The Adventure - Part 1 Everett, WA 9:30am

Hmmmmmmm, where to begin?
Maybe our first night, Billings, MT.

Looks like a nice enough place in the daylight. Downtown Billings, on the river. Clean, tidy, historic neighborhood. Coffee shop slash kayak rentals at the back of the parking lot. But at night. Oh! Night! Cars parked on both sides of the streets, one ways, roads under construction and dead ends.

We rolled in at 3am. Two of the big 28 foot Penske trucks, one pulling a car on a car dolly. No big deal, you say. BUT. Add 3 drivers new to this size vehicle, the same drivers that have little to no experience backing up with a trailer that you can't see. Add in an L-shaped, unmarked, dead end, one lane with cars parked on both sides of the street and no place to turn around. Did I mention that it was 3am? Well, one hour, lots of yelling over the sound of the truck (no frustration or anything) and lots of zig-zagging and we made it to our rooms just after 4am. Nice rooms :) Up and out at 9:30am to hit the road, dreading Butte and the mountain pass.

sidenote: one of the trucks (truck 2) started acting up on Snoqualmie pass. Yes, less than 100 miles from home. Dash lights started flashing, things were beeping. As we pulled off the highway to figure it all out... it died. Being the make-do girl I am (possibly a bad choice this time) I said, "turn the key off, let it sit a minute and start it up again." Vwa-la! Lights were off, crazy-loud beeping had stopped and we were off on our adventure again!