MONTANANANANANANANANA

I'm in Missoula, MT!!!!

I'm super excited because I get to see Hank Green AND Harry and the Potters in concert. Tonight. For FREE. [Not that I've really listened to much of either's music but =P mulaaaaaa]

The KOA here in Missoula (where I'm staying tonight and tomorrow to get ready grocery shopping and such for Glacier) (tomorrow) is HUGE. It's like its own miniature city or country. And the nice old lady at the desk gave me a COLOR map of Missoula, so now I know my way around.

I SAW A BEAR THIS MORNING!!! THREE BEARS!!!!1!!1!

At ~7:57 am MST, traffic slowed to a stop on a plain northbound to the North Exit of Yellowstone. Because there was a mother grizzly and her two cubs!!!! SO COOL.

Then I saw elk after entering Montana on Hwy....90? Not sure. The one to Livingston from Yellowstone. 3 Elk!!!! AH AH AH.

Yellowstone was...phenomenal.
Legend- wait for it and I hope you're not lactose intolerant- DARY!!!

So big. So many trees. MOUNTAINS, GANDALF, MOUNTAINS.

Saw/heard plenty of 'foreigners' (says the kid halfway across the country)- Asians (Japanese? Korean? Who knows? I don't), French, German, and I think Scandinavian of some type.

IT GOT COLD. No rain, but ~35-39 degrees F at night. HEY BRO THANKS FOR LETTING ME USE YOUR AWESOME COLD WEATHER SLEEPING BAG XD
From what I've heard from Boss, it's going to be below freezing in Glacier. Ho Hum.

The tent's been holding up just fine. The tarp's been wet every single f-n morning and I haven't had a chance to let it dry. Maybe tomorrow. Because of the wet, it picked up dirt from the past 2 nights' sites, and has made my trunk a mess. Cap M. Car wash vacuum time (tomorrow).

There's a Pita Pit down the street. Might stop there for dinner, or just wander around downtown. Although I only have <2 hours before the concert!!

Leigh asked me to get a shirt for her and she'll pay me back. She's a nerdfighter too- who knew? We're both recent converts to the church of AWESOME. DFTBA.


I am SO getting Hank Green's autograph in my journal (which I haven't been using except to tally costs and what license plates I see- reminds me hold on a sec I got Maine and British Columbia today).


......


Up to 36 states and 5 Canadian provinces. Maybe I'll get all the states but Hawaii when I'm done (I've already got Alaska!)

Speaking of not using the journal- I've never had a journal before. I'm finding it very hard to jot down thoughts into paper because I can type so much faster than I can write. It's also more engaging. My thoughts tend to flow around like a water park so typing just helps me collect and write better, I think. It helped me write papers in college, at least. Because now I can say "back when I was in college". Teehee.

Back to Yellowstone.
I saw mountains, forests (lodgepole pine and Douglas fir, mainly. The latter in the northern reaches and the former EVERYWHERE), wildlife (YELLOW BELLIED MARMOTS SO CUTE. I was walking a ridge trail and one just ran out in front of me and perched on a rock over a cliff, looking at me almost to say "I'll do it! I'll jump! SO HELP ME!!!" I didn't get pictures of either marmot because I'd forgotten my camera on that hike. I did it again a few hours later, but no wildlife on that one), rivers, geysers, a waterfall, and lakes (some small and one HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE).

I don't want to stop and take pictures of everything or write down everything that happens because .... well, it's personal. To me the point of this trip isn't pictures to remember- it's to live and experience it to remember. And if I don't remember it- oh well. I won't be missing out because I won't remember how awesome the thing I forgot was. Although, I expect to remember everything sometime. You know how sometimes you'll see or think something that makes you go- "Huh. I didn't remember that before just now. I'd forgotten about that."? That's what I'm expecting will happen to those things I 'forget'.
When you're out here alone (and I mean alone- several times out was miles from anywhere and anyone and it was GLORIOUS), it can be a special kind of something. I'll eventually print pictures or put them online or whatever.

But everyone has secrets. Some that no one else knows.

Come out here and do what I've done, be where I've gone, seen what I've seen- and you'll know some of mine.


I really appreciate the support from all you guys reading this. Someone knows I'm having a blast writing it.

As Bob Dylan said of Tangled Up in Blue, it took him "10 years to live and 2 years to write."