September 9th-Arrival at 2190 Norkenzie Rd

Last day of driving turned out pretty uneventful.  A lazy morning in Baker City led to a cup of coffee and about 30 minutes at the pool.  We hit the road and in answer to John and Erika's question, "Yes, Tesni is hooked on her tranqs."  I've included a picture of her just after we gave it to her.  The delivery of the pill was the worst one yet and involved lots of foaming at the mouth and spitting up pick slobber.  Unfortunately, none of that was captured in the picture.

Arrival at the new place: 2190 Norkenzie Rd, Eugene, OR 97401 was actually pretty awful.  Since we arrived at night we only had a chance to unload the air mattress and go to bed.  We awoke in the morning to a filthy carpet and the frige (that miss-spelling is especially for Brianne) was full of cat hair.  Come on old lady, were you're cats sleeping in there for Christ's sake.  Anyway, Alex vacuumed one room, which completely filled up the Dyson and I was walking around in bare feet and looked down to find that they were black.  After a day of cleaning and finding a person to clean the carpets we still had not unloaded the truck.  

September 11th was the fateful day of unloading.  We unloaded the truck with just our two sets of arms, which made me realize how weak I've become and how sexy and strong Alex is (added by Alex).  We unloaded the truck by ourselves when we moved to Cville (plus the apartment was on the 3rd floor) and I seemed to be able to muscle up and get it done.  Unloading this truck required lots of whining and making faces while trying not to drop the heavy items.  Of course, when we had finished unloading everything except for the two mattresses the Missionaries showed up.   We did have a nice chat about Bountiful and St. George.

You will also notice a picture of the shower head.  It about a foot short.  Alex was having to do some crazy back bends to rinse his hair.  I even had to squat down to get under it.  Thankfully there is a Home Depot right up the road, so we purchased a shower head extender.  Well,  I know we've said a few negative things about the house, but it really is quiet nice.  We'll post again once we've got everything unpacked in a few days.  FYI: Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that the trash company is called Sani Pac?

There is also a picture of Mt. Hood taken from the truck and a picture of Carwyn sleeping diligently while we unpack.

September 8th-The First Glance at Oregon

I awoke to Archie feverishly foaming around the windows before the guy came to finish off the trim.  I was able to meet Brianne for coffee in the morning, so good to see my sweet friend again.  We said good-bye to Penny and Archie and we hit the road after giving Gabe a belated wedding gift.  One last stop at Caputo's for some lunch time sandwiches and we were off.

Another uneventful drive.  These blogs seem to be getting more lame as nothing exciting or dangerous has been happening.

We drove to Baker City, OR where we ate dinner at Barley Brown's Brew Pub.  A notable beer was the Hot Blonde, which definitely had a kick to it.  It reminded me of the jalepeno beer at Eddie McStiff's in Moab, UT, which no longer makes the jalepeno beer.  All in all good beer and good food.  An interesting factoid about Baker City is that the Armstrong gold nugget, weighing 80.4 ounces, was found here.  

We have no crazy stories about this hotel or town yet. . . 

September 7th-The Red Iguana

Well, Alex and I arrived in SLC at 1am on Sept 7th.  What can I say, the Longmont Olympics took longer than expected.  Using the car parking lights as trailer running lights proved to work just fine if you think jump starting the car the next day was no big deal.  FYI: 4 hours of straight driving with the parking lights on will kill the battery.  Someone in the truck suggested we pull over after 2 hours to let the car run, but someone else didn't want to stop.  These individuals will remain nameless.

Alex and I had a relaxing day visiting with Alex's family.  We had lunch at the Red Iguana, which if you have never been is the best authentic Mexican food in the United States.  I highly suggest either the mole amarillo or the enchiladas amarillo.  Don't be fooled by the fact that I listed to things with the word amarillo in it, everything on the menu is excellent.  The amarillo is just spicy deliciousness that can't be matched.

We also had a walk through Tanner Park with the dogs, which is a dog park/hiking trail.  I spent half the time worrying that Carwyn was going to run off and we'd sit around for hours waiting for him to show up again.  I hope my worrying wasn't too over the top for anyone involved in the adventure, but it has happened before.

We finished off the day with a lovely dinner on Penny and Archie's deck.

September 6th-

If you thought all those sports were a lot for one day, you were right.  We had to finish the Olympiad up in the morning and for lunch we went to the brewery of Dale's Pale Ale.  Best beer in a can if you've never tried it.

As you can see there are many highs and lows to winning and losing, but nothing beats a good competition.

After such grueling activity the drive from Longmont to Salt Lake definitely seemed long and hard.

Stay tuned. . .

September 5th-2nd Longmont Olympiad

Day 5: In Sept of 2005 Alex, Dan, Erin, and I had the brilliant idea to compete in our first Longmont Olympics.  Rules and games were decided on a napkin in a Boulder brew pub.  Dan and I competed against Alex and Erin in the highest tests of athleticism: pool, kickball, whiffle ball, HORSE, bowling, and mini golf.  Dan and I prevailed as the winners. 

In the second olympiad we decided to tone down the sporting events to accommodate a now pregnant Erin.  The decided events were: Pool, Whiffle Ball Home Run Derby, TOLF (tennis ball golf), HORSE, Mini Golf, Horseshoes, and Croquet.  Only two injuries in the second Longmont Olympiad.  One, Erin clocking me in the mouth with a whiffle ball.  Two, Erin nailing Alex in the shin with a horseshoe.  I suppose Erin was able to take some of her aggression out on us, which gave Dan a break.  Alex and Erin performed feats of athleticism never seen before to win.

Other highlights of the day included: The Left Hand Brewery and Carwyn and Cooper bonding.  Left Hand=Much better beer than MGD 64 and Ultra.  You definitely sacrifice taste for calories.

September 4th-Fried Chicken. Everyone Loves It.

Day 4 was a fairly uneventful trek from Maryville, MO to Longmont, CO (just outside Boulder).  The beginning of the trip began with me freaking out about running out of gas before we reached a gas station, to which Alex exclaimed, "It's for the Blog!".  Sure, running out of gas would make for a great blog entry, but dying in the corn and soybean fields of NW Missouri would be crappy.  However, we definitely had some words (i.e. stupid computer doesn't know shit) for Google Maps and its directions.  We drove North on I-29 and then headed West towards Lincoln, not just towards Lincoln but as you can see from the pictures straight through the town.  To which Alex proclaimed, "Damn it April, did it say O St on the directions!" and "I'm going to get a smack on your ass when we get to where we're going!".  Even though Alex claims to love maps, he some how didn't review the trip plan. 

At a rest stop Carwyn somehow ate 2 chicken wings that were lying on the ground.  I went back and forth for a good ten minutes not sure what I was scared of most: Carwyn having diarrhea in the truck or having to put Carwyn to sleep b/c his bowel was perforated by a stray bone shard.  As luck would have it we had to deal with neither, except for Carwyn's horrible dog farts in the truck. 

We passed time with some riveting map trivia.  Alex named all the state capitals except for 8, and I missed all the state nicknames except for 10.  For example, Alex asked me to name Iowa's nickname to which I replied, "Iowa's nickname? (pause) The Corn Eye State."

We arrived safely in Longmont to begin planning the Longmont Olympics.

Pseudo Oregon Trail Map

Brianne is a good friend and fellow blogger.  She suggested I post a map of our trek.  I hope you approve Brianne. 

If anyone was wondering.  No bridges have been out yet.  We have not had to forge a river or create a raft.  After cross the Mississippi and Missouri I have no idea how the pioneers did it.