music and labryinth walking event, so that should be nice... I'm going to have to request a shoulder massage soon...I'm sore and soon we'll be lifting the cinderblocks even higher- though we might be able to place them from the hill on the side of the root cellar a.k.a. recently as "The Pit".

Hi from the Land of Lakes!

After 2 days in Columbia, Missouri I drove to Howard Lake, MN in a straight shot on Thursday. Google Maps said 9 hours of driving and including two stops for refueling and a couple stops for bathroom and Subway, I arrived after 10 hours. That's the most driving I've ever done in one day! I was worried about being able to make it but I was fine. I think driving during all daylight hours helped. Then there was rain which I find it easier to drive in somehow because I get extra alert!

I arrived on Farm #2, the Hei-Lo farm that my grandpa lives on along with my aunt and uncle, shortly after 8pm. This is the farm my dad grew up on and I have been visiting every other year since college and the start of the Minnesota Garlic Festival. I said hello to my aunt and uncle who greeted me in the driveway with a few young people: Brendan, Kevin2 and Kelsey. Brendan and Kevin2 worked on the farm last year and now they are doing a CSA on the farm so they come around pretty regularly. Then I went inside to say "hi" to my grandpa. I caught up with the family, washed the 10 hour car ride off and went to sleep on the coziest flannel sheets ever.

On Friday I started drawing up plans for the root cellar and worked with my uncle Jerry to figure out the layout and location. We finally settled on a location and marked it generally with flags to get an idea of size and made plans to hit up the hardware store to see what materials are available. I also met Daniel, who is going to be some extra muscle for the project. He doesn't have any experience in building, but he seems like a smart fella and I'm sure I'll be able to teach him what I know and work with him to figure out the rest! I was invited back to Daniel's house to go pontooning with him, his wife and Brendan and K2 (Kevin2). After they expalined what pontooning is (think, floating livingroom with a motor), I decided to join them!

This is a Pontoon similar to the one we went out on, it didn't go very fast which was nice! I think we might go out on the pontoon on the lake on July 4th which will be nice! The front gate is broken so the two greyhound dogs had to be lifted over the gate! It was pretty entertaining :P

I followed K2 and Brendan in their truck and they made a couple stops on the way. The second stop was to the liquor store. Having forgotten my wallet (and ID) I decided to wait in my car. The boys went in and out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. The truck had started to roll backwards! Oh no! Luckily the wheel was turning and the truck was moving into the center of the parking lot (rather than straight back into the parked car behind). I hopped out of my car and ran to the passenger side door, I was hoping for an obvious emergency brake which I didn't see and I couldn't really get to the brake pedal so I ran around the truck and got in and hit the brake. That was more invigorating than using the tablesaw for sure! I sat with the car in the middle of the parking lot waiting for the boys to come out of the store. They didn't take very long but K2 was clearly confused when he stepped out of the store and his truck was no longer in it's parking space! I called out and waved to them that their truck was okay, in the middle of the parking lot.

With smiles of relief and excitement on our faces, we continued on to Pelican Lake where we were welcomed with freshly grilled food and cold beer. We went out on the lake before the sun went down and after a little while headed over to where Daniel's aunt had a fire pit going, we stayed til dark, roasting giant marshmallows Brendan fortunately decided to bring on the boat. We headed back to Daniel's dock and stopped mid lake for some of the boys to take a dip; way too cold to entice me in! When we got back to the house and I noticed the time, 5 minutes to eleven, I asked for directions back.

I ended up driving back the old fashioned way, 3 guys couldn't agree on exactly how to get back so we google mapped it and I got back safe and sound with hand written directions, double checked by google :)

This morning I went to Maple Lake Hardware with my uncle so we could get a feel for the materials availbale and what we might need to order. I did most of the talking with Daryl who helped me out greatly figuring out the details and alternatives and materials I should use. Now I'm going to type up a list of materials and email him and get a price list back, I do have a budget afterall! I'm hoping we can break ground with the digging on Monday! Then we'll be doing some form-work for the footer (16" wide x 8" high), laying some perforated drain pipe and then starting the cinderblock walls! This month is going to fly by!

I'm okay, my car is a little beat up, my bike however is totally unrideable :(

I've never had an accident before and yesterday evening, on the road from Ontario to the 1000 Islands Parkway, I had my first accident. The truck in front of me stopped short, so I stopped short so did the 2 girls behind me ending up with 3 cars bumping into each other. I'm glad my bike was hurt and not my car- the back has a ding in it but it's all cosmetic as I can still lock the back door and the bumper is just scratched. If the bike and bike rack hadn't been there the girl behind me probably would have been even closer in her SUV and likely caused even more damage to my car. I really wish I'd woken up in time yesterday to ride it around Montreal like I wanted to; that is hard to do after several rum and cokes though :P

All 3 of us (ladies driving the cars) are fine, actually the girl in the back who hit the girl who hit me had the most damage to her car, the middle car was a SUV and came out with like a tiny scratch and a dent in the license plate. Both girls were young drivers and freaking out about facing thier parents. I'm glad my car is mine and I have to report to no one, save for my readers! And what's a great adventure with a little snafu mixed in? Hopefully the snafu's stay small :)

SO Anyway... I'm at the KOA 1000 Islands in Ontario, Canada. This is NOT roughing it, so don't even think that I'm in my tent, out peeing in the woods... There is a main building with laundry, showers, 3 swimming pools, a TV that is on in the background with cartoons (perhaps the staff saw us two kids, of 27yrs, and thought we needed cartoons?) This is as cushy a car camping site as they come! And I'm totally ok with that, I didn't think I'd be "roughing" anything until I got out West. :) Today is going to be a nature day, and also kind of a maintenance day... check the tire pressure, tidy up the car that seems to have an explosion of stuff inside it... I may also stop at the bike store in town and see what they think about the damage to my bike and what it will take to fix it. Anyway after being in Montreal for a couple days and all that driving in Vermont, I'm ready for a day of calmness and nature :)

I think it's about time to build a fire, cook up some breakfast (veggies and beans! Yum!), clean the car and figure out where we'll hike today!

Please send good thoughts to my bicycle, I love you bicycle, I'm sorry you got hurt! I'll fix you up though! We will ride again, at least by the time I get to Chicago!