July 12 // Somewhere west of Paradise, Montana [view photos]

I never thought I’d say this, but it’s kind of nice to be back on the road again. After a 40-degree night in the heavenly arctic reaches of Glacier National Park, we’re ready for a bit warmer weather and a warm bed to sleep in at night. Don’t get us wrong, we loved our camping experience for the most part, but I think we’ll add “bring a few extra layers of clothing” to our “will do differently” list next time we go camping anywhere above 3,000 feet elevation in early July.

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July 11 // Glacier National Park, Montana [view photos]

It’s day six already, and it’s really hard to believe that we’ve only been gone for so few days and yet seen so much. With Wyoming behind our back and Montana as our playground today, we had Glacier National Park on tap for exploration.

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July 10 // Whitefish, Montana

For the most part, today was to be an uneventful day — leave Yellowstone at the crack of dawn with a bagel and bottle of water to go, and make our way towards Whitefish, Montana. Our stay here was to be a quick oasis between our second and third legs of our camping experience, a night before our day in Glacier National Park tomorrow.

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July 09 // Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. [view photos]

I’ve been thinking all day of how to start out this entry, and the imagery that keeps coming back to mind is that of Clark W. Griswold and his family and their quest to reach Wally World. Undoubtedly it requires some explanation, so allow me to proceed (as if you have a choice — you’re not the one typing away on a laptop in the middle of mosquito-infested campgrounds). But before I explain my Wally World illustration, I have to set up our drive into Yellowstone.

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July 08 // Jenny Lake Campground, Grand Tetons National Park. Wyoming. [link to photos]

About the only word that can accurately describe today would be “incredible.” We woke up around 7:00 am or so, quick tore down the tent and packed up our things, downed a peach and an energy bar, and made like a bandit for the coveted Jenny Lake Campground. When I was looking for a place to camp in the Grand Tetons, I read several reviews online, that Jenny Lake was the place to camp — and they were right. And of course the view along the way — spectacular. We saw a grizzly just a hundred yards or so off the road and further on down near the dam, a dozen moose — mostly calves, sows and one bull — crossed the road to make their way to some lush grass near the lakeside. But on to Jenny Lake!

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July 07 // Colter Bay Campground, Grand Tetons National Park. Wyoming [link to photos]

Day two. We left Rapid City at a relatively reasonable hour, shortly after 8:30 am and having grabbed a borderline acceptable continental breakfast and Starbucks coffee to go. With a spring of anticipation in the air, we were excited to be underway and make our way towards the Grand Tetons for our very first night of camping together. Yes, our first. We’ve never camped together as a couple before, so this was sure to be a memorable experience for us both.

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Day one // July 6, 2008 [link to photos]

Today is the first day of a long trip that will take us over 5100 miles out west and back, through South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, then down through Victoria British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, and back home via Utah, Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.

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And of course it’s satirical, but there’s an underlying tone of truth to it given the past eight years and how we’ve “progressed” as a nation.

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Heh, didn’t realize that I forgot to import the database over when I was switching my hosting platform. O.o

Well, my blog’s back up and running again. Sorry for the ‘inconvenience’ — if there ever was one.

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Father forgive me, I have not blogged in over two months.

So this little gem was worth sharing this morning. For those who have not known, I’ve pretty much wrapped up any and all musical ambitions that I’ve had — I don’t sell very many CD’s, when I’ve played out I don’t fill out the cafes, and I’ve lost interest for a number of other reasons as well. Suffice to say that I really don’t have a reason to play, so I don’t; and my guitars sit in the basement collecting dust along with any and all musical inspiration that I’ve had once before.

This morning the “red phone” rang when an e-mail arrived in my music-only e-mail account, saying “you’ve received a PayPal payment of $30.00 from…” and citing the CD’s that they’ve ordered. I thought, now that’s random. I haven’t received an order off the website in well over a year. Well, I guess I’d have to rummage through the boxes and dig out a few CD’s to send off.

Following routine, I fired off a ‘thank you’ e-mail, thanking my customer personally for the order and saying they’d ship later this week. About an hour later I received a reply:

Thanks Michael. It was a blessing to hear you on Sunday at Hillside. You are truly God blessed and very gifted.

Peace and goodwill,
name withheld

Zoinks! The lady bought my CDs thinking I was someone else — perhaps “Magic Banjo” Michael Miles? Perhaps another Michael Miles out there? Regardless, she bought ALL of my solo CDs thinking that I was the one who performed at their church that past Sunday.

For one moment, I had a small glimmer of light (not quite enough to call it hope) that someone out there that didn’t know me from Adam bought my CDs because they liked my music. Nope. They bought my CDs because they thought I was someone else. Classic.

Anyway, I thought I’d share that little gem of a moment with the world. If you do want to help me clean out my inventory of instrumental acoustic guitar music, please buy some CDs. It’s not like I’m using them anymore.

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