Day 27 - Driving to Missoula

Hi! Sorry I've been so bad about updating the past few days, it's been a combination of being busy/around people all the time and having taken so many photos that the thought of going through to choose a reasonable number to put on here is kind of intimidating. And I like sleeping sometimes. But I don't want to fall too far behind because every day really does seem to offer something worth showing and talking about, so here we go :)


To missoula at EveryTrail
EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking near Salt Lake City, Utah

Miles - 531
Time - about 9 hours

What a beautiful drive this was! Ben's mom had a great suggestion on which route to take, although it did take me a lot of flipping through the settings to get my GPS to agree to stop trying to turn me around every half mile once I got off the interstate. Hills, plains, a little rain, a decent amount of snow over a mountain pass, a quick photo stop in the town of Moore (the name of the predominant language in my Burkina village, I couldn't resist), canyons, rivers, mountains - I just kept feeling this sense of awe at how beautiful and diverse the landscape is, and how lucky I am to travel through it. The photos don't do it justice.

I tragically didn't take any photos of my airbnb stay in Missoula, but it was a great place, perfect for my needs. Sam, Alex, and Callie are students/recent grads at the university and rent out the loft in their garage. It was a pretty chilly night so Alex helped me carry the portable fireplace up to my "room" and I ended up not even needing the huge pile of blankets that I'd taken just in case. Sam was out to a movie and Callie was playing bike polo, but Alex met me when I got in and we happily sat and chatted for a few hours when he was supposed to be studying for his Biology exam. He seemed genuinely interested in hearing about the Peace Corps, and it was nice to be able to talk about what it was like - both the pros and cons - and see him beginning to put some pieces together and draw conclusions about if it would be a good fit for him. Another bonus to the house was Alex's dog, Marley, a big, calm, very friendly yellow lab - it was nice to have "pet time" watching tv and talking while Marley slowly tried to inch his way further and further into my lap.

I'm pretty sure I had lots of revelations and maybe even solved several world problems while driving the hypnotic, twisting roads, but I can't remember them. So in that case I guess I'll just let the photos speak for themselves...

 The morning view from Ben and Natalia's apartment

 Northern Utah

 The first of several Idaho state-line crossings

 "Eat at Pickle's Place - Home of the Atomic Burger"

 Anyone know what this graffiti is about? I saw similar sights in at least two other places, it just kind of struck me and so I took a picture

 Moore! But is it said "more" or "more-ray"?

 Pretty mountains :)

 Right?! This was right before I dropped into a very twisty stretch running along a river through some very steep hills - it was beautiful but did preclude even my "don't look at the camera, just kind of point and take a bunch and a few will work" method of photography

 Dunes?

 Through a small stretch of kind of a mini-canyon on the other side of the wild twisty ride

Aaahhh! I haven't bought a snow shovel yet! This was the state line into Montana - beautiful and terrifying