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4601 miles

Follette was his name.

4563 miles

4 hour canoe trip on the river. 8 canoes, 23 people aged 2 to 65. Beaitufil day, wonderful recreational river varying in depth from no feet to maybe seven. A good depth to take kids on in case the canoe capsizes.

Like we did! Everyone went ashore for a little fishing and stretching. As we shoved off on the way out, we tipped. We’re not sure how, but it was pretty quick. The water was waist deep at most, but that’s our waist, not Fred and Angus. Their life jackets were thoroughly attached but the were still fully dunked and terrified.

It was all fine in the end, if a harrowing 30 seconds, a chilly few minutes, and a long hour a the two kids (understandably) cried and whined as we continued paddling to the end. But they had mostly calmed down by the end, and are perfectly fine now.

The river is one pair of sunglasses richer, but all else was saved.

4406 miles
67 degrees

A perfect diversion. 2 miles off the road a state park surrounding a lake. We pulled off to have a picnic of the grapes and strawberries we bought earlier, along with the crate of food being carted across the US.

4352 miles

This highway has to be in the top 5 most beautiful I’ve driven. Off the top of my head others in contention are the road through oak creek canyon, a few in Oregon i’d have trouble finding again, and the former US 666 in Arizona.

And we just passed into Yellowstone National Park. This is incredible.

. . .

Turns out 666 is now 191. If you had 2 or 3 weeks to spare a north to south run on 191 would be great trip.

4234 miles

It’s good to be back in the West. I’m staring at large, dramatic, snow covered peaks ahead. I missed the mountains

Cassandra drove almost all night, a solid five hour chunk while I crashed in the back. I’m normally on for the graveyard shift and this was a very welcome change.

3861 miles

Car just pased 83000 miles. We also just passed Spearfish, home of our fresh new high school physics teacher. He was so cool, in fact, I can only remember his first name, Brian. He was also our Knowledge Bowl coach, but that topic will be covered in the next installment of “just how big of a nerd was Brett in high school?”

3275 miles

Cool park. Wish it were smaller. I’m tired.

3275 miles

Cool park. Wish we had one.

3590 miles

Bug are so thick it sounds like rain. Should have packed a squegee.

3446 miles

There are definate advatanges of getting off the interstate now and then. More scenic, more leisurely, more disruptive road construction.