A note concerning tangents: (X)

Current Location: Bozeman, MT (pop. ~27,500)

(N45°41.32’, W111°2.49’)

Distance Traveled on Leg 10: 341.8 miles

Total Distance Traveled: 3298.1

Expedition Outlook: Pleasantly Full

State with the tastiest overall cuisine thus far: Montana

We often felt as if we were about to drive into the sky.

Good news, concerned readers: We awoke in Terry with all of our internal organs still on the inside! (I guess you might already have known that since I sent a broadcast from Terry this morning when I awoke, but I didn’t think to say this then) We hit the road pretty quickly, stopped briefly in Miles City to get some food (super awesome barbecue, in case you were curious) and re-supply, then it was back to the road and the haul out to Bozeman. Having now had the opportunity to see Montana with the sun up, I can definitively say it is gorgeous country. North Dakota has more horizon and seemingly more farms, but Montana has a definite lead in the rugged department as well as seeming to trump ND on ranches. Most interesting though, is how the terrain changes as you go further west. Eastern Montana is flatter and has more of the badlands feel of western ND. As you go further west, things get more lush, trees become more abundant, grasses greener, etc. In addition, the hills get all sorts of riled up and start lunging about all over the place, and then you get some mountains. Real mountains, mind you, not that lightweight stuff they call mountains out in New England.

After being told he wasn't allowed to climb, Hannibal
promptly informed us that the rules don't apply to bears
and jumped all over Pompey's Pillar. 

Hannibal was causing trouble amongst the Crew Bears and that necessitated a quick pullover so I could break up a fight between Blitz and Batman. Once that business was taken care of (including fishing Hannibal out of the cooler where he was stashed in an effort to get him to simmer down), the expedition voted to take an on foot excursion and explore nearby Pompey’s Pillar. “But isn’t Pompeii both misspelled and in Italy?” you might ask. Well we wondered that too. We discovered that the one in Montana has nothing to do with volcanoes and everything to do with graffiti. Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame, hacked his name into a sandstone bluff during his eponymous expedition to chart the Missouri river. According to the visitor’s center, this mark is apparently the only physical indicator still extant that marks a site where Lewis and Clark actually passed through. This particular bluff must have been good for this sort of thing, because before Lewis got there, the Crow people had been scrawling all over it for decades, and after Lewis other folks got in the action. We saw some scrawls dating as far back at the 1820’s (Lewis tagged it in 1806). If we haven’t totally lost you to boredom yet, then I imagine you might wonder why it’s called Pompey’s Pillar. Lewis named it after Sacajawea’s son, whom he was quite fond of. Curiously enough, Sacajawea’s son was named Jean Baptiste Charbonneau and not Pompey. The visitor’s center wasn’t super clear on where the Pompey part came from beyond indicating that that’s what Lewis liked to call Jean Baptiste. With all of our questions as answered as they were going to get, we piled back into Corona and carried on to Bozeman.

Yes, folks, this basically came out of nowhere. 

In a bold move Edison went sleeveless today and the gods responded to his taunt by ratcheting the sun up when we disembarked at Pompey’s Pillar. When that failed to boil him in his tracks, and with us having escaped Apollo’s fury by hiding within Corona, Zeus decided to try and kill us with another storm once we got to the Crazy Mountains (I’m totally not making those up). By time we noticed the smudge on the horizon it was too late, and soon poor Corona was rainlashed and shuddering in the gale force winds meant to punish Edison’s impertinence.  It would appear that Bozeman was some sort of cosomolgical and meteorological home base, because no sooner did we cross the town limits than the storm backed down. By sunset the skies were clear as if it had never happened. I fear the gods will not be so easily foiled, so I’ll be having exit all buildings first for the next few days, because there is no way I’m taking a bolt of lightning meant for him.

Bozeman was recommended to the expedition by a co-worker of mine, Chris, and I’d like to thank him at this point for pointing it out, it’s a great town. I’d also like to thank his brother Steve, who is a resident, for telling us where the hot spots were in town. Though most of the shops had closed by time we got there, the eateries were still going in full swing, and based on Steve’s advice we hit up the Ale Works for a very tasty dinner. We unfortunately had to forgo dallying with the town’s night life, as we have a very ambitious course charted for tomorrow: We plan on doing the 600 plus mile drive to Arches National Park in Utah in a single day. It will be our longest and truest sprint to date. We’ll be cutting through Idaho and most of Utah to get there.

On the subject of the expedition status, I have both good and bad news to report. Best to start with the bad: We may have lost Eloise today. She’s been having problems keeping a charge and seemed to only operate reliably under constant power siphoned from Corona. In Miles City, she stopped operating even while plugged in. It is unlikely she will rejoin us before the expedition has been completed. Further attempts will be made on the morrow to resuscitate her things are not looking good. Tachikoma will have to step up and cover navigational duties for the remainder of the expedition if Eloise is truly lost.

He never was any good at hiding those smug expressions. 

On the brighter side of things, people actually talked to Edison today when I was not present and Hannibal was otherwise incapacitated (read: drunk). As if that wasn’t surprising enough, he actually engaged them in conversation back. There is hope yet that he’ll be able to defeat his critical case of misanthropy. Now if only we could do something about his hair…

It was not only a good day for Edison, but for Hannibal as well. After two days of failure, he finally managed to finally exert his charm once again. We're hoping this will get him to settle down a bit, or at the very least stop messing around with the Crew Bears. At this point the expedition would like to thank Tana and Jamie for putting up with our ridiculousness and humoring Hannibal. You are both delightful and we’re glad to have made you a part of our adventure.

He really is incorrigible.

In a strange coincidence, Edison has similar sentiments he would like to express, so without further adieu:

[Notes from Edison: Let me take time to say hi to all of the people who have joined us to read this blog about our adventures, especially those who we have sufficiently interested during the trip by our Hannibal-related activities that you are now reading our story despite knowing pretty much nothing about us. Here’s a little bit to fill you in on some or all of our pasts.

Two of us are Humans.

Three of us are capable of moving ourselves under the right conditions.

One of us has met and shaken the hand of Trace Adkins.

One of us graduated from college with a degree in English.

One of us took the classes to become a police officer, but never went on to join a precinct.

Several of us are almost universally recognized (by women) as total cuties.

One of us is the production manager for a school’s theater program.

One of us works as a lighting technician on movies and tv shows.

All of us have lived in Massachusetts for many years.

Some of us have lived in California, New Jersey, New York, and Maine as well.

One of us had his heart installed by a friend of ours.

Some of us are in love, by one definition or another.

One of us drinks very rarely, two of us drink like fish.

We are variously Portugese, Saxon, Armenian, German, Japanese, American, and Teddy Bear.

One of us has an incurable (but not fatal) disease.

One of us has issues with rust. (but don’t tell anyone.)

Most of us really do not care what people think of us.

(and finally) All of us are happy that people are interested in our trip. We’re having a great time!

“I don't bother chasing mice around,
I slink down the alley looking for a fight;
howlin' to the moonlight on a hot summer night.
Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry,
wild stray cat you're a rebel gone guy.
I wish I could be as carefree and wild, but I got cat class and I got cat style.”

On a more somber note than I normally take in here: Some friends of mine are having a really tough time right now. One of our most awesome is in the hospital and one is no longer around. If you have any spare good thoughts, please send them on to them and to the people who are trying to help. Love and Peace, folks. Be good to each other out there.]

As is always the unfortunate case, the morning hour grows rapidly nearer and we have a big day ahead of us. We have reached the zenith of our westward travel, no longer into the setting sun shall our travels take us, but rather to the south... like the wintering birds… (hmmm, I suppose that will have to do). Yes, much like the birds seeking warming climes and a vibrant escape from the winter’s cold grasp, we too will travel ever southward, seeking adventure and liveliness. Thank you, America, and good night. This is the Nickness, signing off:

Thank you for tuning in! On our next episode: One Day, Three States; Did Somebody Mention Potatoes?; NaCl H2O City; Have They Finally Learned To Defeat The Morning?