Saturday, August 9, 2008

Videos, Videos



Bull Riding at the Rodeo!

We could have had our picture taken on a real live bull outside the rodeo doors for 10 dollars. For 5 dollars, I would have risked my life for a picture that may have turned out terribly but not for 10.





Bikers, Bikers, Everywhere!

Scavenger Hunt!

Before our road trip, we asked friends to burn us some good tunes for our long hours in the car. Jennie took that request to another level and made us a Scavenger Hunt Road Trip Mix. The hunt ideas came from lyrics in the songs and we were to document everything on the list with a picture. Here are some of the better ones..

Song: Life is a Highway
Task: Get the directions, traveling goggles(sunglasses) and juice boxes ready before cranking the music.

The GPS held our directions.

Song: Gold Digger
Task: Take a picture with a lot of cash in your hand, with your bling and traveling goggles on.

My bling is on my sunglasses. Check out those rhinestones!

Song: Our Song-Taylor Swift
Task: Take a picture of the driver with "one hand on the steering wheel and the other on my heart. (*'my' can be the driver's own heart)

I actually have my hand AND my phone(that is leaving Jennie a singing voicemail) on my heart.

Song: Put Your Records On
Task: Take a picture of both of you letting your hair down.

We went with letting our hair up instead.

Song: Wagon Wheel-Old Crow Medicine Show/Jug Band
Task: If you see a jug, play it. If you see a washboard, do your best to be as good as Jeffery.

Yup, those are WASHBOARD Abs Becky is playing.

Song: Play My Music- Jo Bros
Task: Find a (some sort of) guitar and rock out!


Our guitars of choice--a hairbrush and a toothbrush.

As long as we got each other

Update: We are now reporting from separate states....

Meg will be posting more pictures from Jennie's Scavenger Hunt tonight when she gets back to her base computer in Indiana.

Beck will hopefully work on getting sound to go with the video we made for our fans(It didn't work on my computer either, Thelma.) while she spends her time in Bel Aire. Then, perhaps that can be posted for your viewing enjoyment as well!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Oh, yeah

We successfully made it to Missoula last night around 11:15 and we're adding it to the list of places we visited that smell bad.

Place 1:


Welcome to Sioux City where it smells like poop.

Place 2:



Wall Drug didn't exactly smell bad but the free ice water that they advertise for hundreds of miles tastes like booty and is lukewarm at best.

Place 3:



The smell by the geysers near Old Faithful can best be summed up by the overheard words of a little girl. "It smells like eggs...sunny side up."

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Super 8 Shout-Outs

Tonight's update is random. Be prepared.

Katie, I scoped out the playground at the Cody KOA. It is NOTHING like I remember. MUCH cooler now. Look at this thing…



After the delightful all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast for two dollars...



we tested out this contraption (after reading the posted rules) to make sure it was safe for the kiddies, of course.



Shoot, if I had known about the effects of this playtime effort, I would have tanned my belly.

Next random shout-out goes to MOM.



Nice Google finds! You’re becoming so Internet saavy these days.

Can’t shout-out one parent and not the other. That would be parent-ist. Ready, Dad?



Perfect pump!!! You’re proud of my random luck, right?

And, another picture for the donor of my height(?)



Thanks for the hat and the tip to go to the Badlands.

Your shout-out is next, Jennie! Becky may have had to use the bathroom before we made it out of the mountains and to indoor plumbing. Luckily she packed her own toilet paper! Tis a shame I found the toilet seat covers after she was already in the potty house.



I did remember the wet-ones for her hand-washing though!

Oh, Matt, you can have a shout-out, too. No picture though. We stopped at an A&W for dinner last night. I was worried when we pulled in and I didn’t see any workers but I am happy to report the A&W slowness is a unique characteristic of the Chesterton one. We got our food within 7 minutes, not 17.
Oh wait, I lied. I do have a picture for you.



The Yellowstone Park Ranger I talked to assured me that you pronounce Butte as if it had no e and a short u(Is that right? I was never good with phonics). And, I’m closing my beautiful brown eyes so as not to distract from my beautiful behind. Obvi.

Lastly and adding to Becky’s blog, I thought the kid who showed us how to pan gold was funny. He was a teen testing out the sarcastic waters. This first stage of sarcasm is exhausting for some around him(Becky) but is appreciated by those who’ve been there(Me). On that note, here’s the lump of gold found by the person who didn’t get made fun of by a fifteen year old kid. : )

No WiFi Means Late Updates Sorry...

As we are on the road to Yellowstone I figure I’ll take the time to do a quick recap of yesterdays activities. The day started in Custer South Dakota where we saw Crazy Horse from afar (we didn’t want to pay the fee to get into the park so that’s where a zoom came in handy).


We also met a sweet old man at the gate who came out to hand us pamphlets about crazy horse, to show us what we missed. He could have been good ole’ Iowa Earl’s long lost cousin.

Then it was on to Mount Rushmore where there was an awesome goat, and I finally decided it was time to take out my good camera. After doing a few drive bys and shooting out the car window we stopped at the side of the road to see if I could get a picture of Meghan picking George Washington’s nose. Unfortunately, I failed and my flip-flop fell off, but some 14 or so year old kid grabbed it and placed it on my foot. It was a very Cinderella like moment.



Mount Rushmore was fairly cool, but it made me wonder what one has to do to secure a mountain to carve.


Our gold panning experience was all right. I think I hyped myself up for it too much, but we each got a little vial of gold for our efforts. Plus, I got made fun of by the little young punk who was trying to teach us to pan. I really hated that kid.


Yesterday was really the day of bikers though because we saw them EVERYWHERE. I figured out something too, bikers do not look like Uncle Jessie from Full House. They are not attractive, and the less attractive they are the more likely they are to not wear a shirt.


After leaving the Mount Rushmore area we drove straight to Cody in order to get to the rodeo in time. Let me tell you rodeos are fantastic. I’m not really the biggest fan of some events such as calf roping, but it is sooo made up for by the bull riding.

Of course the cowboys don’t hurt either.


That’s my favorite part.

All in all it was a pretty good day for the two of us, and who knows I may someday have a career as a rodeo photographer.


Peace Love and Rodeo Clowns,

Beck

They Should Have Sponsered Our Trip














Bah dah dah dah dah dah I'm


















New posts later today we promise.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

I hold the key to Becky's eye sight

My favorite green Old Navy flip flops just became even more amazing as Becky documented in her blog. Woot.

Also, I hope the people of South Dakota like the smell of Garnier Fructis shampoo and conditioner. I neglected to bring bar soap/body wash on this trip(I never travel with it because I like to taste test(not literally) other people's when I stay there). So, I've been body washing with shampoo and leg shaving with conditioner. At least my elbows smell good and my legs are SUPER silky.

To the dead president heads!!!

I could have been Blind

Well it's sarly on day 3 and we are in Custer South Dakota. Todays plan is to visit Crazy Horse Mt. Rushmore, go gold panning, and possibly see what Flinstones Bedrock city is like. Of course seeing anything would be impossible without the help of Meg and her magic flip flop. You see in the bathroom this morning I accidentally dropped my contact on the floor. Instead of having to wear glasses until I could call my eye doctor get a prescription and fill it in Missoula, Meghan's magic flip flop was stepping on it. Don't worry though I cleaned it very well and haven't put them in yet. No pink eye for this gal.

Onward we shall march today.

peace and love

Beck

Monday, August 4, 2008

Photo phun

Four score and 14 plus hours ago, Meg and I embarked upon day two off our road trip adventure. Conceived in bodaciousness and dedicated to the proposition that even states like Iowa and South Dakota had something to offer.

I found myself in the passenger seat for the first leg of our long strange trip. We left my little brothers place around 7:30 this morning. A special thanks goes out to Jim, Katie, and the gang for putting us up for the night especially since they had papers to finish. While in Iowa we listened to a little gold digger thanks to Jennie and her amazing road trip scavenger hunt CD! I feel like I could be one of the most ghetto people in the state of Iowa right now. Word.

We didn’t make out first planned stop until reaching Mitchell South Dakota, which is of course the home of the worlds only corn palace. As far as corn palaces go this was the best I’d ever seen. Of course all it really consisted of was a basketball arena and some souvenir shops. Don’t worry I took a butt load of pictures anyway.


Next came the badlands on the suggestion of Meghan’s parents. Even if I had a better vocabulary it would be impossible to describe .


Of course coming out of the badlands the forces of nature took over and a bird flew into my car. Which is horrible for the bird but that sucker bounced off the front of my car like a jumbo super ball. Talk about bye bye birdie.

At this point we were a bit worried about getting to our campground in time so it ended up cutting our time at Wall Drug a bit short but not before we were able to take what I will probably use as my facebook photos for the next five years. If you’ve never been to South Dakota then wall drug may confuse you but basically it’s a tourist trap that you see hundreds of signs for as soon as you enter the state. Of course you get there and it’s sort of the caliber of fun as a decent playground but with lots of gift shops.

And eventually we made it to our little cabin at Custer Crazy Horse campground where we bunkered down for the night.


Aint it cute

until tomorrow.

Hugs and Kisses,

Beck

Crank that Soulja Boy

This is Meg of Beck and Meg fame reporting in from Mile Marker 370 on I-90 West. I have just awoken from a much needed power nap. I say much needed because this road tripper has gotten about 8 hours of actual sleep in the past two nights. Six solid snoozing hours last night so that leaves two hours to be had after THE wedding. Everyone else slept just fine while I just laid there wide awake all night long. Perhaps I couldn’t sleep because I had images of Wedding Date Number Two dancing in my head. I bet you’d like to see what those images might look like…



In case you didn’t recognize his voice, that was Andy providing the music/lyrics. Yes, that's Weekend at Bernies on in the background.

I will now share with you an image from our actual road trip. While I was driving earlier today somewhere in Iowa, we came across a sign that said “Scenic View 1 mile.” Being the curious individuals that we are, I pulled the Malibu over despite Sha Nay Nay’s(We’re trying out names for the GPS system. What do you think of this one?) directions. For this scenic view, we had to walk up about 5 flights of wooden stairs and got to see a beautiful Iowan landscape. Nope, that won’t be the picture below.

The picture below comes from instructions on Jennie’s Scavenger Hunt CD. Song Number Two is Burnin’ Up by the Jonas Brothers. Jennie instructed us to take a picture of a thermometer because the Jo Bros are “burnin’ up” for us. Guess what was right outside the bathroom door at the Scenic View...A thermometer(!) and a rest area bathroom attendant(!!) who was the perfect guy to help us cross another number off our scavenger hunt list.…


As you probably noticed, the photog(we named him Earl) had some trouble with the camera but it makes for a hilarious picture I think. (The thermometer is the white half-squarish shape by my face, fyi.) It said 80ish degrees(in the shade!). Earl said his car thermometer said 106 degrees when he left the jobsite yesterday. Wow! Nice work, Earl. We appreciate you!!!!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Day One

We made it to Grinnell, Iowa! Yay for a free stay with Beck's brother. We started off the road trip with a Matt Mix. Becky has since started her search for a man to check her for ticks. We are staying in cabins the next two nights. It just may be necessary. Then, we listened to two themed cds. Oh, how we love songs about butts and boobies!

Tomorrow we travel to the CORN PALACE, WALL DRUG and MOUNT RUSHMORE. Can you feel the excitement? What are we not especially excited about? The 11 hour car drive. Of course, having the prospect of seeing hundreds/thousands of bikers excites us a bit. You can bet your belt buckle we'll be tipping our cowboy hats at them as we pass.

And, since we'd like to have McDonald's sponsor our journey(after the fact?), at the end of every blog post we will state our Mickey D's Consumption Tally.
Double Cheeseburgers: 2
Sweet Tea:1
Coke: 1
Deliciousness: Priceless...except for the stale buns and unmelted cheese....

Today is the day!

We're leaving in a few!!!!!!!

We shall report in from Grinnell, Iowa in about 8 hours or less(I'm giving us time to eat/rest before we blog, of course.)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Treasures in the Attic




These great additions to our road trip can be accredited to my Dad's time at Texas Christian University. Mom says he wore them to pick up ladies....

Becky and I will wear them to pick up...bikers? rodeo clowns? The possibilities are endless!

Friday, July 11, 2008

How the West was Fun

How would you like it if we based our Montana road trip off of an early Olsen Twins movie?
Meghan is obviously the one with the red bottoms(Ashley) and that makes Becky(Mary Kate) the one clad in denim.

I hope the Malibu has high enough ceilings so we can ride with our cowboy hats on!

Friday, June 13, 2008

51 Days

We depart in the amount of days it says in the title(duh) so it is probably about time we scheduled somewhere for us to lay our heads in the West.

Before we get to where we are staying, we need to share a minor detail with you. The week of our trip happens to fall on the same week as a really big biker festival in a city called Sturgis. Some of you may have heard of this legendary place from Meghan's mom: ) What does this mean for our trip? It means we'll be seeing a lot of leather and tattoos and beards. We should probably make a BINGO game but call it BIKER instead. Some of the squares could be Harley Tattoo, overweight rider, leather chaps, handlebar mustache, bandanna, cut off shirt...well, you get the picture.

With Sturgis happening(and KISS playing the night we want to stay near Mt. Rushmore), all hotels are booked/really, really expensive. Will you sleep in your car then, Beck and Meg? We might, but only if our cabins are not conducive to our high maintenance personalities. Ha.

We'll be staying here on Tuesday, August 5 in a cabin with a double bed and bunk beds.(Becky called top bunk...Meghan than called double bed...) Why did we book this specific campground you ask? It has a FREE shuttle to the nightly RODEO. The $2 all you can eat pancake breakfast and free wifi are enticing as well.

That's all for now. Look for more updates closer to and after our departure date(August 3).