Half way there

I'm half way to my destination after setting off on Friday night. Friday's trip was a fast one across I-90 from Rochester, MN to Sioux Falls, SD, then north on 1-29 to Brookings, then west on 14 to Volga.

Saturday I traveled through Laura Ingalls Wilder's homestead via DeSmet, SD then north on SD Hwy 25 to Webster, SD. Today I followed SD Hwy 12 from Webster to Isabel, SD. That's halfway.

Tomorrow I'm doing my long stretch from Isabel to Helena.

Average air temp: 105...without the heat index.
Miles driven: around 680
Max gas price: $3.04
Average speed: 70 (I had a lot of two lane state highway)
Bottles of water consumed: at least a dozen
Gatorade: 3
Bags of beef jerky: 2
Other road goodies: Half a box of Cheerios, Snickers with Almond

I'll be able to see my mountains by the time I make Billings tomorrow :) Yeah!

Destination

I'm on my way!

Bonus HNT...disgusting

I'm heading to Montana on Friday for two weeks so I'm not sure if I will be around for HNT unless Os has something crazy planned so here is a bonus feature this week...I'm She-Ra!!! 90 degrees, 70+% humidity...our three games in the C league and then, because I'm nice, three games as a last minute fill-in with an A league team. I'm hot (yup, that's boob sweat!), sandy, and sweaty but feelin' good!

Eagle River HNT

The weather didn't necessary cooperate the whole weekend but we made due anyway and ended up having a great time. This is day two on the upper chain of lakes. Yes, it was sprinkling so we had the top up. Didn't stop us from cruising around though.

The day before was much nicer with sunshine after about 2 in the afternoon. The guys tubed and got out the knee board. I only left the boat for "nature's calling"...the thought of being pulled behind a boat at 40 mph strapped to something by my knees or feet has never appealed to me. Nonetheless, I still managed to hurt myself. Foot slipped through the ladder getting in scraping up my calf. Now...look closely and you can see that my left side took a beating too. Have a strange bruise on my arm too but couldn't get a good picture of that one.

























It was all fun though. Bruises fade, scars are cool, no permanent damage. The sun, the pine tinted air, the cottage, the dogs, the guys, food...all in all, a fabulous weekend away.

Up next...Montana by Monday! YEAh!!!

Late HNT

I hate softball. It is too slow, not enough going on throughout the game. Plus, I'm not very good at it because I have never played it much. Thursday night's I play softball for a team that is short on girls and more out for fun than to win. Tonight, I had a kickass game. I hit the ball...TWICE..and with good solid contact. But the best part of the night was a kickass catch I made in mid-centerfield. Running, reaching and nearly tackled by my centerfielder who literally spun around me as I caught the ball. Sweetness!

That only made the sports week better...last night, short one player we crushed our opponent in volleyball. the 5 of us were on fire.

So for HNT...the golden arm! Happy HNT

5 things

Lime had another great meme so since I'm eating and blogging tonight (see her last list) I thought I would play along.

5 Things always in my purse:
1. Migraine meds
2. Key ring with all those discount cards
3. Gum
4. My Barnes and Noble Member Card
5. My lime green pocketbook

5 Things always in my wallet:
1. Driver's license
2. Old movie stubs
3. My Mayo High School fundraiser card
4. My debit card
5. My scrapbook store punchcard

5 Things always in my refrigerator:
1. Eggs
2. Out dated milk...I never get around to finishing a whole jug myself
3. Cheese
4. Beer
5. Something that should have been thrown out...a long time ago

5 Things always in my closet:
1. Too MANY CLOTHES!!!!
2. A belt I never wear
3. Four rubbermaid drawers
4. A tub of unmatched socks
5. Cat hair...in every corner

5 Things always in my car:
1. Road Atlas
2. Gas receipts
3. CD player with a cassette converter (my car is"pre-2000")
4. Window scraper
5. Snow boots and a blanket

5 (or more) Things always on my desk:
1. A collection of ceramic cups I made in college for "desk stuff"
2. Stack of books in my 'to read' pile
3. A printer currently out of ink in it's printheads...might just buy a new printer, there are four of them at $59 a piece!
4. A piece of glass with a skier and mountains etched on the INSIDE...cool, uh??
5. Coupons I never remember to put in my purse

5 People to tag...Yeah, you :)
1. You, in the blue shirt
2. You, the one blogging nekkid
3. You, the one eating and blogging
4. You, the one with insomnia
5. You, the one desperately searching for a blog topic

I'm melting...

No, I didn't get drenched with a bucket of water and melt into a puddle of ooze. It is just HOT here! 90+ degrees with a heat index because of the 85% humidity well over 100. If it would just RAIN! Please...

The weekend was a smashing success even though we didn't get to all of our fun plans. WICKED is phenomenal. If you have read the book, seeing the sarcastic Elphaba and the ditzy Galinda live only highlights their personalities. If you haven't read the book, it's not quite the same story so I would still wade through the big text. The music, the costumes, the make-up was all wonderful. The boy has been to a lot more Broadway shows than I have and he thought this was the funniest one he has seen.

Dinner was fabulous, the hotel great. Tickets to BODYWORLDS were another story. Didn't make it but no big deal. No same day ticket reservations on the phone, an hour to stand in line to get from the door to the desk. Forget it! It is there until September so we will have plenty of time to go see it. Instead we hung out more at the Mall of America. I have a new iPod Shuffle thanks to the Apple Genius desk (nope...they couldn't fix it either, just exchanged it). So tonight when I was sweating away in the gym I at least had my own music.

Made it home last evening and stayed in with the air cranked! Is tehre an end to this heat??

Weekend plans...

I get the boy fro a whole weekend!!! He's been gone a week and busy the week before and I 've been a stress basket from hell because of everything else going on in my own life. We have had this weekend planned for a while and it couldn't have fallen at a better time.

The first thing on the agenda? WICKED: A NEW MUSICAL. Ever wonder how one became good and the other one bad? Well, we will be in the third row at the Orpheum Theater to find out!

Yes, we are both geeks. We will not deny it. Sunday morning we will head to the Apple Store, one of our favorite stops at the Mall of America. I'm an iPod Shuffle. Mine has a case of the "green orange blink of death". Not good. The boy got it for me for my birthday in October so it is still under warranty. Hope to exchange it and have my gym music back again.

Last but not least, there is an exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota which I can't pass up. BodyWorlds is a group of partially and mostly dissected HUMAN CADAVERS! Yeah, baby. They are posed in various acts and I can't wait to see them.

HNT...Shock Absorbed!

Guys, I'm sure wearing a plastic cup over the family jewels is uncomfortable? But...the new Victoria's Secret "Shock Absorber" sports bra, well...it has to be right up there in the uncomfortable as well. Check out the before and after of this baby....

It isn't Kevlar but it damn well could be!

Yes, that is a METAL buckle on the side. Absolutely no jigglin' here!

These are about 10 minutes after it was removed, I played volleyball in it, went to bible study and ice cream and then came home. So a total of about 5 hours on. OUCH!!! BUT...It's great for jumping, running, and diving.

The things we girls do...

St John's Block party

Rochester, MN doesn't have a lot of night life. It's not so bad though because Minneapolis and LaCrosse aren't all that far away and there's plenty to do there. But check out this gig...

Ticket in advance to St John's Block Party $12
Number of drink tickets we bought $10
Friends hanging out 6
Dinner at TGIFridays $$$$$
Getting to see Soul Asylum live 2 days before their CD release AND in the second row PRICELESS!

That's right. Second row of the pit with the band live. It was awesome. Their new CD is going to be great. Check them out on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this week.

Next weekend...Wicked at the Orpheum Theater!!!

Going home..

The reason for the long road trip this weekend was to see my mom. She went back into the hospital on Friday with a kidney infection due to a kidney tube that came loose. She had high fevers, low blood pressure, low red cell count. IV antibiotics later, fluid and 2 units of blood later she is stable. She is going home tomorrow with the decision made to NOT do any more chemo. She will get pain pills and oral antibiotics to keep infections at bay. It's the right decision but I'm scared.

Road trippin' HNT

The quality of this photo isn't all that great but it's the best I could do at 85 mph on a two lane South Dakota State Highway at 8:30 in the morning knowing I had a 600 mile drive a head of me. This is a sign of how I know I'm getting close to home.

It's not "technically" patriotic but I think it is also a symbol of a holiday weekend like the 4th of July. People going home, Midwesterners stopping long enough in the fields to gather for picnics, roadtrips, and commaderie. So Happy 4th of July! If I see ya on the road, I'll wave :)

470 miles of my trip is on interstate. Hundreds of poor souls stuck on I-90 across South Dakota with nothing to look at but hoping not to run into a highway patrolman as they fly across the prairie. But when I pull off on Highway 63 north I know I'm almost home because the instant I'm off the interstate I am greeted with this wave for the next 130 miles by nearly every car and definitely EVERY trucker.

You don't take your hand off the wheel, it's propped on the top of the steering wheel comfortably. You simply lift up your thumb, pointer and middle finger in a half wave. Sometimes you nod your head a bit too. But however it's done, it's a general "hi" to everyone you pass. It's an acknowledgement.

Now, when I took this picture there wasn't a car coming to wave at but I wanted to take the shot while I remembered and didn't want someone thinking I was really a lost out of stater with a camera if I took it when I really was meeting someone on the road. So "hi" to everyone this Fourth of July week!