Tuesday, July 28, 2009

HELLO FROM ABERDEEN, SD

The plan was to drive to Billings, MT, today, but that proved too ambitious. And we were afraid to drive across South Dakota tonight for fear of not being able to find accommodations at all. There's not much here, you know. So, we stopped here in Aberdeen at the Ramada Inn. I know -- we're really not Ramada Inn people, but it's the best we could do. There's some sort of tournament in town and decent places are full.

We were just talking today -- geocaching on the way to Moss Point went relatively smoothly, at least in the way Mike laid out the caches. But the return trip with effort to get a cache in as many states as possible has been tedious. You just can't go where you want to -- you have to look for a road. We have spent a lot of time getting from cache to cache, sometimes deviating from the main roadways, sometimes backtracking. Factor in the desire to make some progress homeward and suddenly it's a nightmare. Yes, that nightmare: "you can't get there from here." But, we talk about ways to improve our efforts, such as more cache listings and perhaps a paperless system, so I suppose we would do it again. However, when Mike mentioned geocaching the eastern states next year, I wishes him a good time.

If all goes as expected, we should be home tomorrow (Wednesday) night. KW

6 comments:

Hallie said...

I tried to call you today in hopes you'd have the phone on and I could give reprieve to the monotony of the drive.

Seattle is nearing all time record highs for temperature. I've discovered that sleeping with ice packs is an effective alternative to air conditioning.

Kathy said...

I heard a comment in passing on The Weather Channel while in Memphis, including a band marked "100" that covered our valley. I am prepared for heat when I get home.

I'm sorry I missed your call. But I can tell you that I called a motel in Billings to cancel a reservation. I did get my message through but the gal said I was breaking up and she couldn't always understand me. XO

Hallie said...

I'm not sure what network Inland Cellular is on, but when I moved to Montana I had to switch from Sprint to Verizon due to the lack of towers. It was a gamble to try to call.

Good luck on the last leg of the trip!

Kathy said...

Harriet told me once what towers they use, but I don't recall. I am advocating for a new phone and new plan with Inland Cellular. It worked well for us in Moss Point. But we're using the phone enough that our basic plan is costing us. However, we'll probably put it off until next summer since we don't use it much in the winter.

It should be a good day. It will feel like home when we get to Missoula. XO

Chuck said...

I never thought the Ramada Inn was "lower class". We, too, have made side trips that preclude our getting to our planned stop at an appropriate time.

We are hot, too, but it looks as if we won't escape the heat by coming up there.

Welcome home!

Kathy said...

I didn't mean to imply the Ramada Inn was lower class. They just don't cater to people like us -- carrying a dog and our own food. It wasn't pet-friendly, but because it was quite cool, Nellie stayed in the car -- quite happily, by the way. No microwave or refrigerator in the room. And we also found the continental breakfast to be less than we had at the La Quinta, Days Inn, and Super 8. And for all of this, we paid a little more. There were other perks but we didn't care about those things. KW