Man, just two days of mapping and I'm already exhausted. It's nice to see Kelly, even if its only for a little while. I'm driving back up to Camp Tontozona late tonight after the Dresden Dolls show. Speaking of Field Camp, it's not the same anymore. No more barracks for the students and no more crappy trailer for the teachers. There are new dorms now that have cable TV and (soon) internet. What a rip! No suffering at all. What's the fun in that?

I'm off to Field Camp soon. Wish me luck! Also, wish Kelly luck with her job in Kingman.

I'm gonna be heading up to Field Camp tomorrow. Don't know what to expect. I don't really know any of the students except for the bad one's. But I'll be back this weekend for the Dresden Dolls show.

w.bloggar

Because I'm sick of logging into the blogger website, I'm trying out a new blogging software program. Aside from the misspelled name, w.bloggar is a pretty good program. I can edit or delete old posts, and I can even edit the template (which is a total pain on the website). Hello is another good program for uploading pictures for your blog.

In other news, I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamed that my family and I moved to a small town in North Dakota. I was freaked out. Then I saw a cute French Bulldog puppy, but then I realized it was an ugly frenchy/golden retriever mix. The rest of the puppies were revoltingly ugly.

I promised details and I haven't delivered on that yet. I don't really have time to write about everything--it was such an action-packed week--but I'll summarize the highlights.

Friday - begin the all-night drive at 3 in the afternoon
Saturday - have been driving for 12 hours, through New Mexico in the pitch black night; Kelly finally takes over at 4AM in Colorado Springs; reach Grand Forks by 7PM; have an awesome burger at The Blue Moose as a reward.
Sunday - family stuff; Taco John's is awesome!
Monday - more family stuff; found a bunch of woods ticks around Devil's Lake that we find on ourselves for days to come; make it to Minot
Tuesday - visit awesome mineral collection in Parshall, ND; pissed that so many unique specimens have been ground into polished spheres; visit both North and South Units of Teddy Roosevelt National Park; see lignite in place for the first time; tons of buffalo; stay in Medora, the North Dakota equivalent of Tombstone
Wednesday - visit Devil's Tower; see a bunch of active coal mines along the highway; stay in Cheyenne
Thursday - go to Sierra Trading Post store in Cheyenne; eat lunch at Casa Bonita in downtown Denver, as featured in a South Park episode; can't believe that place actually exists; enjoy awesome mountain views along I-70; reach Moab, but can't find an empty campsite or motel room; end up in a handicapped room at fourth hotel checked; Kelly totally pissed at me
Friday - see Valley of the Gods and Goosenecks of the San Juan River; drive home

Kelly and I are back from vacation. More details later... 

Kelly and I are heading off for North Dakota today. I'll drive the first shift, after Kelly gets off work at noon. We'll probably begin driving between 2-3 PM. Hopefully, I can make it to Colorado by 2AM.

Here's something that's both scary and cool. ZabaSearch.com. There seems to be some problems with accuracy, however. It says I was born in September 1974 (not true) and that I lived in Phoenix (not true). It also says my parents were born in 1981 and 1957. How can my dad be younger than me? And I can't even find myself under "De Gregorio" (I have to search without the space, even though that is technically incorrect). But the bigger question is if I should be relieved that it doesn't know the real information about me?

So many things have been happening recently, it's hard to keep up. The important point is that many events are conspiring to keep Kelly and I from going to North Dakota next week. From my potential trip to Australia, to Kelly's tiny fender bender, to unnamed family issues, to thinking about home buying, and many more, it's definitely been stressfull. And the main issue is being able to afford it. With the high price of gas, food, and hotels, a road trip to ND and back will run somewhere around $1000. But we'll figure it out somehow.

I had a great weekend with Kelly. We went up to Strawberry and hiked down to Fossil Springs with the fam. Ed was so sore afterwards. He looks like such a tough doggy, but he's so pitiful and wimpy sometimes it's funny. The rest of the family tried out the new tent trailer nearby. We found a great camping spot among the junipers just off the forest road to Fossil Springs. Kelly and I got to stay at the awsome Windmill Inn in Strawberry. One of the best things about this weekend was that the weather was awesome, but there was still nobody around because it's not "the season" yet.

In other news, I think I'll try submitting my paper one last time (after revision, of course). Tom thinks American Mineralogist letters may be a good bet. I hope so.