1536 miles

We made it...Texas to Montana...1536 miles...24-ish hours in the car and man am I tired. I have to report that Kate was a complete champ. She had a couple of spells where she cried and could only be consoled by me, which meant that our plan for me to drive the first leg of the trip and let Nick get some sleep since he had to work all day on Friday didn't really go as we had hoped. But once we figured out how to get her to sleep and stay that way in the car, she was awesome. Towards the end of the journey Kate was definitely tired of being in the car and more whiny than she had been, but I can't really fault her for that because I was the same way.

The scenery was really gorgeous through Wyoming. It's a whole lotta nothing but nature though. I was curious on more than one occasion as to where some of the people who literally lived in the middle of nowhere bought their groceries. I just can't imagine driving into town once a month for your food. Of course Nick and I make about 7 trips to Walmart a week because we always need something. Interstate 25, which we took up from some point in New Mexico all the way to Montana, is one of the straightest roads I have ever seen. There were times when I could take my hands off the wheel for a few minutes and the car never wavered from its course because the road was totally straight.

I do have a bone to pick with the Montana Department of Transportation though. They have torn up every road in Judith Gap, Montana. Literally. We had to detour around the whole town going 15 miles per hour because there were NO ROADS. The town itself was just mainly a bunch of houses, and you could see the whole town when you started into it. But still....NO roads. It was just dirt and gravel and road construction equipment. Then when we got to the other side, where the highway should have picked back up, it was still a gravel road for maybe half a mile with a big orange sign proudly declaring Montana tax payer dollars at work. I thought we had reached the end of civilization. The only good thing I can say is that someone in Judith Gap owns a herd of alpaca, and I was super excited because I've never seen a real live alpaca in person. I have one on my farm in Farmville though.

When we finally reached our hotel, I was never more happy to see a Days Inn in all my life. We unloaded and showered, then headed to Sears because that's where Nick's Dad and stepmom were shopping. We had him paged and hid in the Automotive dept. He was pretty shocked when he walked over and we popped out of the office! I'm just happy that we were able to keep it a secret all this time. Now that we've eaten and visited for a little bit, we're back in the hotel for a much needed night of sleep in a real bed. Who knows what adventure we'll get into tomorrow.

Oh, and for the record...it was 77 degrees in Great Falls today. It was 105 in Fort worth. HA HA HA HA HA!!!!