The Scott Travels

Olympics Day 1

2010-02-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

ScottDate: Friday, Feb. 12

First of all, I think it is very important to discuss the death of the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. This accident has affect everyone here differently. Everyone has been very respectful of the situation, even to the point of complete silence in the bar where we watched the opening ceremony. The Olympic rings (see picture from my last post) has become a dedication spot for Kumaritashvili. This accident has effect Lauren (my friend) as she is head of transportation for the sliding venue. She informed us at midnight (when she got home) that on a good note, all of the safety procedures where performed perfectly.

I was unaware of the accident as I decided to go skiing on Friday. I hit the slopes just about lunch time and rode the gondola up Blackcomb Mountain. It was snowing up on the mountain which is good and bad. Obviously, more snow is good, but the clouds make block the sun and just about eliminates your depth perception, so the ground just looks white and you can't see the contours. That makes for very challenging skiing. Plus, since we are in the PNW, the snow is wet and heavy which means turns your turns come all from your quads! Well, my quads were screaming at me on the second run, so skiing was...interesting.

I then met Elini (Lauren's friend) at the Dublin Gate Irish Pub (as usual) for a seemingly bottomless plate of Irish Fries, clam chowder, and of course, Guinness. We then stayed and watched the opening Ceremony, which did have some changes compared to the rehearsal I attended (but only slight). It was then time to head home and sleep.

ScottDate: Saturday, February 13

Today I am heading into the Village for some lunch and then up to the Luge track where I have a ticket to see the Men's opening round. The track has been modified where the accident occurred and the starting point for the men has been changed to the women's starting point (just after turn 3). I have been waiting for this for a long time! It will be a blast. I will have my rain gear on and cow bell in tow! Time to cheer!

The Olympic Adventure Begins

2010-02-11T14:56:00.001-08:00

ScottDate: Wednesday, Feb 20.

I flew into Seattle on Tuesday Feb. 9th and worked in the afternoon (to get ready for my work week the following week). I crashed at my old place (aka Peder & Alison & now Brady's house) before I head up to BC for three days at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Fitch's were great hosts and invited Dan, Amanda, & Evan, as well as Mike, Dori, and Evelyn over for dinner. It was a great evening and I was very touched to see all of my very close friends again, with their respective additions (i.e., kids). I slept quite well that night (considering I had very little sleep previously).

I got up had traditional Fitch waffles with the Fitch boyz and headed out to Vancouver BC, where the infamous Ms. Lauren Briel has graciously given me her 2 tickets to the 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremony-Rehearsal. After being asked about 15 questions at the Canadian border, I made it to the venue and enjoyed a great rehearsal. No details allowed as we were told not to say anything and not to take any pictures. After the ceremony, the only way to exit the stadium placed me about 1.5 miles farther away from my car. Thus my 20 minute walk to the stadium became a 50 minute walk back (yes, I got a little lost too). I then hopped into my trusty stead of a rental car (a 2010 Dodge Caliber) and drove up to Whistler to crash at the Briel residence. Thank goodness I met Dan Wednesday morning to grab the inflatable mattress, for that was my bed for the evening (and most likely my entire stay).

Thursday, Feb. 11
Today, I got up and helped get things ready at Lauren's place for the upcoming days of the Olympics. She has been so busy and barely had time to even text me her address! Thus, I had no idea where I was going but all is well I found her place! Earlier this morning, I was hanging out with one of Lauren's fellow Olympic workers who is also swatting at the Briel residence and we headed into the Village. We found the ticket booth and I purchased a ticket to the Men's Luge on Saturday and Women's Alpine Skiing on Sunday. Both tickets are not "seats", but standing area (or something) so I hope I will be able to wander around to see different areas of the venues. I have my cowbell ready for action! I had been planning to go skiing today, but the area has not had too much snow and has also been quite warm. It has been raining/snowing in the Village all day, so hopefully it will be snow up on the mountain. Tomorrow morning I will hit the slopes and try not to injure myself (as usual). I do have pictures, but the cable I need to download them is with my luggage, so be sure to come back now, ya heyah, eh! (after all, I am in Canada)

The New Commuter

2009-03-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

ScottDate: Sept., 2008

After living in Seattle for so long, I really got used to taking the bus everywhere. My move back to the Midwest has reminded me of how much you really do need to drive to get around. My commute alone is 30 miles round trip. Thus, 150 miles per week, 50 weeks per year, so if you do the math (which you know I will) means I will be driving a minimum of 7500 miles to and fro work. Yikes. Well my trusted Explorer is running fine, but getting 18-19 miles per gallon (which is rockin' for an Explorer) was hitting my pocket book really hard when gas was $3.50-5 per gallon. Not to mention the Explorer is 14 years old with 150K miles, a major repair is looming after driving it on a daily basis. Thus, a search for a commuter car has been underway since January of 2008.

After long and hard searches on numerous websites, car dealers, scalpers at auto shows, and back alley economy car deals, I finally found a car on Craigslist that met most of my criteria for a new commuter car. I was looking for a car that was going to get at least 30 MPG, not too many miles, a manual, and somewhat sporty (after all, got to look good some of the time). I found this hail damaged 2001 Honda Civic with only 77K miles on it. Because of the hail damage and its...obvious appearance...it was in my price range. So I cashed in some of my savings and now I have a new commuter car.

The purchase of this new cruiser happened on the eve of an almost 3 week trip to the UK for work where I was going to be working four different projects in four different cities around the UK. I did allocate some time to see my best friend Vinay and his family who live outside London for a few days. Thus my new purchase sat idle in my garage with my Explorer having to sit outside, oh the tragedy. The very next week, the market crashed while I was in London. It was very surreal to be in a foreign country while watching the news that the US economy was dropping like a rock. There was about a week delay and then the market in the UK started to crash all the time everything was blamed on the US for the cause of it all. Which we all know, is sort of true and not. Anyway, the longer I was in the UK, the better the exchange rate got. It actually fell 15% in just over 10 days. Interesting times....

Bosses, we don't need no Stinkin' Bosses...

2009-02-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

ScottDate: July 2008

Working for a company rather than an academic institution has had required me to make many, well a s@#$load of adjustments on how I try to perform cutting edge ideas and fabrication ideas. One of the biggest adjustments involves now I have a "Boss" to my work. Now, in academia, you are pretty much your own boss when it comes to many of the technical aspects of work, but now I am subjected to the whims of someone else. My experience in industry has provided me with some very critical traits that are good or bad when it comes to bosses/managers, (i.e., I've had crappy bosses, good bosses, and even crappy good ones). But it really comes down to if can you work with the individual or not. This was a deciding factor for my decision between taking a job in Minneapolis with a heck of a lot more money which was exactly the type of research position I wanted vs. coming to this huge corporate giant with less pay, more exposure to different technologies, working with more universities, and just...bigger. The manager decision was a deciding factor. Guess what...I chose wrong...the manager was crap.

I found out immediately after my AZ canyoning trip that my manager was leaving the company, and to all places, the company I had a previous offer from in Minneapolis! This really left me worrying about my time at my present position. While my manager was crap, he was good at getting and obtaining really neat projects for our group to work on. But when it came to actual "managing," well there was none of that, it was a free for all. He had a very different view on how to assign projects to his subordinates and I was one of the massive casualties of his lack of managing skills. So much, that a number was placed on my board signifying how many more days I was going to remain at the company. The poor managing lead to the majority of my stress and was a main reason why I did not even want to update my blog to let you all know how bad things were actually going....we'll get to that.

So while waiting to see who would replace my manager/boss, I started looking for new positions just in case. To my surprise and anger, an exact duplicate of my position had opened up in Seattle. You can only imagine how angered I was. It had already been filled so I was still in a holding pattern while interviews were conducted and I went manager-less for 3 month. My projects span out of control, political lines were drawn within our group and I wondered more and more about my decision to leave academia.

Luckily the hiring committee selected a new manager who is working out just fine. Things within the group have settled down and I am doing much better. During my performance evaluation which is done in 3 stages throughout the year (for me by 3 different people) I learned that even someone with my background is not usually placed as a PI (principle investigator) on a project their first year of hire (allows you time to get to know the company). My response was, "So it is unusual for me to be the PI on 3? Where each 3 are on non-related technologies?" I was even able to write a proposal and get external funding during that time. Not too shabby for a "new hire."

I am the PI on 3 projects for 2009, but I am used to it now. The new manager has worked out fine and my travel for this year should be more under control. I estimated that I was on the road a total of 2.5-3 months in 2008. Hence the emptiness of my house! I have been able to see some very interesting places in the UK and the country. It is pretty cool to be able to get this close to a multi-million dollar vehicle. I guess my job does have some perks....

Messin' in MESA

2009-02-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

ScottDate: July 2008

I was lucky enough to get to work with some people out in Mesa, AZ who had a similar love for the outdoors as myself. One of them was planning a week long backpacking trip at the same time I was heading out there for some work. Unfortunately for them, they had some cancellations on a backpacking/canyoning trip. Fortunately for me, I was able to join them for a shortened trip through a canyon in norther AZ. Ironically, this is the same area where all of the alien abductions occur and where a particularly famous one in which they based a movie on the event, "Fire in the Sky." Luckily for me, I have not seen the movie, but my two traveling companions had. They were not too happy to be reminded of the possibility of alien abduction, it's their own fault for bringing it up! The first night camping by the truck made for interesting interpretations of the massive humming of the mosquitoes, shrieking of owls, and drone of the hummingbirds. I slept great. Thanks to a friend for the use of his bivy sack. I'll have to pick one up, that was way cool.

This would represent my first ever overnight trip through a canyon where I would be spending more time hiking through water rather than on a trail. Actually, using the term "trail" here is over stating what we were hiking through, bushwhacking and being whacked is more accurate. I've hiked through areas where bears were a factor, but not where stepping on a poisonous snake was more probable. Actually, about 50% of the time, I have no idea what I was going to step on (water, grass, mud, solid rock, moving rock, weeds, sand, gravel, my foot, slippery rock, etc.) I guess you can get the idea. Bears are easier, you just have to yell out "Hey Bear!" often, (i.e., see Sept. 2007 posts for reference). Needless to say, no one was bitten or even saw a snake, way cool.

The hike/trek was great and I forgot all about work, which is tough to do for me, 'cause I like thinking of new crap, which is part of my job. And yes, a lot of my thought do turn out to be crap, but I got my PhD to PROVE it is crap, that is harder than you may think (or maybe not and I am just making myself feel good).

I only have pictures of the aftermath of the trip right now, so I will up load more pictures later. Thanks to my traveling companions to have purchased water proof digital cameras. My camera was displaced (thought I lost it) in the truck, but I only had a water proof container for it. After the trip, I am confident that it would have been destroyed due to all of the water we trekking through. We even got to swim through one portion. Way cool.

I was dropped off at the Phoenix airport to take the shuttle to pick up my rental car. Nothing like sitting on a crowded shuttle bus when I have been hiking for 3 days through dirty, algae infested, crawdad populated, swamp water. So I'd like to apologize to everyone on the shuttle bus to the rental car facility. I am sure I was a lovely sight and...ummm smell.

You can see from the pictures of my bony ass legs, that the blackberry bushes had very sharp thorns which like to cut flesh. Lucky for me do very well with discomfort on the trail. It's discomfort in the hotel which is tough.

More pictures of the actual trek will be posted later...stay tuned.

Mustang, Oh you pain in the @$$

2009-02-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

Enter time travel effects here....ScottDate: August 2008

I thought the move to the Midwest would offer me numerous opportunities to take the Mustang out on the roads. I soon found that every time I went out for a drive, the mustang was overheating. Now for those of you that know a lot about the 1960's mustangs, they are notorious for overheating problems. My baby was no exception to this problematic design of an all but too cool classic muscle car. I had even upgraded every part of the cooling system to mitigate this troublesome problem, but in kept creeping up at every opportunity. After replacing all the hoses, coolant, thermostat, flushing the radiator, and a bit of praying (I am after all in the Bible belt) I was getting desperate! After consulting a restoration manual, I concluded that my baby was leaking combustion into the coolant (thus adding super heated gas to liquid) which was causing the overheating problem.

Remedy: Replace the head gaskets. If you plan to tear an engine that far down, its not too much more trouble to just yank the engine.....and transmission.....Yeah, well it sounded good at one point, trust me. But hey, I have my own garage now (sorry Mike, your place didn't get to see this one). Time to call the parents, grab the cherry picker (apple pickers are too bulky) and pulled the engine with the help of my brother, we'll call him Eric.

Next came the rebuild. If you have an engine out of your car, the car Gods demand you take it apart and make it better, which I did. That effort on the engine made me $1000 poorer. But all of that work seems to have paid off. The new valves, guides, timing chain, paint, gaskets, and love has made the engine so much more responsive. It also gave me the opportunity to clean and detail the engine compartment so I don't have to feel embarrassed to have the hood up when I let her strut her stuff at car shows.

The next step was to find a new Automatic Over Drive (AOD) transmission. New tranny? Scott, I thought you said that the car was overheating, not having problems with shifting...Well you are right, the transmission was working just fine and dandy, but since it is out of the car, might as well replace it, right? Well.....sort of. The real reason for putting a more modern transmission in the car was to go from a 3 speed transmission to a 4 speed, thus a highway gear. My MPG was expected to go up about 30% (Peder would be so proud of me) and the gearing for gears 1-2-3 would not change, it's a win-win, well....maybe not. But let's keep going with the story. So after long searches on ebay, multiple craigslists (yes all over MO), and even mustang websites, I located a AOD transmission out of a 89 mustang with a 5.0L (that's a 302 for all you old timers like me) for a $100. I thought it was in Lebanon, IL, but it turned out to be in Lebanon, MO. Hmm....about 16o miles from me, but hey, I didn't have anything going on that saturday. I get the transmission and to my surprise, it looks to be in very good shape on the outside and even signs of a recent rebuild. I got it all cleaned up...see...all nice and pretty to install (please God let it be ok). Here is the universal tool used to clean automotive parts (just make sure it's your wife's)

You guessed it, the transmission was fried. After taking it to a local transmission shop, it would lock up completely when it tried to shift into second gear. Equivalently slamming on the brakes when it shifted. Not good. So guess what, the transmission needed to be rebuilt. Darn, my gamble to buy a cheap working transmission on craigslist has blown up in my face. Well, it was a $1400 explosion. With all of the new linkage, yoke, u-joints, and misc. parts, my estimated $1200 work has turned into about $3400 ordeal spanning 6 months (instead of 2). Luckily, Mom & Dad bought me a new transmission for X-mas (it even has a 12 month 12K mile warranty). This is ironic since I haven't driven the car 5K miles in the 7 years I have owned it. But hey, new engine, new transmission, new brakes, new....other things, it is all ready for the fun in spring, which is only 2 months away here.

The mustang is now all back together and running strong. Not everything is working though. Somehow all of the instrument gauges that were functioning before I took everything apart, are not functioning. No worries there. What is worrying, is the instrument gauges that were not working before ARE now working. I really haven't been able to figure that one out. But hey, it's a cool car!

Back by Popular Demand!

2009-02-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have had sooooo many people asking why I have not been updating my Blog that I have decided to reactivate the account and start to update the status of things here in St. Louis. Since it apparently has been almost exactly one year since my last posting, I guess a few things have happened since then. I will be "retroactively" making postings over the next few days/weeks to get up to activities that are happening in the present time. Luckily, I will not have to go to far back, but I will have to go to a land far far away...Yes, here in St. Louis, Missouri. For all of you that have not made it east of the Rockies on land, Missouri is pronounced: me-'zur-ee NOT me'zur-a (those that do we call hicks).

First of all, I am actually surprised to see the picture of my house with nothing in it, mainly because it actually looks almost exactly the same...i know it is sad, but my efforts have been focused elsewhere...Yes, you guessed it, my baby...the Mustang (yes it deserves to be capitalized). But we will get to that later. Now off to the next postings...and don't forget to strap in since you will be taking a ride of your life (well actually my life).

2008-01-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

It's amazing at how busy things can get. I have finally gotten some time to update the blog. So here are the long awaited pictures of my home, the front and the crowded living room.

Work is going fine and next weekend I will have my house warming party. Not too shabby, considering I don't believe Mike D. has had his housewarming party and he has been there over five years. Anyway, just trying to get things in order at home and in life, so I'll have to see what I can post for everyone. Of course, feel free to call if you want your own personal update. Cheers.

Money...what's that....

2007-12-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

Today is the day that I have been preparing to tackle for the past 2 months. Of all things to do, I have approached today with great anxiety and force of will, but when you get right down to it, I've been just down right scared. Yes, I need to establish residency in Missouri, which includes having my Explorer inspected and changing my drivers license. The state of Missouri only has 7 simple documents that you need to present in order to pay money to allow your vehicle to wear the stately badge of "Show Me State" on its front and rear (licence plates for those of you that are not following). First and foremost is obtaining a state safety & emission inspection of the vehicle. Which until recently, you had to go to two separate places to obtain. Well, now you can go to one place! Yippie. Next, I head to city hall to prove that I don't owe any personal property tax on my vehicle in the state of MO, which is funny, considering I can easily prove that it has been registered in Washington state for the past 7 years. Then I need to prove, that I am who I say I am with a passport, social security card, out of state drivers license, and I believe a segment of my umbilical chord from birth. Finally, show proof of insurance, have a speedometer inspection, and something else. With all that said....

I am having the safety inspection and it turns out that all four ball joints on my Explorer are completely shot. To the point where it was very likely that I would have lost my front spindle while driving. Actually the mechanic is surprised that I am still alive after driving across the country! Just by jacking up the vehicle, we could almost separate them on our own...not good. Considering it takes months for the joints to deteriorate that much, I am puzzled as how Sears was able to do a front end alignment without noticing almost an inch of play in something that is suppose to be tight as a drum. So there goes $1K which was going to buy a couch. So anyone planning on visiting, be sure to bring your camping gear!

I have had a lot of requests for pictures of the house, so I will be sure to get those up on the next posting. Take care and later....Dude.

Moving in, moving on, & moving up...

2007-12-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

Moving in: After closing on Friday, Dec. 14, moving in was quite an adventure. First I had the movers with my belongings from Seattle at the house, already waiting for me to get there. They were way cool and moved in everything without so much as a small mark on the wall. Had to tip, hey I'm Italian and living in The Hill, you gotta. So far so good, but can't sleep at the house yet, my bed is still in storage in St. Louis.

Saturday moving day was way cool! So cool that it even snowed about 4-6 inches! Let me tell you, if you plan to move, you gotta do it in the snow. I had plenty of help, one brother to help load, the other to unload, while Johnny and Dylan came along for both legs. They were way helpful. So now my bed and limited furniture is in the house, but I still have one more day in the hotel on the company's dollar, so no problem.

Sunday, Dec. 16 was the first night in my new home. Yippie, and cough...got to get a humidifier...:)

Moving on: The first week in my house was all sorts of fun with organizing delivery of appliances, installation of utilities, and of course, work. So far I have a phone, electric, gas, and water (which I had to pay $150 for a guy to come and count the number of toilets in the house!). Charter communications was selected as cable/internet. They f#$&~d up royally. They missed four 4 hour installation time slots and then when they showed up, could not install anything. I called and canceled my installation today and they were surprised why!! But at least they tried to get me to go with their phone service, hey they hadn't screwed up any bit on that! Last week was busy with all of those tasks, special thanks to my parents for house sitting the 16+ hours waiting for charter.

Moving up: Since my home's main level is a completely open room with no walls, but more importantly, no furniture. I really couldn't stand the echoing when I talked, so I have set up my living room in the loft area on the second floor. It is nice and cozy and the size of a bedroom (which it really is). I have been hiding out up there when I give myself an hour or two to relax from all of the work getting things organized.

More to come...

Closing Day

2007-12-13T16:40:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow I enter the rest of the world as a home owner. The only things remaining to do are move in, which in itself will be quite interesting for sure. I will do my best to keep my blog more up to date, by posting at least once a week. Things should be a bit less hectic since I will no longer be living out of my Explorer and a hotel (even though I love my explorer). Ya'll come back now, ya heara! (no St. Louis is not that far south)

House Hunt Endith...

2007-12-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

The house hunt is over. I have placed an offer on a new house in "The Hill" area of St. Louis. For those of you who don't know about the different areas of St. Louis, The Hill is famous for its Italian food, rivaling that of Chicago and New York. At least three of these restaurants are three blocks from my soon to be home. No worries, the house has a two car garage and two car parking outside. I will have plenty of room for my hobbies!

Now I am off to Germany for an exhibition and conference. Oh, and bier, of course!

Here is a link for the advertisement of the house I bought. http://homes.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?zp=63139&ml=3&mnp=26&mxp=25&bd=3&bth=5&typ=1&sid=b67819abb8e343dea41302d6dada97aa&lid=1091429264&lsn=1&srcnt=3#Detail

Work and Wrecks

2007-11-27T17:59:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since my last post and once again, I am truly flattered that people are still following my new adventures in my home town. Thus, the title of this post is what it is.

Work: I have just started my third week at work. Things are still going well. It does have some perks, I will be in Germany next week for a exhibition/conference, not bad for three weeks on the job. I have not done a bit of research, except trying to navigate the basic waters of understanding the projects I am involved, purchasing equipment for said projects, navigating the wonderful world of paperwork, and learning how to use my BlackBerry (which was kinda enough to erase itself today since I could not remember the password). The people I am working with are really a lot of fun which makes me lighten up since they are very used to the corporate tap dance. Hence my problem, I only know how to swing dance.

Wrecks: For those of you that know me, will be very shocked to hear that I accidentally tore up the passenger side of my explorer. Repair estimates were quoted at $2200. Well, as much as I love my explorer, which is only worth about $4500 (before the damage) I will have to repair it myself. So a trip to a salvage yard to get a new door (a white one at that) cost me $250! A bit 'O bondo and paint should cost only about $50 more. I love the smell of bondo in the morning!

The House hunt....

2007-11-11T11:35:00.001-08:00

Well, I am sure that most of you have stopped checking my blog for updates, but for the select few that are enduring the long drought, here you go. My house hunting has been going OK to poor. It has proved challenging to find a place in an area of town that is close (walking distance, which means less than 0.5 miles in STL) to a coffee shop, bar, Washington University, or Forrest Park (St. Louis's Central Park, which is huge, 5-10X Greenlake) in my price range that has a 2-car garage with driveway. Surprised? I am....but I will keep looking. Something will come up somewhere. I found one house, but I don't think I could live in it without changing the front facade. Looking at the pic, I am sure you can see why I have ruled this one out.

I had my first day of work on Friday, if you can call it that. HR stuff and then a whirlwind tour of everything. I met all of the cubicals of people I will be working with since everyone seemed to be absent, interesting... The job still sounds cool and I really like my manager, which can make/break a position, we all know that. So I am still excited about the job, which should still shock everyone too!

I've gotten to hang out with the parents a bit, work on their cars (of course) and already joined a soccer team. Play here is a bit different, we play on something called grass. I seem to remember that stuff, but it is kinda difficult to remember. I think we can slide tackle too...Well gotta go play. Hope I don't get hurt since my health insurance doesn't kick in until Dec. 1! Cheers.

Made it to STL

2007-11-02T17:39:00.001-07:00

Made it St. Louis, MO yesterday evening after a lovely 12 hour day. Albeit, 1.5 hours were cat napping at a rest stop in MN. I have moved into my temporary hotel/apartment and have started my house hunting search.

There is plenty to tell, but that will have to wait a day or so. Cheers all.

The casualty report...

2007-10-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

Every trip has some type of casualty and this is no exception. Today while driving just north of Mankato, MN, a falcon (or hawk) had the great idea to fly toward my Explorer. Needless to say, my Explorer won at 70 mph. Thus, outside the bugs, there has only been one fatality on this trip. I thought birds had better eyesight that us, how could they miss my big white truck! Just plain amazes me.

No matter, I have made it to Minneapolis to spend a bit of time with my good friend Stephanie. We will be ripping it up tomorrow night on Halloween, that is if both of us can come up with a decent costume on a budget and time constraint.

Other activities, golfed poorly today and had a bit to drink. Thank God, no driving back to where I will be crashing, so all is good. I have less than 24 hours to come up with a decent Halloween costume idea, so suggestions are appreciated. Cheers.

The Four, the Crazy, and the Bad...

2007-10-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up in Rapid City, SD and started off with the first decent night sleep I've had in a bit. Little did I know that the day was going to bring some interesting events.

My first stop was Mt. Rushmore. Upon my arrival, I was immediately asked to take a picture of this very nice east Indian family. My initial response was, "I believe I already have." It turns out this was the exact same family who asked me to take a picture of them in front of Devil's Tower yesterday, at least I knew how to work his camera! Mt. Rushmore is very neat and you really get to learn a lot about the four presidents which are depicted. It was ironic to learn that Abraham Lincoln had no formal education but worked as a lawyer, seems some things haven't changed much today.

I then moved on to see how Crazy Horse Mountain was coming along. Apparently Kiolzowski (and now family) have been working on the sculpture for just shy of 60 years now. It is an impressive sight and I hope it will be finished in my lifetime.

South Dakota really needs to work on their highway systems in that area. In order to keep heading east from Crazy Horse Mountain, you have to drive back to Rapid City. So after 80 miles and 6 hours, I am right back to where I started in the morning. Geeeshhh.

I rounded out the day by driving through The Badlands Nat. Park (3rd NP on the trip). Totally cool and I wish I had all day to just sit and take it in. I had to settle for only an hour and half though. Maybe on the next trip, fer-sure.

Tomorrow its off to Minneapolis and some golf. The weather has been too good to just sit in a car doing nothing but trying to find a decent radio station. 1800 miles down and about 900 more to go!

The Ode to Garrett...

2007-10-28T20:08:00.001-07:00

One good thing about traveling is you don't have to worry too much about your personal hygiene, so I have not shaved for quite a bit. This is my Ode to Garrett for helping me with the moving of my stuff. Sorry G-man, need to shave it off tomorrow, the itching has hit a local maximum.

Custer & Devil Soup...

2007-10-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today was a long day on the road. Past by the memorial for the Battle at Little Bighorn (Custer's last stand). This is a very interesting edition of our National Park system. I was here 24 years ago on one of those ever-so-loved family trips. I was glad to see a memorial for the Native American Indians who fought in that battle. Apparently this battle really made a point to the US Gov. on how poorly they were treating the Indians (who said this trip wasn't going to be educational).

Driving in central to eastern MT is one of those things that if you never had to do in your life, it'd be a more fulfilling life, let me assure you. Easily comparable to NE, great....

Next stop was Devil's Tower NP. Three National Parks in 2 days, damn, had to buy the annual pass. $80. This was really neat (see pic). Apparently the tower was formed 50,000,000 years ago by "boiling hot mag...ma." It reminded me quite a lot of Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland (but on a much grander scale). May have to take up climbing again so I can see the view from the top. Lots of pictures Erin & Paul. Only had to perform 2 exercisms on this visit, which was good, I needed some soup.

Glacier NP Part 2

2007-10-27T23:15:00.000-07:00

The road crossing Glacier was severely damaged last winter, so they have closed it in the late off season (now).Thus, I was not able to drive across the park. Instead, I skirted the south side to East Glacier to spend the night, only to find out everything was closed down for the winter. I ended up driving to Browning, MT to spend the night (which turned out to be a rough Blackfeet Indian town). So after next to no sleep due to partying Indians, I headed back to the East side of Glacier NP to take the lovely snapshot you see here. Totally worth it.

My next stop is...yeah...just don't know. I headed east out of Browning toward the endless high plains of wheat (actually about 800 miles). After 40 miles, I had had enough. Got on the phone with my Aunt in Billings, MT and headed south. Spent the evening with my Aunt, Uncle, 2 cousins, and 5 2nd cousins, namely, A. Louise, U. Terry, C. Joe, C. Kathy, CnL. Jen, C2. Geovina, C2. Sebastian, C2. Sierra, C2. Jacob, and of course C2. Ashely (who showed me her birthday list for JULY! That's planning!)

Today I head out for Devils Tower in WY and then to man's largest sculptures, Mt. Rushmore and Crazyhorse mountain.

Glacier National Park

2007-10-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

After spending a day in Kalispell dealing with moving problems in Seattle (mainly on the phone), I finally get to see Glacier National Park! Since this is the WAY off season, I will have most of the park to myself. Actually, I only saw about 15 people besides myself in the park. Sweet!

After checking in at the ranger station to find out what hikes I could do in a day, I settled on only doing two hikes, Avalanche Lake (4 miles) and the other to Upgar Lookout (7 miles) which is shown at the right. The bear activity is kinda weird right now. They are busy scavenging for their final food before hibernation so they are a bit more, "in an hungry state" as I was told. The smart thing to do while hiking in bear habitats, is to (1) hike in groups (not alone), (2) carry pepper/bear spray, (3) most importantly, make plenty of noise. So me, being a relatively prepared person...with no pepper spray and hiking by myself, I headed out on these two hikes. I got used to yelling "Hey Bear!" quite often to make my noise (except for the time I discovered that I had cell phone reception & chatted on the phone to make noise...Thanks Dan, you're still the man).

On the Road....

2007-10-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was day 1 of the long road to St. Louis. The direct route is only about 2156 miles (according to MapQuest), but I am taking an alternate route that is more fun than eastern WY and western NE (I hope, the Dakotas may be a good rival). I spent most of the day driving and dealing with the lovely moving companies that seemed to have all of the addresses incorrect for my move. Paul and Garrett are helping me out on that endeavour, so we all need to give them a hand! Because of them, I get to see Glacier National Park (where I am today). Otherwise, I would have had to blast through.

Tomorrow I should have some pictures of the area. Hopefully, not all of the leaves have fallen from the trees. Later....

The Moving arrangements...

2007-10-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

Well, finding the right job has never been easy, but it seems that once you find it, apply and get it, things just get more complicated. I accepted my new job a week ago and was ready to get on the road to start work. Unfortunately and fortunately, the company is moving me at no cost to myself, except for a headache. They want me to begin within two weeks, but the moving arrangements will take three. So I have been waiting to hit the road for about a week until the movers have everything arrange. Luckily, they will be shipping my '69 mustang in an enclosed container (see picture for why). It's just plain sweet.

I found out today that I may be able to hit the road in a few days, but I am not sure if I will arrive in time for my tentative start date. This will have to be discussed with the company. More later...

In the Beginning...

2007-10-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

Much to my surprise, many of my friends requested that I start a Blog of my upcoming travels. I was flattered that anyone would be interested in reading about the aimless wanderings of an over-educated vagabond. But I fought off the urge to just say no (sorry Nancy Reagan) and have started a Blog. Therefore for popular entertainment and ridicule from my close peers, I present the new and updated, The Scott Travels. Based solely on non-fictional events that may or may not be elaborated or exaggerated for amusement purposes.