If you want her, you can Havre!

What a long and tiring weekend. I'm almost too drained to type this post, but I feel like I owe it to my friends, fans, and family. So here goes! Get ready for the longest post ever about the longest trip ever.

I left work a little after noon on Friday and biked home, knowing that the long drive to Havre, MT, lay ahead of me that weekend. My older brother, after two year of cohabitating and an 18-month old daughter (the cutest little girl known to man, of course) was finally tying the proverbial knot with his long-time fiance. Not only was it a twelve hour drive each way, but Deidra and I were traveling up to Havre with my 26-year old younger brother in tow. Thankfully, we stocked up on Books on CD at the Logan Library - it turned out to be a great investment. We finished Book 5 and half of Book 6 of The Chronicles of Narnia on our journey, which certainly helped the time go by.

We left Logan a little before 1:00pm. My brother fell asleep in the back nearly instantly, only to awake about 20 minutes later and ask if we were halfway there yet. Not only were we not halfway there yet, but we weren't halfway to being halfway to being halfway there yet! I guess he thought he napped for a little longer than he actually did. Three hours later, we stopped in Dubois, ID, for gas and then back on the road. There wasn't much to see in Dubois anyway.

At about 7pm, we took the Logan (MT) exit, hoping to find the home of Deidra's high school friend's mom, where we were staying the night. We knew we were on the right track when there was a list posted of residents directly after we exited. P. Frelier - 4.6 was one of the listings. After those 4.6 miles, we came upon Eileen's home, and what a magnificent site it was. Out in the country, nestled between buttes and ridges and overlooking the Missouri river was a very spacious, comfortable, and inviting home, where the weary travelers were taken in, fed, and sent to bed for a good night's sleep (once the heat subsided a little bit).

The next morning, we went with Eileen to Three Forks, MT, where we partook of the Lion's Club breakfast and took a 20-minute tour of the entire town. It was very quaint and had quite a relaxing atmosphere. Afterward, we got back in the car for the second leg of our journey. We twisted through mountain passes to Helena and Great Falls, and then turned on to the most boring stretch of highway ever invented ... of course this would be the road that led to Havre. I don't know why I expected much else.

Upon arriving at Havre, we were told to travel all the way through town to the hotel where my parents had booked us a room. After 20 blocks and passing 14 casinos, we were in the parking lot of the Best Western, feeling a little bit out of place already. We got in our room and laid down for a while before getting right back up to change into our reception clothes and trudge across the street for the reception. (Note: My brother and his wife actually got married a couple of weeks ago in the Bahamas and were having their reception in Havre.) We arrived at 5pm and took all sorts of pictures, and then sat at our table, awaiting the dinner that was to be served at 6pm. Well, 6pm came and went with many tables still being empty and I overheard the groom say to the bride, "Yeah, I may have told some people 6:30." People continue trickling in and by 6:30, the tables are beginning to fill and most people at most tables (my family's table excluded) were purchasing drinks at the bar. 7:00 comes and we have still yet to be served. I guess it doesn't matter much when you're getting liquored up, but without that luxury, I was getting pretty hungry. Finally, my brother announces that dinner will be served ... after the toasts. Luckily they were fairly short and painless and we moseyed up to the smorgasbord for fried shrimp, fried ravioli, salad, pigs-in-a-blanket, pizza, vegetables, peas and potatoes, brisket and all sorts of other randomness. But it certainly filled the belly. We were stuck there until after the first dance, where the groom dances with his mom (We hand to lend moral support to my mom) and then we got the heck out of there and went back to our hotel.

I didn't feel well that night and I tossed and turned in bed until I got up and tried sleeping on the quintessential uncomfortable corner stuffed hotel chair. After that unsuccessful attempt, I promptly went into the bathroom and proceed to relive the eating of fried shrimp, fried ravioli, salad, pigs-in-a-blanket, pizza, vegetables, peas and potatoes, brisket and all sorts of other randomness in reverse motion. Not pleasant. From there, I sat against the hotel wall, wrapped in a blanket with my piercing side throbbing consistently. The next thing I know, Deidra wakes me up at 7ish as I am sleeping on the hotel floor.

I was feeling better, and we went down to get breakfast from the hotel, where we also stole a couple of bagels for our lunch. My younger brother had returned home that morning with my parents, so it was just Deidra and I for the drive home. We attended the LDS sacrament meeting there in Havre and then got on the road a little before 11am. We didn't know how far we wanted to travel that day, but I think we both knew that we wanted this trip to be over with ASAP. So we actually made it all the way to Idaho Falls, where we stayed the night at the Hillman Bed and Breakfast. The pancakes really are amazing. It was great to spend time with Brent, Karisa, and Hudson. Chod, Nikkala, and Bentley even came and visited, too.

We finally arrived home Monday evening and picked our garden's produce. (Thanks, Whit, for pillaging as much as you could while we were gone. You do good work.) And, to my surprise, I found that I have a baby watermelon about the size of a golf ball beginning to grow. Woohoo!

Anyway, I am glad to be back in Logan. There's nothing like spending 24 hours in a car to make you appreciate getting out of it once your home. I'm glad Deidra is my wife because she made the journey enjoyable (when she wasn't asleep). Even though she doesn't particularly like long road trips, she is an enjoyable companion to have on one. And if we ever go to Havre again ... it will be by plane.

P.S. If this post almost put you to sleep, then you know what we went through this trip.