[Disclaimer: Memories can be faulty, even after only six days, if those six days are filled with only one activity (i.e., driving). I bet you forget if you’ve brushed your teeth; well, how can I recall everything perfectly? I forgot to bring a journal to write such down in. Darn. Apologies in advance, anyway.]

1/10/04

Day 1: Issaquah, Washington – Missoula, Montana

Driving Conditions: Foggy across Eastern Washington, then clear through Idaho and Montana. Clear roads, with light to moderate traffic.

General Impressions: Off we went! Crazy us, according to everybody, driving across the country through the dead of winter. Washington was hardly bad, though it felt rather like we weren’t getting anywhere at all since fog socked us in as soon as we got across the Cascades all the way to Spokane. In Spokane we ate lunch at Senor Froggy’s, which, despite its name was completely decrepit. Our table was falling off the wall; I caught glimpses of dead spiders in the cracks between windows, etc. We loved it, especially as it was the only Mexican place we could find after wandering Spokane without much of a map for 35 or 40 minutes. There seem to be some lovely residential areas there, though. The rest of the drive was beautiful, through tree-covered mountains topped with snow. Listened to ipod a lot, all sorts of stuff. Generally this was only an eventful day insofar as it was our First Day, and it involved saying goodbye to our parents and prying ourselves away. Stayed at a Best Western in Missoula. Oddly, Missoula felt rather like a stretched-out Bellevue, with an enormous Old Navy (where I bought a $5 pair of gloves to replace my old ones), Lowes, Target, Albertson’s, etc. There were also three taco places! – Taco John’s, Taco Bell, and Taco Time, of which only Taco John’s was new. We opted for a Johnny Carino’s, which was pretty strange “Country Italian” food. Slept well, though Jess reports I talk in my sleep. Continue Reading >>

First, a piece of business: for some reason we are no longer being hosted by Ben. I’m not sure why, but the reason we don’t have comments is because we’re being switched over to Haloscan, who will apparently host our site. At least that’s what my molasses-like brain got out of what Ian told me. If you have comments, you’ll have to email me directly by clicking on the “Katie” link at the bottom of each post.

I have a long, long blog in the works that will cover the whole trip, but it won’t be done today so I thought I’d update quickly here. Jess drove from Rochester, New York to Worcester, Massachusetts today while I sat and did nothing. Useless me, as usual. This trip has seen me slowly spiralling into feeling worse and worse, and eating less and less. I don’t know why, but food has been increasingly abhorrent. The whole idea of eating makes me want to throw up; and making it, or even going out to get it, is just far too much work. I just feel so stressed out, so awful, that how could I plan on actually eating?! No, no, no, I don’t want food. I can’t stand up for myself, I don’t want conflict, and I am missing Ian so terribly now that we’re here. In the back of my mind I guess I was expecting that, with all this traveling East, I would find Ian at the end of our trip. I’ve had a terrible headache all day, like somebody is kicking me in the back of the head quite consistently. Mom keeps saying I can’t go to bed without food – well, watch me. Watch me! Food is a struggle and I wish I didn’t ever have to eat. Maybe I won’t eat anymore, only ironically if I didn’t eat for weeks, we’d end up spending thousands of dollars on me going to the hospital bill if it went too far. Curse it. Maybe I’ll have some Ramen. Not much substance but it does boost one’s electrolytes. Continue Reading >>