Queen of Queen

We spotted this Sage Green '78 in Missoula recently, sporting a very Missoula license plate.

Happy 43rd, Gertrude Butterblume

Not much ink gets spilled over Gertie anymore, though that's not to say we don't love her. We just don't have time for her right now.

The plan, such that it is, is that she's the car upon which I--and E, if she's willing--will learn how to do body work. Hopefully this can happen before her 50th birthday. Also, she has a fuel injection issue I have yet to figure out (see: time, lack thereof), which makes her somewhat unreliable (I'd sooner push her off a cliff than hack carb(s) into her, to head that suggestion off at the pass).

But anyway, happy 43rd, Gertie.

The Big Four-Oh

Ludwig turns 40 today, which, for reasons I've alluded to previously, is not okay with me.

Happy birthday also to EP, of course. And to Kevin Kline.

Ludwig gave himself to sin, he gave / himself to providence, and he's / been there and back again / the states that he's been in

Below are maps showing all the roads we're aware of on which Ludwig has been driven. There are print versions of these maps, updated in orange highlighter when necessary, on our bookshelves but I wanted to do the digital thing too. I've got a thing about maps, see.
Notes: Around town driving isn't shown. Also, plenty of Nebraska driving which I can't specifically remember or otherwise confirm--high school was a long time ago--is left out too, as is (of course) everything from before May 1991 when I first met Ludwig.
If I feel like it I might add links to specific blog posts sometime, then put the whole shebang in the 'Geographica' link above.
So click, zoom, hit 'Sat' (wow, I wonder how many trees Ludwig has driven past), scroll around, and enjoy.


View Larger Map
Faint orange indicates roads surprisingly not traveled and which will be taken care of asap.


View Ludwig in Idaho in a larger map


View Ludwig in Wyoming in a larger map
This map is screwy right now around Yellowstone NP because it's Winter and Google Maps is stupid. I'll fix it if/when I can.


View Ludwig in Nebraska in a larger map


View Ludwig in South Dakota in a larger map


View Ludwig in Washington in a larger map


View Ludwig in Oregon in a larger map


View Ludwig in California in a larger map


View Ludwig in Nevada in a larger map


View Ludwig in Arizona in a larger map


View Ludwig in Utah in a larger map

Missoulaneous Vanagons

Both found within a block (in different directions) of Westside Park, aka Castle Park. Missoula has to be one of the biggest Vanagon-per-capita towns in the country.

♫ ♪ To Everything There is a Season ♪ ♫

Since the last boring video was enough to spawn nine 'likes' and a share (thanks, Jeremy) I've decided, as is my wont, to press my luck and put this little piece of cinéma vérité, taken from the same road trip, out for public consumption. Apologies for the squeaky accelerator pedal.

For Your Safety Please Keep Your Arms Inside the Vehicle At All Times

After importing this and seeing it on the screen, I figured it was too boring to use. But to hell with it: what's the point of a blog if you can't bore people now and then (or even most of the time) anyway?

First Snow 2013

2012's first snow also fell on October 3rd. Weird.