In the Absence of My Other Half: Part 2 (Michael)

I'm not always terribly verbose, but when I am, it takes me a long time to write.

I will try to be succinct on this one, especially since I've waited until the day of to write mine ;)

-Michael

Traveling by bus across the country (72 hours of butt-numbing excitement) can give you interesting insights into a pretty deep cross-section of American culture and society.  And I use "deep" purposefully. 

I started my trip in Washington state, but soon found that what I considered the "pacific North-West" is really only west of the Cascades.  East of them, Washington looks a whole lot more like Kansas.

I found it funny that one of my lay-overs was at a Pilot, our bus trip stop-over of choice, so I sent Missy this picture.

Missy likes clouds, so I was sending her pictures like this a lot.  I also wanted to feel connected to her and the kids during my 9 days away from home. 

I honestly couldn't tell you where this is, but it was a cool picture.  The bus depots all run together in my mind.  This one might have been Boise.  Missy later asked me what Boise was like.  All I could come up with was 'dark'.  We did get to drive through Boise in the daytime later in the trip, though.

Salt Lake city.  Looked forward to going back since it was so pretty. 

Once over the mountains from Salt Lake City, it was a return to the high plains.

Some of the mountains back east.  This was sunrise after my third night on the bus.  It was a welcome sight because it meant I was close to getting off the bus.  My butt hurt.

I had the pleasure of hanging with many old friends while I was back 'home'.  It was a really nice time; I ended up eating out almost every night with a different friend(s).  I missed my family, though, and called them every night (which was a bit interesting with the three-hour time difference), told the kids 'Harold' stories (which this time was Super-Harold stories), and generally tried to be a good Dad/Husband from far away.

When it was time to head home, I was happy to be taking the 'short' way and flying back to Seattle.  A co-worker was kind enough to drop me at a DC Metro station by which I was able to catch a bus to Dulles.  It was a nice bus.  I took a picture.

After "sleeping" at the airport in a few shifts, I boarded the aircraft and returned to Seattle in less than 1/10th the time it took to get back east.  But, I saved $300 taking the bus, so it was worth it, right?  Right??