Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
July 25th, 2017
Well, after only a couple weeks of planning and preparing, we are off on our first big road trip down to the States! (Well, MY first big road trip down to the States.) Tevin used to live in St. George, Utah, so he's driven up and down that road many times. He wanted to take me down to "take me on an adventure," he says. I'm excited to see everything on the way down, and on the way back up since we're planning on driving back a different way.
We don't have much planned out yet, other than getting down to Utah to meet some of Tevin's childhood friends... I'll be sure to update my blog as often as I can, and take as many pictures and videos as possible.
Tevin has spent the last two weeks getting everything ready, including buying a new car, making sure it was good to go mechanically, and then he added, built, and bought a bunch off extra supplied to the vehicle. I have to say, it's pretty cool! It's a Honda Element, but he's customized a wooden frame to fit in the back and extend out into a bed. So we can sleep in the car whenever we need to! He put 4 foam matresses in the back, too, so it's pretty comfy! I'll have to take pictures of it when it's all set up so you can get a better idea!
Here's what we did on our first day:
We planned on leaving in the morning to get a good head start on the road, but you know how plans go... We didn't get out of the city until about 4 pm. We did some running around first that put us so far behind. I drove the first leg since I was more comfortable driving on Canadian highways. I drove aaaaaaall the way to the US border! It was a cool experience! (And yes, I was safe!) Cayly, (Tevin's sister) and our friend, Jesse, drove down in a really retro camper/van that looks super suspicious. Looking at it screams "stoner" or "drug dealer," so we were pretty nervous they were going to get stopped at the border and searched, which would have been fine, except for the huge time delay. To our surprise, they went straight through! No problem! TEVIN AND I, on the other hand, got stopped right away and were asked to pull over. We were really confused and a little scared, because we didn't know what was wrong. What if they don't let us pass??
We sat in the waiting area for what felt like hours (20 minutes) until an officer calle us up to the desk. All Tevin had to do was surrender his Green Card to the officer and sign for it. That's it!! Once we were done, we were on our way! We switched drivers, and headed to Great Falls to try and find something to eat...
The landscape on the way was interesting... I was surprised at how different everything looked, just on the other side of the border! I thought it would be a gradual change, but as soon as we were in the United States, nothing looked like Canada anymore. Not to mention the loud American Pride plastered all over the place. Seriously. If we had our Canadian flag on as many things as the US has their flag on things, I think I'd hate the colour red. We stopped at a gas station in Shelby, and the American flag was EVERYWHERE. Realizing that this was probably going to be a common theme throughout the road trip, I decided to start taking pictures of everything "American." So far I've found American car freshners, American lighters, American car decals, and much, much more.
We finally made it to Great Falls, and stopped at Cafe Rio, a Mexican restaurant Tevin talked about a lot. I don't really like Mexican food, so I just sat at the table to wait for them. Tevin got me a quesadilla off the kid's menu, so I ate that. It was okay...
After filling up with gas, we continued down to Helena. By this time, it was past 10 pm, meaning it was dark out. I was kind of sad because I think we missed some beautiful landscapes and views. But as long as we arrived alive, I'm happy! We got to the Helena Walmart to park and sleep (apparently tha'ts legal here.) There were some pretty sketchy people camping in the parking lot... There were these homeless-looking people in dirty clothes sleeping in a near-totalled car with the doors wide open and blankets drapped over them. Seriously, it was super creepy. We parked on the opposite side of the parking lot near some RV's, right under a bright light to help deter from theft... And murder... When we were setting up, one of the guys from the homeless parking lot came LITERALLY staggering over towards us like a zombie. I'm not joking. If I had been watching the Walking Dead recently I probably would have started screaming because he looked EXACTLY like a zombie. I scurried under some blankets and locked the door and made Tevin watch him until he went back to his car. Or his "rolling toilet," as my dad probably would have called it.
Once our bed was set up, we layed in the car with the back open. It was lovely. The breeze was just right, there were no bugs, and we had a free National Geographic TV channel right out the back because a family of kittens were playing in the grass just beside the parking lot. Jesse, Tevin, and I went to try and play with them but they ran away pretty quickly. They were so cute!
We settled in, and fell asleep pretty fast since it was about 2 am at this point. It was a good first day, and the driving wasn't as bad as I thought!!! Onto day 2, I guess!!
Love always,
Lindsay Lehr
- comments
shirley I can feel your anxiousness watching that guy stagger toward your car, that would be creepy. On the other hand, watching those kittens playing would be a nice sight to fall asleep on. Good blog, Linds, looking forward to more. Love you xo