Fun in the dirt

Brian and I played today while Holly was at work.

Mountain bike trail less than 1/4 mile from our house

Took the 'Yota wheeling.

End of the line for us today.

Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door

Long haul!

Well, Brian and I drove pretty much nonstop to Idaho Saturday and Sunday. We were in the cars for about 28 hours total (we stopped for a couple hours' sleep twice).

Camera Dump!

Goodbye Ames!

Nebraska: Drive until your eyes bleed, rinse and repeat as necessary.

Bikes: "Are we there yet?"

Me: "Bikes can't talk. Leave me alone."

Me: "I didn't mean that. I'm really sorry, I'm just a little tired and grumpy. Will you forgive me?

Bikes: "We'll talk about this later."

Some people just weren't cut out for life on the road... :)

Hour 14: Welcome to Wyoming!

Sweet! Terrain features! I-80 goes from about 6000 feet in Cheyenne to over 8500 feet just east of Laramie. The truck was not happy climbing those hills. The combination of grade, altitude, extra weight, extra drag from the bikes, and the good ol' 105hp 2.4 liter 22re combined for several climbs at under 50 mph, getting passed by semi trucks going uphill.

Wyoming sunset, somewhere west of Laramie. Very few radio stations out here.

Yep, this is pretty much what the overnight felt like for me too.

Wasatch Mountains in Utah.

Woo Hoo!! We stopped at a rest stop near here, and Peyton wasn't quite sure what to make of the place. He walked around with his nose to the ground peeing on everything he could find.

Then he went back to sleep.

Going north on Highway 75, almost there!

And you'll have to wait for photos of the Big Wood River valley. I'll be posting again soon. Hope you all are doing well,

Eric

A little home sick.

Today I dropped my Dad off at the bus station around 1:00. And took the hour drive back to Hailey. Eric and Brian will be coming either Sunday or Monday. Needless to say I am little sad and lonely today :(. I have a few movies to watch and am preparing for my first day of work tomorrow. It will only be few days.

The locals

I love the locals here in Hailey. They are down to earth, and extremly welcoming. Most of them have warned me about the up coming tourist season. Many have given me tips on how to avoid the rush. You can start up a conversation with anyone and they are all very helpful.

Dad and I went to a bar/grill here in Hailey for dinner tonight. Since it is a Wednesday the place was very slow. There were only three tables being used and two gentleman working out front. One of the guys there struck up a conversation with us. We learned that the little hole in the wall place we were eating was actually owned by Bruce Willis. Apparently he has a home just north of Ketchum and will frequent the area. It is not uncommon to see him. Brad said just not to look to star struck when running in to people because the locals are used to them being around and that is why they have homes there. He also said that Arnold Schwarzenegger has a home in Ketchum, as well as Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. He had a few others he listed off like Jamie Lee Curtis. I think I may need to frequent that establishment. The food was really good too.

There is a little path right behind our town home. I took the path to see if connected to where I will be working and discovered that it was only a short walk away. I think that I could make it to work on my bike in two minutes and walk it in about 10.

I was also supprised to find out that there was a volcaino south west of Hailey that exploded in the prehistoric era. On our drive up to Hailey we noticed an area that looked like it was the surface of the moon. In chatting with a local we discovered this area was actually a lava field.

I really like it out here, and am really glad to have my dad out here to get me settled. We are discovering new things every day and are meeting a lot of new people.

-Holly

Hailey

I wish I could upload some pictures. The scenery out here is beautiful. We arrived on Sunday afternoon- after napping we drove through Hailey and up to Ketchum and Sun Valley. The area is just like the towns in Summit county Colorado only more 'small town'. Hailey is really cute and well kept. There are not any major stores like Target, Walmart, ect. If you want food you go to the market, they have one clothing store, a jeweler, a hard ware store, block buster is the only place you can really purchase a movie. The people are very laid back and personable. I think that we are really going to like it here. Yesterday we drove up further into the mountains. There is going to be plenty of mountain biking, off roading, back paking, and day hike opportunities. More then we will be able to do in one summer.

Our town home is also very nice. It has an open layout and is pretty new. There is a small yard for Peyton. We were able to meet our land lord when we came in by chance and they seem extreamly nice. I am really excited. I do not have internet access set up in the town home yet, so I am only able to access the web with my new Hailey library card (and there is a time limit).

I will be putting on pictures as soon as I have the ability to down load them. Cheers!!

Update

Holly has arrived in Idaho safe and sound, Thanks Dave! (her dad drove with her, and is going to take a train back) I'm finishing up the semester, and will head out with Brian this weekend. She says it's awesome out there, and I'm having trouble concentrating on school with all the reports of awesomeness. My next post will probably be from the Sawtooth Mountains... Catch you on the flip side!

Down to the wire

Well, it's almost time. Holly leaves in two days, I've got less than a week of school left, then I'm gone too. It's wierd to think that we're going to go three months without seeing most of our friends and family... We'll see how that goes. Kind of a funny feeling; I've never not lived in Ames.