We left this morning from Sheridan, Wyoming with our longest driving day ahead of us. A mere 475 miles to Missoula, Montana. As avid road trippers we could push harder and do 10 or even 12 hour stretches but why? This feels much more like a holiday and since the trip is on the company and the minimum mileage is 350 miles a day…why not enjoy a few days of wandering.
Montana is gorgeous. I’ve always heard that but sheesh….so many different parts of the drive just took my breath away.
This morning we enjoyed an hour or so of “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk” by David Sedaris followed by some nice Christian music and some blues. Mostly Linda and I just talked. We talked about our lives, our spiritual gifts, and we talked boys and sex. Well…I did…and she enjoyed my stories I think. 🙂 It is so good to travel with a friend that I can be silly with one minute and then have a deep meaningful discussion with next. Particularly after 10 months without a single soul that I really felt I could just talk girl talk with.
We arrived in Missoula in early afternoon. Our room overlooks a river and we strolled along enjoying the scenery. We then wandered a couple of streets in downtown Missoula including a paper store (HEAVEN for a couple of writers!) and a shop where the earrings were $5 each and we nearly DIED from the variety. 
In case anyone is wondering…the kits did wonderfully. They seemed to have resigned themselves to my crazy wanderings. They slept a great deal of the day on only a mild sedative. Compared to yesterday’s crazy crying, they were very calm and quiet. In the room tonight they were very calm and hardly hid at all. They are such amazing travelers and are a delight to talk to on the trip because they are so responsive and calm.
The topper of the night was dinner at Caffe Dolce. The wine was amazing. The rosemary bread was to die for. And the Wine Director was more handsome at 33 than he was at 26 when I last was in love with him. Someone please explain to me why men get more gorgeous the older they get? My emotions went all over the place seeing him after all these years. To be clear…this wasn’t just *some* ex boyfriend. I loved deeply and was loved well by this darling man. It was good to see him in his element. Happy. Healthy. And did I mention GORGEOUS! 🙂 He was so attentive and sweet with us…selecting out wine for us and bringing us two amazing, rare samples that were not on the menu but he just really wanted us to try.
He and I are having coffee tomorrow alone to catch up.
Tomorrow it’s 418 miles to Ellensburg, WA. We will not be in a hurry. I will have coffee with an old flame. Linda may need to shop a bit in a store that was closed. Arrival in Ellensburg not any sort of rush situation. Again…I love Linda for just going with the craziness of my “holiday road trip”.
On the job front…I miss my IPC coworkers dearly. I’ve thought about them and what they are doing repeatedly these last 2 days. I’ve been told by a couple that I too am missed. Which, for better or worse, does my heart good. 🙂
Amazon is on the horizon. By this time next week I will have 2 days under my belt. I’m not nervous…though I imagine that may still set in later. We shall see.
More tomorrow!!
Love from MANtana…were I have yet to see an ugly man! 🙂