Wyoming...why would you go there?

In the summer of '08 Kristen, Tara & I discovered that we travel very well together. We went to New York and had an absolute blast. Seeing things we wanted to see, sleeping in, roaming around and laughing very hard. This year we wanted to go on a road trip together and through a series of conversations concluded on Wyoming. You might be wondering, "Why Wyoming?" that's a good question and really even we don't know how we ended up picking it. Throughout the trip one of us would say, "We're in Wyoming!" and then we'd start laughing in unbelief. No matter how we got there, it was amazing. I'm sure a large part of it was because of the women I was with. We laughed, had meaningful conversations, listened to a lot of good music, slept and generally had a great time.

There were a lot of favorite memories for me but two highlights were on the first day I get the memo that we're supposed to wear bandana's for the whole trip. The rule is it's supposed to be somewhere on your body. Tara was most creative mixing it up, KT's version of mixing it up was wearing it sometimes and carrying it around in her purse and I tied it around my neck & didn't take it off until Boise when it was too gross to put back on.

Another highlight was that somehow KT and I got on this Lewis & Clark kick. We talked about what it would be like to explore something now and how I'd respond if President Obama called me up and asked me to put a posse together to go explore some unchartered territory. I told Kristen that I'd take her with me simply because she was a teacher. She said that she didn't think Obama would approve her for lack of qualifications so I put together an argument, just in case it ever came up, revolving around the importance of promoting education, supporting teachers and drove my point home citing the Challenger.

We also talked about what it was like for Lewis & Clark to just be walking around, taking notes and drawing what they saw. It was an ongoing conversation that at one point, Tara mentioned that she was amazed we knew so much about them. I'd like to take this moment to thank Mr. Sprague my 6th grade history teacher for providing information that was in fact useful in my adult life. I can also tell you that the Grand Coulee Dam is the largest concrete structure in the United States, not yet helpful information for everyday conversation.

The trip really was a huge highlight of the summer and one I will not soon forget. Randomly as we pulled away from Tara's house on our first day she pulled out her journal and wrote what time we left, that turned into a travel log for the whole trip. I've posted it here because it brings so much joy to my heart everytime I read it that I hope you'll enjoy it too.

Wild West Road Trip 2009
July 30
9:49 Leave Seattle WA
9:54 Weird giggle KT
12:25 Wild Horses at the Gorge – both KT and TG peed on themselves, Tara breaks her camera while hiking.
2:30 Sprague Lake Rest Stop for Lunch
KT’s white trashness confirmed
MD forgot to bring plates
Switched drivers
TG made GREAT sandwiches
3:45 Stopped for gas
3:54 Tara practiced horn-honking
3:57 Crossed state line into ID
4:43 KT alluded to a sweet Dave Matthews’ quote which she will share once we return to SEA
6:04 (Mountain Time) Enter Montana
7:09 Blind taste test white vs. pink circus animals. MD guesses correctly
7:45 Missoula for groceries
9:45 arrive at Best Western Butte

July 31
11:26 Leave Best Western in Butte
11:31 Crossed Continental Divide
12:30 Costco to buy camera – Bozeman
2:15 Reached Yellowstone Nat’l Park
3:17 entered park
3:20 entered Wyoming
4:00 Painted mud pots
5:46 Old Faithful eruption

August 1
9:30 wake
12:30 left for Old Faithful again
1:30 coyote hunting for something
2:15 lunch in parking lot
Left for Lonestar Geyser walk
3:00 geyser erupts
4:45 back to camp
5-7 pm TG and MD sleep while KT reads book non-stop
7:15 dinner

August 2
7:55 Left Grant Village
8:41 Honda Odyssey almost gored by bison
8:56 Tara slaps herself in face, because she has so many bug bites and KT keeps telling her not to scratch.
11:43 Arrive in Cody
12-3 Tara and KT wander, MD writes paper
3:15 Blizzards from DQ
5:15 Chuckwagon cookout
8 Cody Night Rodeo

August 3
7:40 left campsite
11:20 Grand Teton National Park
12 stopped for lunch in a load/unload zone.
12:45 2 pronghorns bolt across the road, while MD is talking with Dad who has a real problem with phone talking and driving.
1:15 set up camp
1:45 attempted nap but can’t because tent is sweltering hot
3 After misc. activities KT and MD ditched TG to go exploring
3:45 Mormon Row – a once vibrant historic district now old houses and barns (including the most photographed barn in America)
4:15 stumble upon herd of bison (approx. 100)
4:21 off roading with TC the VIP
4:37 saw moose
6 watched shootout re-enactment
8 massive thunder, lightening and rain storm
8:30 decided to race storm
8:45 beat thunderstorm back to campsite
9 created “Ghetto Super Tent” (laughing ensues every time MD sings, “Ghetto super tent, that is what you are…)
9:30 storm passed by but a little bit of rain was kept away by our efforts

August 4
9:45 left camp
10:30 started Jenny Lake Hike
12:01 KT gets attacked by a very aggressive chipmunk at Inspiration Point. She keeps repeating “don’t touch me” and “back up off me” while wildly waving bag of sandwiches. He/She eventually gives up and moves on to the next group of tourists. (See KT for different version.)
2:03 Turned around to head back to car
Sometime on the way back: KT’s knee really started bothering her, we saw 3 moose, and eye level child in a back pack said “Hey”, we took the boat back cutting our trip to about a 10 mile hike.
4:53 left Jenny Lake parking lot
5:30 Chapel of the Transfiguration
6 Returned to camp
6:15 TG and KT start fire and make dinner of corn, chicken and broccoli

August 5
8:21 left campsite
8:24 more bison – on each side of road crossing in front
9 Much needed quality breakfast
10:23 cross into Idaho
10:24 KT apologizes for giving MD and TG crap about honking at the state lines (it’s harder than you’d think)
4:15 Arrive at WONDERFUL hotel in Boise

August 6
10:05 leave Boise
10:55 Enter OR – 1st successful honk
11:17 45th parallel – ½ way between equator and North Pole
KT determines the speedometer is correct
1:16 2000 miles
1:18 entered Washington
1:30 rock hits windshield
KT hits 90 MPH
4:12 MD realizes there’s no way we’ll be home by 4:45 (at exit 42 on I-90)
4:59 dog carries other dog in mouth at Green Lake
5 HOME! TG wins guessing game

2252.8 miles driven

Animals:
4 Deer
1 Mullet Man
5 Moose
Dead Fox
Dead Coyote
3 pronghorn
Gray spotted dingo
Bald eagle
Maybe fake bison
Too many bison to count
About 30 ducks
Herd of unknown creatures
Marmot
Herd of elk
Pooping deer
3 dead raccoons (Boise)
3 llamas

Cops:
13 WA
1 ID
3 MT
1 WY
0 OR

10 disgruntled youths

Quotes:
~“Oh man, he’s an old man trapped in Joe’s body.” MD in reference to one of Joe’s song choices.
~”Ugh. Your car beeps a lot…it’s like Safeway.” TG
~ “I know moose like none other.” MD
~”Are you guys playing Would You Rather: STDs?” TG
~”I would also consider this trip a success if we see a velociraptor because I never have before and because Mark’s dog sounds like a velociraptor and I’ve been thinking about them since last Thursday.” MD
~”Minnesota…MINNESOTA!” KT through the open window, guy looks, Megan waves.
~”Baby cow mayhem.” MD at rodeo
~”My goddamn boot split” KT in voice of young cowboy who sulks after his not so good ride.
~”We must now return and report our findings to Barack Obama” MD to explorers (us) as if, like Lewis and Clark, we had been commissioned to discover the great west.
~”You should have woken me up.” TG to MD after MD mentions she’s been awake for 2 hours just laying in the tent.
~”I’m going to the boardroom.” TG while we're waiting for the elevator, we still don't know what she did in there.
~”I’ll be the joke teller.” TG as to what she’ll do while KT and MD drive home from Boise – she told two jokes.

Rest

I was minding my own business at a birthday party on Saturday when somehow it came up that I'm not the best at keeping up with the ole blog so here's an update and a printed intention that I'm going to try to update more often.

This summer was spectacular & just what I needed in terms of rest.

My Mom reminds me that I'm always talking about how tired I am and how my plan for resting is just around the corner and then when the corner comes I'm still busy and I move the resting date to the next corner. Apparently, you can only move that date so many times before you don't have an option any more. June & July were super busy with work and school and because of what was going on in both those arenas I was very stressed. I found myself reactionary to things that normally don't bother me, my stomach was constantly upset, I was having week long headaches and when I would try to go on runs I'd quickly lose stamina and be unable to finish. Very like me, at the time I didn't put all these things together and come to the awareness that something might be going on. It wasn't until I went on vacation that I figured it out.

Kristen, Tara & I went to Wyoming on a road trip. I slept a lot for the first 3 days and on day 5 I realized that I felt like a normal human again; I was excited to go exploring and on a hike, I was having all these ideas of what I could do with the ministries I lead, I was really enjoying articles on Post-Modernism and thinking through how that affects the church, etc. It was great and a part of me that I hadn't experienced in quite some time.

On the last day of the trip, when we'd mostly run out of things to talk about I had a lot of time to think and what I spent quite a bit of thought time around was how to avoid being that tired again. At the time the majority of my ideas revolved around boundaries and making sure I had enough downtime where I really was resting the way my personality needs but right now those ideas are quickly fleeting. The last several weeks have been 50+ hour work weeks and now the students are back and school starts for me on Wednesday. I still think that boundaries have to be the way to go but I don't know what that looks like. So far I've decided on one absolutely free evening a week and intentional scheduling of work, school & fun. I don't know if it will really work but I dread the idea of dragging through things the way I did for the majority of last year.

I have a lot of hope that things will be better this year. This Sunday was the first Sunday back for the students and I was crazy excited to see them all and I had a great time interacting with them, it's probably been at least 2 years since I've been this excited. This is not only an encouraging feeling but also an indicator that so far I'm doing okay in the world of rest. We'll see how I keep it up, I'm definitely motivated.