I plotted out my route on googlemaps so that I'll go through both the Badlands of South Dakota and Salt Lake. I've driven along almost every highway in the West so I know I'd rather do the southern route than boring North Dakota and Montana. And it's only 6 hours longer, which is not that much when the total trip is 32 hours. Also, Chris wanted me to visit him in Salt Lake. I'm not sure if he's there or what his situation is, but I wrote him an email.

Then I started ruminating about other people I could see, and created the "dream road trip" that I would take if I had two weeks and a few hundred dollars. It's not that much crazier than the marathon road trips I took across the country back in the days when Donna and Brian and I were working petitions. But now that I have rent and am trying to live a normal life in one place, it's not exactly possible. Maybe some day I can do this:

South Dakota: see the Badlands (for the third time in my life, but they are so amazing)
Denver: visit my long lost cousin, Erin, whom I've never met.
Salt Lake City: see Chris and his wonderful friends I met the other two times I've been there.
Tucson: visit my cousin Natalie and her baby, whom I didn't see enough at the wedding.
Los Angeles: visit Dan, my internet friend who I've also never met, who of course would be kind enough to let me crash at his house for a night.
Bay Area: where I could see my cousin Liza, and the other Dan.
Arcata: just to see my old town... and the redwoods...
Eugene: check out the university because I'm thinking of transferring there,
...and back to Portland!

Sigh. That would be so perfect. But the long southern detour would add at least a week to the trip. I debated not accepting that crazy job that I supposedly will have when I get back -- "Sorry, I have to take the best road trip ever!" -- but where would rent come from? Among other concerns. Who am I kidding, it's almost impossible for me to stop traveling around the country/world, even when I tell everyone, including myself, that I'm "sick of traveling." Ha!

Maybe I should be a flight attendant or something.

Oh shit, our power just went out. We had the biggest thunderstorm I've ever seen, a few hours ago, but for some reason the power didn't go out until now. Oh, the wireless internet doesn't work with no power. I guess I'll finish this later then.

Well, now it's the next afternoon and we still have no power, so I'm using the wifi at our local coffee chain. I just renewed my driver's license and got a bunch of maps for my trip.

Brian called me this morning at 6:30 am, but I wasn't able to reach him after I woke up. He's in Northern California and hasn't been paying his phone bill (he used a friend's phone) so I doubt he has the money or transportation to get here in time, but he might try.

It's getting late today and I haven't been able to do my laundry because we had no power, so I'll probably wait and leave tomorrow. I want to minimize the number of nights I spend sleeping in my car.

So the wedding was great, and I posted pictures on flickr (link goes to the wedding set).

I should go, because my brother is waiting. Bye.