Home of Toto

On Monday afternoon Eric stopped by the coffee house to tell me he had a job driving to Kansas to pick up a piece of equipment and could I get off work early and go with him?  Well, not much will keep me, The Road Trip Queen, from going.  My boss was fine with it, so I raced home and packed up some food and all my laundry (I’ll go to great lengths to avoid doing laundry in Watford City).  We got to Rapid City, SD around midnight.

The next day we drove through the Black Hills of South Dakota and on into Nebraska where we followed the Platt River and crossed the Oregon Trail.  We knew we were in Kansas when the road became rollercoaster-like.  (They don’t do road cuts but rather follow the lay of the land).  It’s been said that Kansas is so flat you can watch your dog run away for a week.  Well, maybe in a few parts of Kansas, but having just driven from the NW corner to the SE corner, I can tell you it’s mostly rolling hills, lots of creeks, beautiful hardwood forests, charming old towns and tidy farms.

Oddly, one of my favorite parts of the day was the laundromat in Parsons, KS.  It was old, but clean, spacious and empty.  Normally, I hate going to the laundromat, but this day I rather enjoyed it because now I knew what a truly nasty one was like (Watford City’s).  I got chatting with the attendant—she was born in Wallace, ID, graduated from Kellogg High and has family in Hayden and Coeur d’Alene, ID.  What are the chances?  Anyway, I was happily folding my six loads when Eric pulled up—perfect timing!

Heading back, we saw lots of miniature oil pumps, just five feet tall, pumping away in farmer’s fields.  They’re really cute and apparently have been around since the turn of the century.  Eric loves old machinery and wanted one bad, but we decided to not buy a lawn ornament right now.  J

Into the night we drove on the dark, featureless highway, coming into each little town, shining like a beacon with Christmas decorations and streetlights.  As I studied the map, I noticed a tiny dot near the Nebraska border.  We were going right by that dot, so we got to stand on the geographic center of the United States of America!  Woohoo!!  Not only that, it was on the Winter Solstice!  I think we get bonus points for that. (Scroll down for the exciting photos).

Another Super 8 stay, another continental breakfast, and we set off on the final leg of our trip through an inch of snow as the sun rose behind us.  Going through South Dakota, we saw hundreds of beaver mounds including one with a beaver sitting on top of it, which was a pretty cool sighting on a trip full of wildlife sightings. Besides the beaver, we saw buffalo, antelope, a coyote, deer, lots of hawks , plus skunks and raccoons.  Ok, the buffalo were in a feed lot and those last two were dead, but hey.

I’ll close now as we cross the border into North Dakota.  The sun is low, our shadow is long, and we have five hours left before we are done.  It’s been a good trip—I checked two more states off my list—just six left! 

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Progress at Last!

You would think time would creep by if you were living in a camper with those four walls so very close.  Surprisingly that’s not the case.  I’ve been so busy, the days just fly.  I’ve been doing clerical tasks for both Eric and Joey, along with projects on the camper, and of course,  cooking.  On Saturday, Eric and his truck finally got hired to haul frac  water tanks.  Frac water is used to fracture the shale rock so the oil can be extracted. 

 The tanks look like a shipping container but with a set of wheels and they hold about 400 barrels of water. (They are hauled empty).  They are then filled by yet another kind of truck called a vac truck which is a tanker that holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons.  I heard on NPR that the average well rig requires about 2000 semi-truck trips, 800 of which are for water!  

While Eric was gone from the afternoon to the wee hours, I put up Christmas decorations while listening to “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and sipping Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea by Celestial Seasonings (what exactly is “natural sugar cookie flavor”?)  I made a batch of Perfect Cocoa Brownies from thecomfortofcooking.com and happily amused myself by surfing foodgawker.com and Facebook.  It’s amazing how many hours pass in front of the computer, isn’t it?  For once it was still outside and the moon shone in the clear, cold sky.  Eric finally rolled in at 4:30 am, tired but happy. 

I just got hired at a little coffee house called Raw Energy (thanks for the intro, Joey!)  It has nice atmosphere with a yoga room and spinning classroom in the back…who knew?  I’ll be working  two days a week , and Pam, the owner, said she would work with me on the schedule should I be hired at a neighboring restaurant that I’m applying at tomorrow.

So now Eric and I are employed (if just partially) and are now thinking that it really was a good idea to come to North Dakota.  After a month and a half, the pieces are starting to fall into place and we are starting to feel like a part of the community.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a first day on the job, and I’m pretty happy about it.  Wish me luck!

Road Trip With a Bonus

After hugging the cats, I took one more look around the house and locked it up.  I climbed into my trusty Subaru, heavily packed with supplies and culinary treasures (yay for Trader Joe’s and Costco!).  With Crash and Gabby yawning and lounging on the sunny front porch, I sighed and pulled out of the driveway.  Eric had gone ahead to finish loading the semi’s flatbed trailer with building supplies and a skid-steer loader.  I caught up with him in Worley, ID and we caravanned through the golden wheat country and down the Kendrick grade to the Clearwater River and the little town of Kooskia.

We arrived just after dark to find our friend Frank waiting with his excavator to help us load a 20 foot container onto the flatbed, then put the car inside of it.  With teamwork and Frank’s operating skill, we finished around 9:00.  Frank’s wife Debi had a hearty spaghetti dinner waiting for us, plus we got to visit their darling son, now 6.  He had grown so much in three years!  A long hot shower and comfy bed were so appreciated, especially knowing what lay ahead.

In the morning we had breakfast and said our goodbyes.  I hated to leave their warm friendship and beautiful home, but I climbed up into the ol’ Freightliner, gave Eric a grin and a thumbs up, and off we went down the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway (Hwy 12).  We passed a highway sign that had a winding arrow and said next 77 miles.  It wasn’t kidding!  We followed the Lochsa River with big rafts of newly formed ice floating down it and tried to spot the places where we were pitched into the rapids on a rafting trip a few summers ago.  Up and over Lolo Pass which was icy and narrow in spots and on down onto the grazing lands of Western Montana.  Eric was relieved to get onto I-90 and we drove through the night to Big Timber.  It was 2am, 10 degrees F with gusts to 46mph.  To be sure the truck would start, Eric left it idling, which also enabled us to run the heater.  The wind howled and shook the truck all night, but we were snug in the little twin sleeper.

After hitting the snooze button we slept till 8:00, downed some canned mochas and hard-boiled eggs and headed east. We finally pulled up to the camper at 9:00pm, entered the frozen space, cranked up the heat and unloaded the things that wouldn’t wait.  The bed sheets were icy—maybe it’s time to switch to flannels!    Now we are ready for the duration.  I think.

Top Ten Things I Love About Home

10.  The sounds of home—the train in the distance, the pheasants and geese, and Pandora Internet Radio, namely Mark Knopfler Radio, my favorite.

9.  Finding everything we need at reasonable prices, like ingredients for special dishes and building supplies for projects back in N.D.

8.  Seeing trees and mountains in every direction.

7.  Using my own washer and dryer—use a grimy Laundromat and you’ll know what I mean!

6. Cooking in my own kitchen.  Even with its circa 1953 cabinets, sketchy range, lack of counter space and drawer space and inefficient layout, I still love it.  Really, I do!

5.  Going for a run with Eric on English Point Trails on a path carpeted with golden larch needles.

4.  Using a real shower.  Enough said.

3.  Having a girl’s day with my dear friend Lynn—shopping at the new Trader Joe’s that we have been pining for for years, followed by a picnic at Manito Park…good times!

2.  The cats!  Crash and Gabby have been all over us, winding around our legs, purring, and jumping on any lap that appears.  I miss them so much when we are gone!

1.  Seeing family and friends—thanks so much for the meals, visits and laughs we have shared.  It was wonderful, and makes us want to come back as soon as we can.

We are preparing to head back to NoDak tomorrow or Saturday.  It will be sort of hard to leave, but I’m looking forward to making progress at our little camper on the prairie.

 I’ll keep you posted!  J