Greetings from lovely St. Regis Montana!
First off, me and the wife worked things out and she came with me.
We left Detroit just before 11pm and headed up I-75 with 2 cats and a dog as well as what worldly possessions we could fit in her mini-van and my escort, since the U-haul which started out at 17' and 1700 dollars shrank to a 14' (there being no 17 foot vans available in MI, OH or IN, not from U-haul or anyone else) and the price rose to $2200 after insurance and everything else. So we stopped north of Grayling MI for some shut eye at a rest stop, then again just over the "Big Mac" bridge. We the rolled out to Bruce WI to see the wife's father for a couple days and then down to Friendship WI to see her uncle. Tuesday afternoon we were headed west down I-90.
Just outside Albert Lea MN, the muffler popped off the van and killed a tire on the way. No real harm done except for causing us to spend the night at a fleabag hotel and hit the Wal-mart for a new tire and off we go again. Then, deep in South Dakota (near Murdo IIRC) the van started acting funny. So another night in a hotel there, but no big as we expected to spend a night anyway. Turns out it just needed trans fluid, even though we checked it in WI. So off we head for the badlands. We hit the Badlands N.P., Wall Drug, Mt Rushmore and then run up to the Devil's Tower and all seems well. But we hit the Montana border and the van's radiator blows up. We limped it into billings and then spent the holiday weekend stuck there. We couldn't get the part until Tuesday and the van won't be ready till Wednesday. Wednesday we get the van and the thermostat hadn't been replaced, so we had to get that done and roll west. At the last rest stop east of Missoula we get some sleep and head in at daybreak. Now we have a real problem, we at almost $1500 short of what we expected to have when we arrive and a couple people back in Detroit, who were supposed to put the money they owe us in the bank have not shown.
We got hold of my family to barrow some cash but we are still way short of what we need so we call around and the only place we can find in our price range it a trailer park in St. Regis Montana, 71 miles west of Missoula (having 3 pets and 2 smokers is NOT the way to cheap lodgings hereabouts). So, here we are, the first place was a rathole that the park owner gave us on the cheap because the previous tenants tore the joint up, but it kept the rain off. A couple people came through with part of the cash we are owed so we upgraded to a real trailer with little extras like heat and hot water.
So here I am. I have applied to a few places here and in Superior (which is just up the road) and I hope to get something local as I don't really want a 71 mile one-way commute in winter around here, but I will do what is necessary to get by. The wife has some interesting prospects here too, including a job with the Montana state revenue department. Heck, I ain't in Detroit so I'm better than halfway to good. We both expected some setbacks, and we damn sure got 'em but we both think things are going to work out in the end.
I don't know how much time I'll have for online stuff but I will try to keep you all posted.
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