May 28th!

Today was yet another great day in Yellowstone. Besides the fact that I had to work from 6:30 until noon (and my boss, Merlin, is an idiot and is mean for no reason and has no clue what he’s doing), it was an amazing day.

After I got off work, I met up with Spencer while he was on his lunch break and then I picked up Maria-Paula and off we went to explore Yellowstone. She doesn’t have a car, so I drove her around. We started off the day by going to Canyon and checking out the Lower Yellowstone Falls from Inspiration Point and Artists Point. These are great places to see a truly amazing and spectacular waterfall. It’s so huge and the canyon is just full of these yellow and red rocks that have been dyed by the chemicals inside of the thermal features that line the canyon walls.

We then moved onto the Upper Falls near the “Brink of the Upper Falls” region and took some good pictures. We saw an amazing rainbow coming in off of the mist. It was a great time there!

Then we decided that, instead of just going back, we were going to finish up the Grand Loop so I decided to take her down the east side of the park towards Lake (where Nydia, Spencer, Nate, and myself were yesterday). We ate dinner at Lake Hotel then walked down to the lake to take some pictures together.

Then we continued to drive onto home. I mean, there wasn’t a ton that went on today but it was just an awesome day. Later on, the Colombians are teaching me to dance Boganato (no clue how to spell that???) and how to correctly drink Tequila. HaHaHaHa, I really love these kids. They’re so much fun.

It was amazing that out of 6 hours spend with Maria-Paula today, we only have probably 3 minutes of silence the whole trip. We talked about everything and she’s just really cool to talk to. She’s definitely a good friend and I’m going to enjoy getting to know her (and all the Colombians!) throughout the whole summer.

I can’t even explain the talks we had today….but they ranged from poverty in Colombia and Americans trying to help, to September 11th, to a range of other things. It was just a great day! I’m looking forward to so many more good times with all the awesome people I’ve met.

Keep me in your prayers and you shall all be in mine!!!!

More and More Updates!

May 27th, 2007

Today I had to call off work because I was sick (ok, so maybe I partied a little too hard with my Colombian friends the night before)! It felt really good to finally be able to sleep in and not have to worry about working from 6:30-11:30. I mean, the shift isn’t bad at all. It’s only 5 hours, but my boss, Merlin, has been an idiot lately and just sits there and makes fun of the other employees behind their backs and I don’t find that really cool. I believe if you have a problem you need to tell the person to their face instead of just making fun of them.
But, today Spencer, Nate, Nydia, and myself did the Mystic Falls hike. It had just opened in the past couple of days, so everyone here has been really excited to do it. This hike is a 4-mile loop trail back through the Biscuit Basin, a little north of Old Faithful area on the Grand Loop.
The trail starts out on boardwalk and then cuts off on a trail to continue the loop. You can take one of two ways. The first takes you up a steep switchback trail to an observation point. We made sure that we took a ton of pictures up there and threw some rocks off of the cliff and watched them shatter when they hit the ground.
We then continued on through a regenerated lodgepole pine forest (a majority of the forests in the park were destroyed in 1988 by a fire that burned throughout most of the park. This fire was started mainly by lightning, but also by careless campers) until finally descending down upon Mystic Falls. It was awesome to see a big waterfall that also had thermal features popping up all around it. We took the opportunity to take pictures and continued on to a point where we could just go sit by the creek for a little while and talk.
After our hike, we went back and grabbed lunch at the Geyser Grill (like our form of McDonald’s at the Old Faithful area), filled up on gas, and then continued on down to Yellowstone Lake, Lake Area, and Fishing Bridge. We were really just scoping out the area and took a short walk down along a volcanic sandbar that jutted out into the lake. The water was very very cold, although I am still going to go swimming someday just to say I did it (like I did 6 years ago when I was here last).
Got back from our journey to the lake, Nydia had to go to work so I took a nap. I missed a meeting that I had to attend, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. Then I went and played pool at the Pub for a couple hours with Julio, Spencer, Matt, and a kid named Thomas from Washington. I also met 2 more Colombian’s. Their names are Camillo and Ana. They, much like the rest of them, are from Bogotá (which is the capital of Colombia). They invited me over tomorrow night for Tequila and Salsa dancing, which should be fun. They don’t work for Xanterra; they work for Delaware North, which is the company that runs the Yellowstone General Stores.
After that, I walked back with Julio and hung out with him, Jefferson, and Sebastian for a little bit. Then I sat in the break room and talked with Crystal, Jessica, Ben, and some others for a while. Now here I am! Tired as hell, but tomorrow should be a great day!

Keep me in your prayers and you’ll all be in mine! God bless!

May 25-26

I just managed to get a few minutes to come online and I decided to bring noone else with me so this way I can just surf the internet for a little bit and get a dose of some technology.

Pretty much nothing big has happened since you last heard from me. It's been very cold and snowy these past few days, so I have spent a lot of time just hanging out with friends. I've made a ton of them and, honestly (and not to piss off anyone at home!!) they're becoming some of the best friends that I ever have met! It's awesome to have met people from all over the world. I've made friends from Poland, France, Jamaica, Latvia, Ukraine, Moldova (???), and especially Colombia.

Let me tell you all something about these kids from Colombia. I have been hanging out with these kids so and we all go to the pub together and spend, pretty much, every waking minute together. The ones I am closest too are named Jefferson, Carlos, Julio, Sebastian, Diana, Catalina, Nydia, and Maria-Paula.

I took them out the other night for a midnight snowball fight on the continental divide...but mostly we just sit and talk. I've been learning many Spanish phrases and I like it. I think it's funny.

For those who are wondering...yes, I have met a girl. Her name is Maria-Paula. Most nights we just sit up talking until about 4 am (which sucks when I have to be up at 6 am most mornings for work), but, even with the culture barrier, I have never met someone that is so similar to me. We are both practicing Christians, we like a lot of the same music and activities...it's just been really funny. I know that in 3 months I'll come back to Pittsburgh and she'll go back to Colombia but for now it's really nice to be able to just sit and talk with someone without a care in the world.

On Monday, Maria-Paula and I are going out and I'm going to show her parts of the park (like the Lower Falls and Inspiration Point) because she doesn't have a car here. We're also going to go out to dinner at one of the restaurants at Canyon, which I am really looking forward to!

It's also cool that all the Colombians are really really good dancers (when I say dance I don't mean like bumping and grinding, I mean like Dirty Dancing Havana Nights type of dancing)! Last night they threw some Colombian music on the stereo and just started dancing. I, unfortunately, did not because it was late and I was tired...but Maria-Paula said it is her goal this summer to teach me to dance. And I like that :-) (Maybe I can show you some skills when I get back)

Other than that, I've just been working. Xanterra offered me an internship next summer organizing recreation programs and there is also a chance of me being promoted to shift supervisor pretty soon. My bosses are all really cool...I was actually partying with 2 of them the other night. They are pretty crazy!

I'm really enjoying myself and am having the time of my life! I cannot think of a better way to spend my summer. I do miss all of you, but to be able to live this dream and to live with such amazing people...it is prob. one of the most amazing feelings I have ever felt. I feel free and, for one of the first times in my life, entirely happy (although tired from all the work!!!!)

I am learning so much about myself and who I am as a person. I am becoming a stronger person both mentally and physically. I have energy, I have a purpose, and I cannot think of a better way to spend the next 3 months of my life. I love meeting new people, jamming on the guitar, going hiking, watching geysers go off, and just hanging out with awesome friends.

Even though we've only known each other for 1 1/2 weeks, it feels like a lifetime. To live, work, eat, sleep, and play with these people...you get to know them like they are your family. Their problems are yours and you share so much. I love this.

As always, keep me in your prayers and you shall be in mine!

More and More Updates! (May 24, 2007)

May 19-21

Oh the days are definitely still crazy in Yellowstone. Xanterra has all of us working crazy hours that I’m really not excited about. It’s about 55-60 hours a week of standing in an ice cream shop with half of the machines being broken, so customers aren’t really all that happy, but it’s not prime tourist season yet so it’s been pretty slow.
We are still doing a ton of hiking and the other night Matt, Jessica, Ingrid, and myself went to West Yellowstone for the night. This is kind of a drab down right outside the West Gate to Yellowstone in Montana. It seemed to have about a thousand hotels and gas stations and not much else, but we did manage to make it to a few stores before they all closed. I had to get some much needed supplied since pretty much everything that Xanterra and Yellowstone General Stores sells is about 3 times the price as at home (Gas is about $3.40).
Yesterday, Matt, Jessica, Tanner, and myself took it upon ourselves (since we got out of work early due to a broken ice cream machine) to do the Ice Lake/Wolf Lake loop hike. The bugs were crazy around the lake and (after a few wrong turns) we emerged on top of the hill above Ice Lake only to be blasted by a hail/snow storm that lasted for the next 25 minutes. Needless to say, none of us had any rain gear with us.
After a little more hill climbing and fording some rivers, we came to Lower Gibbon Falls. Set below regenerating Lodgepole Pine forests, this set of falls is big and loud. I swear it seemed to be at least 70-80 foot down. We continued to hike down to a meadow where we came across 3 elk, a swamp (I had tennis shoes on and not my Gore-Tex boots so my feet got wet), and 2 of the biggest bison I’ve ever seen in my life. Quickly after this the hike was over, but this wonderful 4.2-mile hike is definitely worth an afternoon, even with all the bugs!
Today (May 21), Matt, Jessica, and myself all had the day off together, so we took it as a great opportunity to do some hiking! We started out the day at Old Faithful visitor center to ask the ranger where to go and finally decided to hike the Slough (pronounced “slew”) Creek Trail through the Lamar Valley in the northeast part of the park. Our timing was not the greatest and the first 2 1/2 miles of the hike were spent on a road trying to get to the trailhead (due to wolf activity they’re trying to keep automobile traffic down in the area). After finally getting to the trailhead, we began a quick 500 foot climb to the top of the mountain (not sure exactly what it was called), but after this climb we descended down into the valley that has Slough Creek running through it.
It’s hard to see the creek while coming down through the woods, but after hitting the valley floor we were quickly in awe at the mountains surrounding us and the meadows and river valley that we would spend the next few hours hiking in. Continuing on the trail, we came across a huge bison sitting along the trail chewing on his cud in close proximity to the backcountry ranger cabins. We decided this was worth a picture because of the size of this monster.
We also came across a dead fox with a radio collar on it, but we didn’t know what to do about a carcass with a radio collar so we left it be for the backcountry rangers to find. We hiked a little past the 5 Km. sign and then, after looking through my field guide to find out what certain wildflowers and varmint were that we were seeing, took the hike back to the car. 12 miles after leaving the car, we were back…tired…but still doing extremely well after a wonderful day of hiking through Lamar Valley. I definitely recommend this hike to anyone looking for a nice 3-4 hour hike.
All in all, we saw tons of elk and bison, 4 black bear (a sow & 2 cubs and then an additional one just walking down the road), a pronghorn antelope, some ground squirrels, some sort of hawk catching some thermals on the mountains above Slough Creek, and people were watching the Lamar wolf dens, but we couldn’t see any of these. It was an awesome day, but I definitely am so tired and ready for bed.
It’s tough working 10-hour days and then hiking 3-4 miles every day and then, on my day off, doing a 12-mile hike…but living in Yellowstone you have to take advantage of the opportunities that surround you. You have to take advantage of all that you are offered because not many people can say that they have had the chance to live in the world’s first national park for 3 months. As always, keep me in your prayers and you’ll be in mine!

May 22-24, 2007

Well it’s been another few crazy days here! I finally started working at the Bakery, which has me getting up at 6 am and working 6:30 until 1 pm. It’s not a bad shift, although we’re really busy with all the tourists wanting some sort of breakfast. But I can’t complain. There is talk of me being able to take on a supervisor position. My supervisor is going to recommend to his boss that I become a supervisor because of my experience, hard work, and positive attitude. That would be great! It’d be a pay raise and some more responsibility.
On the 22nd, Matt, Ingrid, myself (and eventually Tanner) decided to hike the Delacy Creek Trail to Shoshone Lake. This is a nice 6-mile hike down through a lodgepole forest that eventually opens up onto a meadow with Delacy Creek winding its way down through until eventually pouring out into Shoshone Lake. The hike was fun…but was made harder by the fact that it had been snowing all day. We received 4 inches of snow that day and it was so freezing cold! We didn’t really get a chance to see a ton of wildlife on this hike (I think all we saw was a quail), but the scenery was great. It was made even better by the snow falling all around us.
I’m tired. That’s logging 22-miles worth of hiking and 20 hours of working over the past 3 days. I am so dead tired, but I must say that I find myself having way more energy than I have ever had. I’m just so awake and ready to face the world. I’ve definitely been getting in shape and find myself being able to do a lot of things that before would have caused me to tire out quickly. I really enjoy being able to get out. Fishing season opens on the 26th, so I cannot wait to get out with my friends!
More and more workers are arriving every single day. I met a kid who goes to Grove City College today and is working doing ministry in the national parks. He seems pretty cool. There are definitely a ton of Colombians working with us and I’ve managed to become pretty good friends with a group of them. We hang out pretty much every night and last night we went out really late and had a snowball fight on the continental divide. They don’t really get a chance to go out because none of them have cars here and they work all the time. They are so cool and they are teaching me some general Spanish so that I can get by with simple phrases.
It’s funny to watch all the drama playing itself out here. People hooking up everywhere, little relationships coming and going, etc. You all know how it goes. I’m trying to stay out of it, but I can’t lie. I’ve met some really awesome people and some people I really enjoy hanging out with.
My family comes out in the middle of June and I cannot wait to see them! I’ve seen so much stuff already that I cannot wait for them to see. It’s a totally different feel to live in the park than it is to just visit like we did 6 years ago. We get to see all the places the tourists never have a chance to see.
I’m in the process of filling out an application for volunteering with the National Park Service to do security and stuff around the geysers. That’d be really cool because eventually it’d be nice to work for them for a while.
I must say that coming out here was the best decision I ever made. It’s hard work but it is definitely paying off. I can’t imagine a better way to spend my summer or better people to be spending the next 3 months with.
I can receive calls and texts (no photo texts though) so I really would appreciate hearing from you all! It’s a 2-hour time difference (I’m 2 hours behind you all), so make sure you account for that!
I’m really sick of seeing bison, but the bison traffic jams are starting already (though the park service says the numbers are really low for this time of year). I’ve seen a ton of elk still every single day (yet another animal I’m sick of seeing). It’s my goal to see wolves, grizzly bears, and some moose (saw some 6 years ago, but I love seeing them so I want to see more). It’s awesome to see such huge animals just roaming free and living in their natural environment.
One thought that constantly bothers me, though, is the same idea I wrote my H.S. Senior Paper on. Tourists are loving the National Parks to death. Look to the right on this page and you see Morning Glory Pool. Brilliant colors…but barely noticeable anymore. Thanks to the millions of tourists that see this thermal feature every year and decide to throw a ‘lucky penny” or other garbage into it, the NPS has now issued a sign at the pool that says “Fading Glory”. The colors are no longer as strong, which is this way in many of the other pools all over the area.
Geysers have been stopped due to trash being thrown into the hole and many animals have been hit by cars speeding throughout the park, especially at night. I understand that people are enjoying the chance to see a vast “wilderness”, but with the millions of visitors that come every year, I believe Yellowstone is becoming a tourist trap. It’s no longer about preservation/conservation, but it’s about how people can make the most money. Everything here is extremely expensive and there are people everywhere. It’s good to see people enjoying the outdoors, but also sad to see what this landscape has become.
A question to ponder: Should the National Park Service put a cap on how many people are allowed in certain national parks throughout the year?

Once again, keep me in your prayers and you all shall be in mine. I love you all.

Another update! (May 17-18, 2007)

Ok, the workdays here are like scarily long! We're totally understaffed here so we're putting in 6 days a week, 11 hours a day...but everything I get to do outside of work has made up for it.
I've made a really good group of friends out here. They're from Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, and all around. I originally started out working in the pantry doing prep cooking in Old Faithful Lodge. With this job, I pretty much just made 350 salads, 150 sandwiches, and cut tons of melons all day long. BUT!!!!!!! I found out that I wasn't supposed to be put there so they moved me to the Bakery/Ice Cream Shop in Old Faithful Lodge and this is a lot better! I get to work with my friend Jess (an outdoor rec major from Minnesota) and it's just a lot of fun. I get to walk around now (cause I also bus tables) and don't have to stand in one place.
I'm actually very sick of seeing Old Faithful go off. After the 15th time, it just gets old. HaHa. Work gets very busy right after the geyser ends, they called it the Geyser Rush.
But enough about work, I'm having an awesome time. The past 2 days, after working for 11 hours, my friends and I all went out and did 3-4 miles of hiking. I can't say I'm not tired, but these views are amazing. It's scary to be hiking thru the woods and come across a bison and calf (they're very protective of their young), elk, and come across back country thermal pools (the ground around these pools can be only 2 inches thick and you can fall in and get burned b/c they are about over 250 degrees).
Today we hiked to the Keplar Cascades and hiked down some of the cliffs and it was just a great day. We had a good time and hiked back after dark. Tried to do it without a headlamp, but we got to a spot where the bison where so I decided to turn my lamp on eventually. It's just gorgeous views and I'm going to try to get my pictures up within the next few days. I have Monday off so I'll try to get on, but Matt, Jess, and myself are going hiking in Lamar Valley looking for wolves and bears. They call it the Serengeti of the United States.

Just know I'm enjoying myself eventually and spending a lot of time with good people. Yesterday we sat by Castle Geyser as it went off and Ingrid, Matt, and myself just talked for an hour about everything. It's been so much fun!

So keep me in your prayers and I'll keep you in mine! God Bless!

Updates from Yellowstone!!

May 15, 2007

So Shane and I, having finally arrived in Gardiner the night before, found ourselves at the door leading into Xanterra’s Check-In point. At this point, a million and half thoughts are running through my head. You can imagine what would be running through a 20 year old’s brain at this point in time…I’m 2,000 miles away from home, I have just traveled all the way across the country with my twin brother, I’m going to be gone for 3 months and will not see my family. Needless to say, my mind was totally racing.
At the check-in (which they hadn’t received my paperwork that my mom had overnight Fed-Ex’d a week ago!), the employees began hounding on Shane because he was going back to Pittsburgh and wouldn’t be spending the summer in Yellowstone. They said they had open spots and that he could easily sign up and work here for the summer. I guess it wasn’t for him.
All that check-in stuff was boring. Got an employee card and uniforms, filled out more paperwork, attended an orientation session in Mammoth, ate lunch at the EDR (employee dining room) with Shane (we bought him a coupon for a few bucks). After all that, it was time to head down to Old Faithful area to check in.
There really was not a lot going on for me today after this point. I checked in, got Shane situated so he could stay in my room for the night, moved all my stuff into my dorm (Columbine) and then just began to meet a bunch of cool people. Shane and I went hiking around the geyser basin and just enjoyed seeing some of the wildlife.
We ate dinner at the Old Faithful Inn and just really took in the sights of such an amazing building. I’ve heard it said it’s the largest wooden structure ever built. If you haven’t seen this building, it is huge. It seems to have about 7 stories, all made out of logs (it’s a huge log cabin, looks “Adirondack” if you know what that means). There are all these little nooks and crannies with which you can hide yourself away and lounge on these chairs. There is also a huge stone fireplace (it actually has 4 fireplaces in it). We also grabbed some ice cream and then I talked to some of the National Park Service rangers about volunteering with them so that I can get some experience with them (seeing as how I’m a Parks and Resource Management major, it would help to have a foot in with the park service).
After it got dark, Shane and I took a walk down by the creek with Tanner (from Texas) and Matt (Iowa) who were some guys that I met during the training today. They’re really nice guys and Matt is a really good Christian and so we had some good conversations about that. We were watching a mother bison and her calf play down near the creek. On our walk we met up with some other guys and heard that there was a bonfire being held by some people in our dorm, so we went to that for a little bit. There was a guitar player and a man on a drum playing together and it sounded so cool (like an African tribal type music). After this, we just pretty much went to bed.

May 16, 2007

Today I began my official training. It started at 8:30 in the morning with some safety training over in the Employee Pub. This was really boring, but I got to meet some awesome people. We then moved over to Old Faithful Lodge to continue more specific training for our jobs. I got placed in the pantry doing prep cooking. The work sucks, but the people I’m working with are really great. I’m working with my roommate, Nate (Minnesota), and other people: Brooks (Michigan), Dan (New York), Ingrid (Iowa). They’re all really cool and I enjoyed getting a chance to talk to them all day long.
They served us prime rib for lunch because they’re testing out some recipes and making sure that all the different cafeteria stations know how to do their jobs. I met a really awesome girl named Jessica, who is a recreation major at a college in Michigan, but is from Minnesota. She was interesting to talk to because we’re studying the same thing at school and are interested in a ton of the same activities.
Work pretty much sucked. I cut cakes, plated them, wrapped them, and stored them. I also did fruit cups, salads, etc. I’m going to be asking for a change of position soon. I really would like something that allows some sort of interaction with the guests (with this job I’m stuck in the back of the kitchen).
After work (and returning all my phone calls from the day), Shane, Matt, Nate, and myself drove 2 hours down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was a great drive down through Yellowstone, the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Highway, and Grand Teton National Park (which we got some great pictures!!) We dropped Shane off at his hotel, after driving around Jackson for a little bit not being able to find a hotel. This town is really neat! It’s a lot bigger than I thought it was and a few of us are going to spend some of our long weekends down there. There seems to be a lot to do. It’s a bigger town with theatres, stores, malls, outdoor recreation stuff, and a lot more. I think it’d be awesome to spend at least 2-3 days there exploring the town.
On the way back, after dinner at Wendy’s, I almost hit a whole herd of elk. We were driving back through Grand Teton National Park (and yes, I’ll admit I was going way too fast), when I heard Matt scream “Stop!” I look ahead in my headlights and I see 8 elk crossing the road. I slam on the brakes and the tires start squealing, the anti-lock breaks click in, and we finally come to a stop about 2 feet from one of the cow elks. Close call.
We continued the drive just talking the whole way. They’re really great guys and I had a good time talking with them. Easy to talk to and I can see them becoming really good friends this summer. Now here I sit in my bed. It’s 11:55 and I need to be up at 8:30 to continue some training and get to work. So for now...goodnight! Keep me in your prayers and I’ll be sure to keep you all in mine! God Bless!

May 14th, 2007 (Arrive in Yellowstone!)

Today was yet another day on the road! Leaving Rapid City, SD early in the morning, Shane was yet again driving to start out the day (is anyone noticing a trend here??). He drove for a good amount of the day and I began driving once we hit Montana.

We stopped at a really crazy rest stop today. It was literally a store in the middle of nowhere with old fashioned gas pumps and it was also a motel and RV park. Totally crazy. This was somewhere in Wyoming and it started to turn really cold. While yesterday was really hot, today was in the 60's and it turned colder the more we got into the mountains.

It was awesome today witnessing real ranch cowboys herding their cattle from horseback, cattle blocking the roads, pronghorn antelope all over the place, and (I especially like this one) the exits off of the highway that are just dirt roads with cattle grates so that the cattle won't run onto Interstate 90.

We finally arrived at the exit off of I-90 and turned south on 89 which took us all the way into the happening town of Gardiner, Montana. It's a small town that you can tell was really meant for tourists. Checked into a Best Western on the outskirts of town, found out where I'm supposed to check in tomorrow, and then headed into the park (got Shane and I in free because I'm a Xanterra employee). We stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs and took some pictures and then proceeded to drive into the park some more.

We got out and saw some elk, some bison, and some guy saw a grizzly bear but we didn't see that one. Got some great pictures and we even got to throw snowballs! The mountains still have a lot of snow and it's really cold out.

Right now it's about 10 pm (mountain time) and is probably in the low 40's or maybe even the 30's. Who knows!

We ate dinner at a really nice restaurant in Gardiner called the Yellowstone Mine. Had some good chicken and fish and then just came back here to crash. It's been a long 3 days of driving, but finally the real adventure begins in the park. It's gonna be up early for us tomorrow, checking in, driving to Old Faithful and unloading all my gear. Shane might head into Idaho for the day and I'm going to do whatever I need to do for Xanterra tomorrow.

May 13th, 2007

I’m having to update the blog a little later than I actually type it due to the fact that the wireless internet here at the hotel isn’t really working, but as I am typing this I am sitting in the AmericInn Hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota. Shane and I arrived here earlier this evening after a long day of driving from last nights stop in Onalaska, Wisconsin.

Today we trucked all the way across Minnesota and most of South Dakota. Both of these are fairly boring states for the most part (of course I can’t say much for Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, or Ohio either…what can I say, Pennsylvania born and raised). We saw way too much tumble weed and witness way too many bugs hitting our windshield, which Shane took it upon himself to be the official “bug scraper” of the day. The drive was fairly routine. Interstate 90 was very flat, straight, and boring for most of the day…we would crest a hill only to find another 20 miles of flatness and straightness…it makes “cruise control” become a blessing from God.

Shane again started out the driving, but I eventually took over when we hit South Dakota. This part of the drive was hot. It was around 90 degrees today and in the car (2004 Ford Escape) the gas mileage sucks if you use the air conditioning, so we road windows down at 80 mph for a good part of the day (Did I mention that the highway speed limits here are 75 mph? So cool).

After a lot of driving, we stopped at Wall Drug, which is the biggest tourist trap I’ve ever been in, but I still find it a necessity to stop. It’s a spot where in the 1800’s during the gold rush and people moving out west, a family came and dug a well. Out of this well they would supply travelers with fresh water for free. Today it is little shops and candy stores, but you can still get your free ice water (and 5 cent coffee!) so Shane and I made sure we stopped here.

After that little endeavor, we headed into the Badlands, but turned around once we found out they wanted 15.00 to enter the park and that this little detour was actually an additional 95 miles added to our trip. We’ve been to the Badlands before, but still managed to see parts of it today (as well as our first Pronghorn and Prairie Dogs of the trip!)

Then came more driving until we got to Rapid City (which is a bustling town of over 60,000 people which suddenly pops up on your after driving for 6 hours with nothing more than the occasional gas station and dirt road). We checked into our hotel, making sure to use our AAA discount this time (sorry mom), and then headed to Mount Rushmore. It was awesome to pass all the sites we had seen 6 years ago while traveling through this area…things like Bear Country, USA Wildlife Park, Mystery Mountain Campground (where we stayed in 2000 with the Flamos’s), Crazy Horse Monument, and other things.

Finally coming upon Mt. Rushmore, we found out that tonight was the first night that they were lighting it up for the season! We didn’t feel like staying for an hour and a half, so we took our pictures (saw some mountain goats too!), walked through the museum and read a ton of stuff, and off we went. We purchased a yearlong entrance pass, which is helpful as I’ll be coming back through this way in August and will be sure to stop!

Xanterra runs the concessions at Mt. Rushmore too, so I managed to get my first view of the trip into Xanterra operations, uniforms, etc (can’t say the uniforms are good looking by any means). At this point, dinner came at a 24 hour Perkins, then the hot tub and the pool…and here I am now. Shane’s reading the new AP Magazine about Anberlin and I’m typing and playing around with some photos.

I’m missing my family today. It’s only Day 2, but I don’t like being away from them…especially my mom on Mother’s Day. I really love my parents and I thank them for giving me the financial needs to make this trek out west. I really think they’re the best. They try so hard to give us everything they can, while also teaching us the value of working hard for what you get.

Listening to music today, I came across a Rodney Atkins song entitled “Watching You” that goes:

“I wear cowboy boots and camo pants. We’re just alike…Ain’t we Dad? I wanna do everything you do because I’ve been watching you. I’ve been watching you Dad, Ain’t that cool? I’m your buckaroo, I wanna be like you…”

It’s a great song and really got me thinking about this whole trip. My dad hitchhiked out west in the 1970’s and here I am, 30 years later at 20 years old, driving 2000 miles across the country with my twin brother…seeing the sites and experiencing a ton of things that I’m sure my dad did when he did his trip.

It makes me really think about how much I look up to my parents. I think they’re the greatest people I know and I really miss them so much. I know this is going to be a great experience for me, but already I can’t help but miss home. This is such a step out of my comfort zone, but I need to do this in order to grow. I’m 20 years old and it’s time to find out exactly who I am and what I want out of life.

As usual, keep me in your prayers and you shall all be in mine. Getting into God’s country…some beautiful lands and I’m thanking Him everyday for these gifts and talents He’s given me and for the great land He’s blessed us all with. I advise everyone to save up and just drive across the country…it’s amazing the things you’ll discover.

First day on the road!

So today began the first day of our 1,900 mile drive across the country. Shane and I left Harmony today around 8 am. He began driving and, for anyone who knows me well, I slept for the first 4 hours. Something about being in a moving vehicle puts me to sleep.

Ohio was very very boring as usual. Just a straight boring driving and passing the occasional weird person. I saw a lady driving dressed up as a pirate.

For being a Saturday, we still hit major traffic when we got to Chicago. It took us about an hour to travel 5 miles, but Chicago is a good looking city right on the lake so we enjoyed looking at it while stuck in the great concrete jungle.

Shane drove till about 6 pm. Don't ask me why he drove for 10 hours, but he did. He said he enjoys driving, so I let him go! We finally stopped for dinner and a quick Wal-Mart run (trying to get a better iPod radio thingy) in Beloit, Wisconsin. Kinda a drab town that reminds me way too much of Cranberry Twp, PA. The people there were extremely weird and had weird accents. They kept looking at us (it could have been the Penn State and Pittsburgh gear that we were wearing).

I took over the driving after Beloit. We passed a lot of stuff I remember from our cross country trek 6 years ago, especially a gas station where my mom and Patty Flamos got hit on by a very dirty old trucker. Good memories.

So as of now, we're sitting in La Crosse, Wisconsin in the Baymont Hotel. Watching TV and just chilling......you shall all be hearing from me soon! I can promise you that one! There's a storm rolling in over the plains and it's dark and windy. We're just gonna hunker down for the night and enjoy our rest after a looong first day.

Hoping to make it to Rapid City, South Dakota tomorrow. It'll be about 13 hours of driving, but the driving here is easy. For now, Peace!

Pray for our safety and our strength in this journey and for me throughout the summer! I will be praying for all of you back home. Love you all!

The time is drawing near!

Well, it's almost about that time to up and leave home for 3 months. I'll be leaving Saturday...about 4 days away. It seems that noone else is driving out with Shane and I and he's not going to be meeting up with Josh, so he's going to hang around Yellowstone for a couple of days and then I'll take him up to Bozeman, Montana and he can fly home out of there.

I'm so terrified and so nervous about going. It seems at some points I don't even want to go, but I know it's just nerves. I need to just leave and get out there. Experience all that this wonderful land has to offer. I know it's going to be hard to leave home...to leave all that I know and love, but in the long scheme of things, it's only 3 months. But at times I look at it and it seems like "Wow, 3 months. Thats a very long time". I'm hoping it will fly by. Not because I want to get out there and then just come home, but because I want to be having fun, meeting new people, and enjoying myself...knowing that I have a ton of stuff to look forward to when I get home.

I've been preparing my tents and camping gear. I'm taking a 3 person dome tent and a single person Eureka Solitaire backpacking tent. I'm really excited to get to do some overnight hikes. I think it'll be a good time. I got a new digital camera and have been taking some great pictures. Got a new cell phone b/c my old one was becoming really crappy.

There's so much changing, but I'm looking forward to this adventure. I'll be moving away, then when I come home I start a new school...just sooo many new things going on. But I've been putting my faith into God. Been spending a lot of time in prayer and in the Word to just see exactly what He has in store for my life. There's moments where you look at your surroundings...sitting on a mountain top or next to a quiet stream...and you just cannot deny the fact that there is a creator. A man who loves each of us so much and I'm looking forward to spending some time in His wonderful gifts.