Heather and Barry's Homepage

My nose was stuffy and my throat itchy when I woke up again today. I hope that whatever bug I have has reached it peak, as today we begin the second leg of our adventure trip, and I would hate for the mucus in my head to delay our hiking, climbing, and paddling.

Barry and I began the packing process after showering, which helped clear my head a bit. We went from room to room to collect all of the belongings (mostly technology equipment) that we had strewn about the house for the past few days. When we were finished packing and almost everything was in the car, Uncle Steve took us to National Camera so that I could purchase a step-up ring. No one told me at the OTHER camera store whose name shall go unmentioned that the lens that I was purchasing for my camera used 62mm filters and lens caps while the lens that came with my camera had 67mm rings. [This only increased my frustration with this store, as I told the man the man who waited on me exactly what I had and was very clear on what I wanted and why. The afore mentioned padded pouch to protect this new almost $200 purchase also came from evil-chain-store, and when I asked him if I could open the package to see if the lens fit, he said no. Well, this is one of the items that I now need to return, which I am not happy about AT ALL.]

The gentleman at National was exactly the opposite. I must have opened at least ten different packages while there (“I repeat, Heather loves to shop.” “Do NOT!” “Do too.”), trying to find a protective bag that would fit my lens, as well as other toys and gadgets that would be helpful for my camera. Every time I asked him his opinion about something other than the step-up ring, he told me why he thought I didn’t need it. As a matter of fact, the one thing he did recommend is the LowePro bag that I bought while at home in Massachusetts, which seems SO far away right now, and Barry and I decided not to bring it for a variety of different reasons. I left a while later with nothing but the $10 item I had originally intended to purchase when entering the store. Right next to National was a Target - the original Target, actually - and I went in to see if I could find an inexpensive tripod, which I did, bought, and got back in to my uncle’s car. We went back to the house for lunch. Aunt Sharon insisted that we take some food with us; she packed us a goodie bag of fruit, bread, hummus, cheese, chips, and other munchies.

We left Plymouth at about 2:30 PM and headed northwest to drive the northern route of I-94. I was excited, as I have never been on this stretch of road before. Unfortunately, due to my brain-dead, not feeling well status, I felt it unsafe to drive, so with Barry’s okay, I sat in the navigator’s seat in a blob-like state for a few hundred miles. At one point we stopped at what was supposed to be an information booth; next to the closed building (as it was after hours) was this rainbow-painted bison. After photographing it, we returned to the interstate.

As we were driving along, I saw the “Continental Divide” sign. Barry, who had missed it, pulled over to the shoulder and drove backward some in order to get some pictures. Yes, folks, I kid you not. Barry was requesting a picture of HIM in front of the sign. While pulled over, Barry encountered his first ever field of sunflowers. It was beautiful, and after some ceremonious finger-triggerness, we got back into the car and drove onward. Eventually, we stopped at Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota. It does exist, even though Barry was uncertain until now. Tired, we wanted to stay in a hotel that cost as little as possible. We booted up Streets and Trips and started working our way down the list of accommodations that it listed in the area. It was unbelievable. Every hotel either didn’t have any non-smoking rooms available or wanted around $90 per night. Yikes! After calling a number of places, Barry decided we’d stay at the Ramada for the evening, as it had the cheapest rates of all of the places we’d called. I suggested that we finish the list, as there were only four more listings, and was confident that one of them would be less expensive, as they were farther away from the main strip. The very next call was the winner.

Closing at 10 (it was 10:30ish when we called), the Colonial Motel and Campground had a room for $40. The man who let us in was nice, said that he usually hates it when people call after hours, but it was okay because he had only recently left the office and made his way to bed. “It’s the people who call at 2:30, 3 AM that really get me.” The room was nice and clean, and only a bit more than we would have paid to camp. It was completely sufficient for a sicky on the road who needed a warm room and a bed to stay for the night. We unpacked, got ready for bed, which included transferring pictures from the internal drive on the computer to the external drive and then burning some CDs, and soon allowed our heads to touch the pillows.