OH MAN. The adventure began and it has been... adventurous so far. This was only the first day and we've already
had:
✅Yelling
✅Screaming
✅Crying
✅Puking
✅Broken technology
✅Fireworks
We got started a little bit later than we wanted, but we hit the road before 11am. Not bad for the first day and just "K" and me doing the cleaning, fridge emptying, garbage dumping, dish washing, and car loading. We got a couple bags of ice for the coolers, filled up the gas tank, and headed up to Priest Lake to grab the kids to really get the adventure started. And it started almost immediately with arguing, yelling, talking back, and the like. Joy!
We drove from Priest Lake down to Coeur d'Alene (passing my favorite sign of the day - "SLOW DOWN YOU SONS A BITCHES" spray painted on some sheet metal) and stopped for gas (and to empty everyone's bladder) just off of I-90, where I promptly dropped my phone onto the concrete. It fell a whopping 3 feet and fell on the corner of the phone case, but it was enough to break the screen. And not the glass of the screen, but the actual display - the phone has power and will respond to button presses, but the screen will only flash white for a millisecond before going back to black. The good news is we have insurance on both of our phones so it shouldn't cost much to replace it. The bad news, though, is that we'll be staying in a new place almost every night for the next 6 weeks. So this should be exciting! Luckily, I had the forethought to grab one of our old phones and bring it along just in case, so I've switched back to that for the time being.
The rest of our drive through Idaho was uneventful, and we stopped next at the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar and Inn and Gift
Shop (and whatever else they feel like adding on). As we pulled into the parking lot, "Z" immediately started crying
and saying her throat hurt and she thought she was going to throw up. She calmed down and we went inside to look
around (and also potty). If you've never been to the Silver Dollar Bar, it's an interesting place. I don't know that I'
ve ever been to another place where you can get dinner, some fudge, socks covered with expletives, decorative bull horn
wall hanging, a sweet mall-ninja sword, and a bong, all in one stop.
Next we got back on the road towards Butte, our destination for the night. The crew were starting to feel a bit peckish so we stopped in at a Cracker Barrel for dinner. We don't go there very often (I think maybe once every 3 or so years?) but I was pleasantly surprised with the both the quality of the meal and the price - it was delicious, filling, and didn't break the bank. And "A" WAS SUCH A NICE BOY! He shared some of his dinner, willingly, without even being asked. And he seemed excited about the opportunity to do so. It was weird. Shortly after dinner we got back in the car to make the final leg to our hotel when "Z" started complaining again about feeling like she was going to throw up. Conveniently, we had a little "barf bag" from "K"'s surgery in the fal that we had in the glove box, so we passed it back to her and she made use of it shortly after. Once she got it out of her system, she was fine, which is very good.
We started seeing fireworks off and on when we were just a few miles out from our hotel. It seemed like just about everyone in the bustling metropolis of Butte, Montana was out tonight shooting off fireworks. We finally got everyone ready for bed at about 11pm, and the fireworks are showing no sign of stopping. Should be great fun!