To Salt Lake City

Today is one of those days I’m really glad we have the blog. It was a nothing day… but so many little things happened that I don’t want to forget. I’m not a journaler and neither is Scott (although he should be… any good entrepreneur will tell you that) and I know I will have forgotten the details in a few months. The point of the blog is make a record. The long term goal is to print the blog as a book. I don’t care if we only print 2 copies for ourselves. The book will be something we give to the kids when they’re older to help them remember this year and to get a glimpse of who their parents are as people… not just parents. One of my good friends lost her mom. When she did, she asked all her girlfriends to start keeping a journal as a sort of gift to our kids when we pass. She even gave us books to write in at her wedding. I’ve found mine to be quite intimidating and it’s always with me but it’s still blank (brilliant, Traci – the only person alive who carries a blank book around the world for a few years). Like Jody said in her blog about Eden, writing to people who read it somehow helps (and, I’ll be honest, keeps me from using my native {sailor} language…).

We were rushed to get out of the campground at 11 am this morning. Generally we wake up around 7 and just enjoy ourselves until it feels like time to get going. Today, that meant movement around 9:30 (read: late). Then we hit the road to Salt Lake City. As you know, our shipments got screwed up and I received our things from Colombia, but the storage stuff was MIA. Well, now it’s scheduled to be delivered. We had some of our friends offer to receive it for us, but I’m too old school (thanks, Dad). It’s my responsibility, I’m going to take care of it. Or rather… Scott is going to take care of it. He needs a few days of concentrated time for the company anyway so he’s flying back to DC. SLC seemed like the obvious choice because of the proximity and the decent airport.

We were on the road about an hour when the air suspension light went off. We’ve been having trouble with the air suspension on the rear passenger side. It looks like there’s a high probability there’s a leak. We pulled over, let it inflate and took off. About 20 minutes after that, we smelled something funny… almost sulphur-y. Scott, in Def Con Charlie mode, said {GI Joe command voice}, “It smells like propane. Go check everything. Start with the stove. Move to the internal furnace…” I frantically got out of my seat, hearing my brother in my head “You’ve got less than 20 seconds if you’re lucky if it starts to burn…” Nothing, nothing and nothing – no dials on the stove accidentally on, the heat was off. As Scott was pulling over and I was walking back to the front to talk to him (not easy when the RV is swerving), I saw it. Boston was continuing to have a massive attack of diarrhea. Last night he managed to crap all over the front passenger seat and my jacket. That led to an emergency load of laundry this morning. This time he crapped on the seat covering. I think he ate buffalo poop. Serves him right. While disgusting… we couldn’t help but laugh. At least crap isn’t a propane leak, right?! Silver linings.

Scott had a meeting in the afternoon with a client, so here’s a fun glimpse into a typical day. “Babe, you need to find something to do with the kids at 4.” Ok… it’s 2 pm. We’re in the middle of Idaho. I can guess where we’ll be in 2 hours, but the Chief doesn’t do the speed limit so the GPS estimate isn’t accurate. I know absolutely no one for 1000 miles and I’ve spent a whooping 1 hour in Idaho in my entire life. Challenge accepted.

I guessed a decent town for a pit stop. I got on Trip Advisor and looked up kid friendly restaurants in town then I tried to find some playgrounds as a back up. We pulled up, the kids and I hopped out and we ate a late lunch. Are you aware of something called “fry sauce”? That was new to me. When the waitress asked me if I wanted fry sauce I said, “Excuse me?” When it happened again she thought I was being smart (obviously… I was actually being kinda dumb). Then I asked if she meant ketchup and she looked at me like I was the village idiot. I asked for a little to try and ketchup for the kids (anything less than ketchup would never ever be ok with Ev). I like it – it’s kind of orangey and tangy. Fry sauce… must be a Pacific side thing.

After lunch we took a stroll with the dog through some random neighborhood in Malad, Idaho. 10 points to anyone who’s been there. I looked it up on wikipedia. The city is named after the nearby Malad River, the name being French for “sickly”. Awesome – did I randomly put us down in a leper colony? No… turns out if has something to do with trappers eating a bad beaver (hahahahahah – come on, that’s funny) back in the 1800s. There wasn’t a lot to do but we got to stretch our legs for a bit and I think we might have even seen some men with ankle bracelets (the government issued variety). The kids enjoyed the walk and so did I. Scott had a good meeting.