Wyoming!

well well well. Wyoming was infinitely better than Montana. Right now I am sitting in the library of the town of Deadwood South Dakota. So while Wyoming has left me for the time being, it is still in my heart. Wyoming yielded me two of the best camping spots I have ever been to, all for the low price of FREE! We also went to the world's largest mineral hot springs, all for the low price of FREE! Currently, Josh and I are into listening to old Fred Penner tapes and going to museums, so we have been on a bit of a learning curve. Apparently Fred Penner is only uncool from age 10 to 20. As we drove the windy mountain roads his old tunes flowed from the cassette deck into the back of my deepest memory drawer and I was delighted to discover that I remembered all of those silly lyrics of his. The Cat Came Back, Ghost Riders in the Sky, Sandwiches are Beautiful. Maybe i have cabin fever, but these songs slay.
Anywho. Back on topic. We are now in the Black hills of the Southern most Dakota state. Here we will witness the grace of the almighty Crazy Horse and those other four lads who got themselves blasted into the shape of a mountain. Apparently there is also a very large series of caves here, so I think we may go spelunking. Hopefully we can run into an underground lake with a pirate ship only to have the whole mountain come crashing down on us.
Oh! One more thing. If you are ever in Cody Wyoming check out the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Here we were once again greeted with Wyoming hospitality and treated to half off admission by the nice man at the desk. This building of knowledge contained not one museum.. But FOUR! A Buffalo Bill section, A Plains Indians section, A Western Art section and last but most importantly, A Fire Arms museum. The last section may have been my favorite, the coolest gut buster being a Chinese hand canon from the fourteenth century. This little treat was basically a stick with four metal tubes on the end. all of which, at the touch of a spark could inflict serious business. pretty cool stuff.
Ah! I keep forgetting things. Our new friend Mitch. Mitch is from Virginia but lives in Wyoming now after escaping a debilitating coke habit. Mitch runs a salvage yard and for some reason calls everyone Bubba. Mitch's trailer is a refuge for the left behinds of the world, and his pals? I'm not sure if you call them that. Anyway, his Refugees, Duffy and ummmmmm..... Bubba, live with Mitch, trying to help him fix cars. Mitch has a very large truck, with even larger flames. Mitch's wife, has an even bigger truck, with even larger flames. Mitch keeps horses in exchange for auto parts. Mitch trades Mexican migrants truck cabs in exchange for auto body detailing. Mitch trades farmers old mufflers for feeding hay. Mitch may or may not have a criminal record. Mitch was the most helpful man i have met on this journey. Mitch was a Godsend. Mitch fixed our truck for free. But we gave him money anyway. So heres to Mitch. My most favorite Redneck.

Top 5 Skillets of 09

I decided that i needed to make a post completely dedicated to breakfast. So here it is.

The number one skillet award of 09 goes to: The 24 Egg skillet served on a cymbal in Butt Fuck no where Manitoba. Not so much the skillet here as the setting that is important. Here we met one of the most interesting people of the summer. Campsite Dave? road site 24? My dates and names may be off but that really does not matter. We (Our band Failed States and friends Things Change) had found a little parcel of crown land aside the lake on our way up to Dauphin Manitoba. We decided it would be an excellent place to camp with our friends in Invasion on the way back to Regina. All went well and we went to bed with vision of skillets dancing in our heads. Campfire started in the morning, Campsite Dave showed up just as the skillet was getting underway. Out of his white pick up truck he jumped out ecstatically with fishing gear in hand to greet us good morning. After hastily setting up his fishing gear he went back to the pick up for the grand finale. Out of the cab he grabbed two giant home theatre speakers and hooked them up to his homemade rig. So there we sat, at six in the morning, dining on skillets and listening to AC/DC at 1500 watts.

Number two skillet award goes to-Any skillet i made for Miranda early this year. I tricked her into falling in love with me making her delicious skillets every morning for breakfast.

Then i got lazy.

Number three skillet award goes to- The skillet we made on the side of the Qu'Appelle one morning while canoeing after being barked at relentlessly during the night by some rabid Coyote\Wolf\rabid creature. Scary night. Good morning. This was probably wins the tastiest skillet award as it was made with my fresh tomatoes and other garden vegetables, but it still comes down at number three. Better luck next year WolfDOG.

Number four skillet award goes to- Rocky mountain high skillet. Made in the high altitudes near Hunter's Peak just east of Yellowstone. Pristine river water to quench down those delicious eggs wins this skillet the number 4 spot on the charts.

Number five skillet award goes to any accent roofing skillet break with particular attention on the 2009 skillet challenge. Won by yours truly with the help of Aly Brennan. When you don't want to work, there is no better treatment than a skillet. No matter how much restaurant skillets pale in comparison to the homemade kind, they are still 500 times more enjoyable than starting work on time.

Exploring the American Midwest.

At least i think that is what it is referred to. Anyway, Montana and Wyoming is where we are at, me and my pal Josh that is. So, I will begin by stating that Montana is a shit whole where nothing exists except cowboys and ummmm. Nope, that is it. This state, at least where we have been is very sparsely populated. We hit a stretch of highway where for over 100 km there was not a single town. Not even a one horse town, let alone a three or a four horse town. Heck I could have been up for a no horse town even. I woulda been so fucking lucky, but nope, every town has horses. So far on our trip we have explored the Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan which was very excellent. I have never seen so many mule deer in my life as i had on our hike through those badlands. The next exciting stop was Yellow Stone National Park which was a slight let down. American National Parks have nothing on Canadian Parks. Practically the entire park was shut down aside from the hot spring terraces, which while being very interesting, were no old faithful, which was what i had my sights set on. Back on the road we went were we camped beside the beautiful Clark's Fork River and woke up to make an excellent camp fire skillet. So far today we have made it to Cody Wyoming and from here we are headed to the world's largest hot spring in Thermopolis Wyoming. Wish us luck, because Fuck is it cold down here.