2.0 for the over 40 crowd

bonster — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:42:58 +0000

Yikes! I haven’t updated this thing in almost a year.

Amy Ray has a new CD due out on August 5. She (or her promotion peeps) seems to have hopped onto the 2.0 bandwagon and are putting out video updates on kyte called “Amy Ray TV.” I like it. Anyway, here’s the most recent “episode.”

Backtrack a few episodes and check out the interview with Julie Wolf and Emily Saliers. Be sure to stick around after the video portion ends. Your tender parts will appreciate it.

Day 4: Billings to Spokane

bonster — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:19:36 +0000

We spent pretty much all of Monday driving through Montana and taking little tours of some of the cities.

We stopped at a Target in Bozeman and picked up some snacks, we drove around Missoula (Wendy had spent some time there, so she gave me a quick drive-by tour).

The day was pretty uneventful except for the glorified road sign advertising the “Teste Fest” in Butte. Apparently we were a few weeks too late to enjoy the festival’s offerings, but I’m sure we’ll attend future fests.

We pulled into Spokane around 5 p.m. We had reserved a motel “downtown,” but when we arrived, we realized that it was in a seriously sketchy neighborhood. Yeah, there was a Starbucks a few blocks away, but so was the plasma bank. And the characters loitering around were pretty sketchy, too sketchy for me to feel comfortable leaving “stuff” in my car. And honestly, neither of us was in the mood to unpack the entire car. I’d pre-paid for the motel and was a little nervous about asking for my money back, but Wendy said she would handle it, and she did. She’s great. She can talk to anyone in any situation. Wendy talked to the clerk, got us a refund, and we found another motel on a different side of town. After we checked in, we ran over to Safeway for some cheapo Chinese food, and settled in for an evening of Monday Night Football.

Day three: Pickin’ and grinnin’ all the way to Billings

bonster — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:50:24 +0000

After leaving the wholesome goodness of Mitchell, we headed towards our next entertainment stop. Wall Drug. Yeah, it’s cheesy, but so are we. Overwhelmed by the sheer number of billboards on the South Dakota highway, we pulled into Wall, SD, with glazed eyes and in need of coffee. We parked the car in a shady spot, cracked the windows (the boys were snoozing in the back seat), and headed into the completely over-the-top Wall Drug for kitsch and kibble. Our kibble came in the form of freshly-baked donuts. The kitsch? Well, that was everywhere. So much kitsch, so little time. I bought a lovely garden gnome for $4, and Wendy got us both some lovely South Dakota travel mugs.

We ate our donuts, did a little people watching (because the folks at Wall Drug are definitely worth watching), and then set out for our next destination. Mount Rushmore.

We stopped at a Safeway in Rapid City so I could pick up some Boulevard beer for E, and then made our way down Highway 16 to Mount Rushmore.

We then detoured back up to the Interstate and stopped for a short break in Deadwood. I did not expect South Dakota to be so beautiful! I definitely want to come back for an extended visit.

We drove until we hit Gillette Wyoming, stopped for dinner, and then continued on to Billings.

more photos