Cody would be the first town to pass through and we knew we'd at least need to stop for gas. Little did we know we'd be there for well over two hours. I'd thought I'd passed through cody on my trip but I must have just seen it on the map. For the town I passed through had been next to nothing and Cody had a surprising amount going on. The highway going directly into town, streets branched off into a whole museum area and what looked to be a university campus. Our gas stop turned into a coffee stop which turned into a lunch stop which led to window browsing and finally succumbing to a few purchases. With the celebratory homages to Buffalo Bill decking the town, I doubted the museum would have been any good but mother actually asked around to learn that their exhibits were actually vast and varied, covering a pioneer and native perspective of the areas history. Next time through, I'll know to try and allow more time for a stop. this time though, it was already afternoon and we were barely an hour outside of the park!
As we kept driving, I embarked on a hotel and dinner hunt both proving to be difficult. Our goal had been to make it across the state and that happened to land us near Rapid City and the hub of all the big South Dakota monuments. With our delay, we were not about to make it any further. I finally found a good deal in Spearfish, SD and we still made it in fairly good time. Dinner was more of a bust. I found a restaurant that served some fish things I might be willing to branch out on but mostly we were in beef country. I wanted to please my mom's inclination to want to eat out so we decided to try it. The place was a stupid thing attached to a hotel and all their fish was anonymous and frozen. Mother tried to convince me to stay and I had a petty breakdown before settling for some crap sweet potato fries. Her food not that thrilling either, we each swallowed about a third of our mistakes and left the rest of our plates.
Had I known the challenges that would await us the next morning, I would gladly trade for any food disparity scenario.
The day we'd left Yellowstone, my tent was fairly dry but the cover still damp. It was enough to just bag it and worry about splaying it out later. So the next morning with the heat of the sun already turned up, I took out the cover and draped it over my car, clipping the corners in the doors while we had breakfast and took our time getting ready. It wasn't until I made it outside to find mother putting our things in the car that a problem escalated.
I was leaning over a bag when suddenly what looked like dandruff began to seemingly fall from above, coating my arms and the bag itself. At first, I thought just that, wondering if I really had that dry a scalp. When I realized that they were alive, I freaked: Oh my gosh, my hat is so dirty its been growing bugs! I threw it off and ran but when I looked up, I noticed that there were far more than my hat could produce. Swarming over the spot where the tent still draped the car was a mass of the buggers and although the swarm tapered out as it got further from the tent, I started to notice they covered a vast territory. I brought my attention back to my body, finding them on my shirt and arms. As I panicked, mother sort of calmly assessed and told me "I think they're going away. I think you're imagining them on you."
"I'm not! I wailed. "They keep coming! They keep coming!"
We rushed inside and I hoped back in the shower that I'd just been in while she looked them up. Midges. While they don't spread disease, they are damn annoying. Attracted to water, they'd apparently been in the area already and gravitated towards the damp tent. Okay, so we just get the tent away, right?
We went back out, my whole body tensed and dreading with every step (why did I take a shower when we were just going back in the fray?) while she optimistically mused that they were probably flying away by now. Nope. We devised a plan for mother to sweep the tent away while I jumped into the car and drove around the corner to get car and wet separated. After that, we moved all of our stuff around the corner to continue packing.
Well, the midges moved too. Once they were there, they were there. On the outside lights of my car, on our bags and worst of all...on the cooler of food. "It's okay. We'll just wipe everything down and get it in the car." Mother was far calmer than I at this point so I took her lead and began to swipe the thin layer midges forming on the cooler. No sooner had I made a pass though, and they were back in just as thick a number as before. It only took a few swipes to put me back in distress. "This is hell. I am in hell. What the hell." I showed mother the cooler trick and she seemed to gradually up her flusteredness as well. We had gotten the tent back in a plastic bag and were out of other receptacles to deposit contaminants. Mother offered to go to the store and get bags, paper towels and...another cooler. This one was a goner. While she was gone, it gave me time to stew and google all of the various horror stories, from people that had been plagued by an infestation for over 3 straight years to the fact that they had become immune to most chemicals such as DEET etc. When she called to tell me in a significantly more distraught tone that they were all over the inside of the car, I was overcame with the sensation that we would never ever be home and I reverted to little kid "I just wanna go home" state. But there was no way I would get in that car if they were taking it over.
She returned with bags and towels and one by one, we wiped off all the food we could spare, throwing any exposed stuff away. Once we'd quarantined everything, it seemed the bugs in the car had miraculously subsided and so we put the cooler and the rest of the stuff inside. We drove across the street to a car wash and doused the outside of the car. I was paranoid now and since they didn't seem to be a problem in the car that moment, I did not want to open any doors to vacuum until we were well out of Spearfish and the car was breezed dry even though the drier did a good enough job (and I hopefully wondered if its obnoxious noise could explode their little bodies inside the car. Then at our next stop, we found car wash number two and unloaded everything piece by piece, her vacuuming against the timer as I meticulously sorted piles as far off in the parking lot as I could, keeping any possibly effected supplies away from the more protected things. We vacuumed every inch as well as our luggage while I monitored the doors to make sure only one necessary one was open at a time. I noticed that I was now functioning a little more effectively than her. We'd seemed to have reached a cross-over. Where she started calmly and I at a freak-out, her weary frustration had dampened her resolve while I had come to terms with the situation and wanted to actively pursue every avenue that made sure these demons went back to their hellhole. After it al, dry breeze and air conditioning never felt so good and sterile. I'd read that they die fairly fast indoors and so I was determined to lock them in as long as we could.
 |
| A name all too fitting for our situation |
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| through gutting |
Back on the road, we immediately looked up a hotel and picked a stopping point. We were just ready to drive.
Despite the rough start, the evening ended rather nicely. We got to Sioux Falls around dinner time and happened to find a surprisingly tasty Middle Eastern restaurant owned by an Afghani family. One of the women there had a vast and varied career in the peace corps, volunteers for America and other community aid projects and warmly talked to us about my experience and the restaurant for a bit while our food cooked. Everything was warm and fresh and delicious. We drove for just an hour more to Worthington, MN where we relaxed with a movie.
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| "Why Bother" |
-55.5 feet tall
-8,000 pounds
-size 78 shoe
-48-inch smile
-43,000 to manufacture
-they embellish him with a red scarf every christmas
Dad's cousin Laurie and her Niece Haley were all set to greet us when we arrived around a quarter to 5. They'd invited us on a special outing to havoc a picnic and see Romeo & Juliet that evening at an outdoor theater. We got our things in and then went to an amazing co op where I did my best not to get (too) distracted as we got a few more things for the picnic. Picnicking gave us a chance to get to know one another, having never really spent time with this part of the family. Laurie was an incredibly down-to-earth and funky woman and Haley had a cool job as a video editor for a company that frequently saw starts through all the time. She later showed me a picture of her getting "bit" by James Marsters and I had a brief flashback of Buffy obsession. The play was really well done and the outdoor sounds of the wind and the progression of the darkening sky added and unique quality. I drifted here and there, simply from being tired from the driving but it was still well worth it.
Despite a late night, we were once again up early. I was ready to see Ann Arbor.
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