...5,300 miles

My friend Craig and I just returned from a road trip of the northwest. It was absolutely awesome! Here's the rundown:

Paragould to Aspen:

After turning around a couple times to go back for some needed items we finally got started about 7pm on the 11th, thursday afternoon for Aspen CO. The trip to aspen took about 19 hours and was pretty uneventful until we hit the mountains at denver the next morning. The scenery in Colorado is always breathtaking and as soon as we arrived in the cozy town of Aspen it started to snow, adding to the already abundant amount of snow on the ground. In Aspen we met some really cool people, had some really good food and got some really sound sleep.


Aspen to Salt Lake City:

After some incredible blueberry pancakes and taking one last 'gander' at the awesome town of Aspen, we loaded up the car and headed for Salt Lake City, against the advice of...well everyone. You see Utah was getting smashed by a horrid winter storm. After a few hours of some really cool desert...ish scenery we hit the storm and it was pretty slow and stressful for the rest of the day. Little did we know, this would be our path for the next week! We got lost so many times and covered so much ground in Salt Lake that I'm pretty sure I could direct you better than any local. That night I played an acoustic set at a far from crowded but friendly coffee shop named Nostalgia. They gave as some free sandwiches...awesome sandwiches.

Salt Lake City to Portland:

We got in quite the habit of eating a big breakfast and then forgetting about food until getting to the next destination. So hard core. I'll be honest, the drive from Salt Lake to Oregon pretty awful...as was most driving for the rest of the trip. We actually fell short of making it to portland and stopped in Baker City, Oregon due to the weather but I'm glad we did. We ate at what was probably the coolest diner EVER and got a great deal on a room that included breakfast at that same diner. After returning some worried phone calls and getting a good night sleep, we headed out for Portland, once again, against the advice of most...especially a disgruntled truck driver who was pretty certain that we'd never be heard from again.

Baker City to Portland:

This day was also filled with nervewrecking driving, sliding about on top of who knows how many inches of ice and snow. However, the scenery picked up and Oregon turned out to be all we could have asked for. Getting into and navigating Portland was a little tough and discouraging after my show for that night fell through...but the discouragement didn't end there. We decided to stay on the west edge of Portland and drive to the ocean in the morning but couldn't find the motel we were directed to. I'm still somewhat convinced that it doesn't exist. In the process of stopping to ask for directions something happened to craigs car and it wouldn't start. You see, craigs car already has to be hotwired to even start and when this failed in 8 degree (f) weather frustration began to get the best of us. After some desperate prayers in hopes of fixing the car and that craig wouldn't punch his windshield out, I felt as though I should look under the hood(where we were certain the problem did not lie) and pull on a single chord that had no apparent problem... Blammo! It started and we ended up at an expensive hotel where we were pitied and given a very nice room for very very cheap Haha! Thanks God!

Portland to Seaside:

This day was pretty rad all around. Though we still had to drive through more snow and ice than we could have ever dreamed, the Oregon countryside was enough to make you stare in awe, pray egstatically and sing all at the same time! I can't really describe the tall, sleepy forests or the majectic mountains that reached out to the coast so...well just go there if you ever have the chance. The remainder of the day was spent walking about four miles on the beach, climbing cliffs along the coast and admiring the lighthouses as they lit up at nightfall. I had the best hotdog ever at a nice little food/bar place where some overly nice people personally led us to the cheapest lodging in the area.

Seaside to Lethbridge:

Well this was an ordeal. There were of course no complaints driving back through Oregon but somewhere in washington or idaho we hit the worst storm we had seen yet. Visibility was about 30 ft and what was supposed to be a 10 hour trip turned into 21 or 22...I can't remember. Not only were we detained at the border for bringing a friggin guitar without a work permit but we also were far too delirious to make sense of our directions to Luke's house and had to wake poor Bethany at 5:30am for help. But after some more detailed directions and being waken up by the 63,546,224,406,300 christmas lights at her house, we found our destination and got a whole 3 hours of sleep before we had to wake up to go snowshoeing!

Lethbridge:

This was definitely the highlight of our trip! First of all, waking up in a strange house full of dudes you don't know would normally be a little awkward...not here. We were family within a few minutes! 'Southern Hospitality" take notes. After we got on our feet we braved the bitter cold and picked up Bethany for a day of snowshoeing which was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done! The scenery once again had me staring in awe, praying egstatically and singing at the same time. That evening was spent hanging out with our new-found friends, laughing at eachothers accents and watching Stardust. I never get tired of that movie. Oh yes I also had onion-riddled spaghetti...and liked it. That doesn't happen.

The next day was spent wondering around Lethbridge(awesome town!!) buying tacky things at thrift stores and being introduced to Poutine(spelling?) it's basically fries with brown gravy and cheese curds...AMAZING! That evening we were invited to dinner at the Chinook house, where Bethany works with some very very heartwarming and wonderful people! I had indian food for the first time and once again Bethany snuck in a gianormous onion without my noticing. Just gobbled it down.(touche sneaky lady) Later we had the liberty of meeting more awesome people at a gingerbread party(not as gay as it sounds), jamming with Luke and watching none other than Monty Python and the Holy Grail...awesome! There were some sad goodbyes before bed and not much sleep, knowing we'd have to leave the next morning.

After more sad goodbye's to Luke and Ryan(new relatives) We headed for Arkansas. Now we didn't get far before smoke poured out from under the hood and we were stranded, seeing as how it would be 2 days before a shop would look at the car. It wasn't long before Luke and Ryan were on their way to get us but out of nowhere came yet another overly kind canadian who gladly fixed Craigs car and had us on our way without charge. Thanks Denise!! Of course, poor Ryan and Luke had already arrived to our rescue and we were starting to get excited about being stuck in Lethbridge at that point but we no longer had an excuse and had to be on our way.

Canada to Arkansas:

37 friggin hours non-stop. That's all.