Kelsey's "Corrections" - Day 6 cont.

So my little sister decided that only "one side of the story" was being told about how our adventure was happening. Therefore, she wrote in a blog entry for Day 6 as well. Here ya go!!!

Hello there devout followers! As much as I know you enjoy reading Josh’s unabridged history book version of our trip, and mom’s segment that resembled an extended Christmas card of good cheer, I thought maybe you might be interested in what really goes down on a daily basis on this great adventure. Your burning question is about to be answered: What is it REALLY like to be a Tate? Lemme tell you.

1. Let’s start out by dousing all the rumors about how ghetto this trip is. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some moments where we act like the Clampet clan and take pictures posed as statues we’re at, buy nailclippers (Dad) and moisturizer (Mom) at drugstores because they can’t live without them, or steal every bottle of shampoo, conditioner, and bar of soap from each hotel. However, there are plenty of times that certain members of the family (cough Josh cough) like to pretend we’re living on rations and are on a budget of 50 cents. Exhibit A: At McDonalds the other day, Josh “made his own” Big Mac out of a double cheeseburger and some special sauce that he “asked for”. Instead of paying an extra 25 cents to get a real one, he wanted to prove to us he could survive on the bare minimum. Also, there have been plenty of allegations about how we’re near death in various picture locations, let it be known this was by the COMPLETE CHOICE of the individual with the camera to jump out of the car while it’s still moving and risk death jumping in front of cars and near bison bigger than our car. I have been living a normal, safe life and viewing these wonders from the safety of the car window.

2. This brings me to the point of our eating situation. Today I was informed that there are no Chick-fil-As in the West. I’ve been mourning in the cramped corner of the car (between a book bag, camera bag, and Cheez-Its) that I call home for the past 30 minutes.

3. We have been passing the time like champs. On the train ride the other day we entertained a man nearby us with a game of Phase 10. He didn’t play, but observed our family engage in America’s favorite card game, and told us we were, and I quote a “riot”. Dad didn’t figure out how to play the game until Phase 6, and Josh came back from behind for the win. Papa Bill was quoted because “the worm did turn”. Besides cards, we are also playing the ongoing Alphabet Game. We split into teams based on wit and intelligence, (which is clearly why Dad and I are grouped together, being the intellectuals of the family) and so far it’s an even battle. This is because we never established rules. The “point” is to find something we see that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Dad began with “American Indian” as his “A”. However, Josh and Mom tried to pull things like “A: Apex, B: Belief, and C: Car” which as I’m sure you can all tell are generic, not physical objects, or boring. They claim they’re playing a different version of the game then us; either way we’re all happy because we all think we’re winning. So far, so good.

4. We’re currently driving through Yellowstone. Let me share my two cents on wildlife. I don’t really enjoy taking photos of buffalo. Why you ask? They’re one of God’s creatures after all! Well, when the bison is two football fields away and a quarter of it is visible behind the brush it is grazing on and 20 cars are parked on the side of the road trying to capture the side of the buffalo’s leg that they can see, I become very bored, very quickly. Yet, I am proud to report we have stopped at every single last animal we have even thought we have seen. (Mom has a tendency to think rocks are animals.) I do enjoy the scenic overlooks a lot though—complete with waterfalls, canyons, rivers, and the Rockies, so I promise I’m not too miserable! ;)

5. Now you didn’t hear much about the train. Just mom’s description of the picture perfect sights outside our window. Let me tell you what really happened. It was a 14 hour train ride. Count ‘em, FOURTEEN hours. I spent much of this time playing Solitaire on my iPod which I’m sad to say I am not getting any better at. Mom read a lot, surprise surprise. Josh and Dad watched two Star Wars movies back-to-back. There was basically no air conditioning, (which you know Dad loved) and the bathrooms are smaller than on airplanes. But it was nice to be able to walk around, which I certainly can’t do inside this rental car. Heck, I can barely keep my circulation as Josh and Dad continue to throw things back here they are through with—used tissues, camera lenses, half-eaten banana muffins from the hotel’s continental breakfast, etc.

6. Our rental cars have XM radio, which is cool. We’ve been listening to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville as you would expect. Josh and I were apprehensive about whether we’d have enough music to make it all the way across the country, so this new-fangled radio thing is exciting. While listening to Josh’s iPod the other day we did a rendition of “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night”, as all of us wore sunglasses and danced/flailed about (complete with spirit fingers) with Josh’s video camera recording it all from the dashboard. But don’t worry, we were going through Wyoming so there was no one else on the road and that method was completely safe. This song was followed by “Ain’t No Mountain”, which included numerous hand signals at the Rockies and rivers outside our window during the chorus. (Copies of these music videos are available at our discretion or for a small fee)

7. Lastly, to include some sort of sentiment in this post for all you sap-lovers (shoutout at David Slackerhouse), we have a tradition where every night at dinner (provided we have dinner) we all go around and say highlights, and sometimes lowlights, of the day. It’s been really fun and keeps us nostalgic throughout this grand tour. Some highlights recently have included: Seeing the same Boy Scout troop in South Dakota and again three days later in Yellowstone, the beauty of Bear Lake, seeing jackalopes galore, seeing how much progress has been made on Crazy Horse since the last cross country trip in the 1970’s, and the incredible tour of Deadwood that was engaging, hysterical, and still informative.

Lowlights include: Rude people who push in front of me in the middle of the reenactment after I’ve been sitting for an hour in preparation, off-key singing by other train passengers, and car rides that last forever when we’re already exhausted. But those are really lame things to complain about when, as hopefully you can tell, we’re having a great time! 

That’s it for me, for now. If you liked this blog better than the other posts, feel free to comment. If not, just keep it to yourself and don’t lower my self esteem anymore than it already is by Josh on a daily basis (after all I do keep getting called the special moose!) We miss most of you and send love from the road as always.

Kelsey