Sleepy in Spokane

Good Lord I'm tired. I arrived here in Spokane, WA late Saturday night with Edwards after a five-day drive from San Antonio. The drive was awesome, though. We left Tuesday from San Angelo and got to San Antonio to pick up Messina's car. Next day, we took off again northbound and stopped for the night in Dalhurt, TX (or something like that--it's in the panhandle). Got up again Thursday morning, headed up through the NE corner of New Mexico and on through Colorado. We stopped in Denver where my friend Kim lives, and she put us up for the night. It was a blast! She took us to Boulder and we ate at the Cheesecake Factory--one of my favorite places to eat. Pasta with Four Cheeses BA-BY!!! Washed it down with a glass of wine and chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake. God it was good. Next day, once again, we belonged to the road, heading up through Wyoming and into Montana, where we stopped in Billings. It was a beautiful drive thru the WY, but Billings didn't have much to it but casinos and a Jehovah's Witness convention. The irony...But I did get to meet this awesome 18-week-old pit bull/boxer mix puppy at the motel we stayed at. Yeah, that didn't increase my yearning to get a dog or anything...Saturday, we got up, left Billings and headed west. Western Montana was, I think, the most beautiful part of the trip. Tons of green mountain ranges and wildlife, quaint little towns, perfect weather....good stuff. We went through Missoula, which was gorgeous, then took a little detour up north to try to find some bison. No luck though, but on our way back from the park Edwards spotted a rattlesnake by the road. We got out to look, and he messed around with it a little bit--he threw some pebbles at it and got it to strike. Then we left it. From there, we drove on through Idaho and arrived at base at around 9:00 pm local time. The end of a long but nice trek. We spent the rest of the night and Sunday getting settled in our room--If I would have known what was in store for me, I would have taken the day off! We started class today and found out that we will not have a day off for another two weeks--not so much as a Sunday off! Class all week this week (10 hours a day), then Saturday morning we head out to the field to 'survive' till Thursday. The following Friday, Saturday and Sunday we will learn about all the things we did wrong, and then we will be fortunate enough to go out and do it again the following Monday and Tuesday! My heart swells at the thought...

Haven't really had any time to read lately. But the trip up did give me time to listen to a new CD by Angels and Airwaves--pretty good stuff. The songs that stand out to me are Distraction, The War, The Gift and It Hurts. I think that last one might get stuck in my head at some point in this training. It will probably alternate with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.

Listening to: We Don't Need To Whisper by Angels and Airwaves.