This is a reanimation of the Vicaribus blog as lived by Miro Kazakoff and Ehren Foss in 2004 and 2005. The photos may be spotty.

Kalispell

Posted by ehren

Once in Kalispell we asked the nice old lady at the Chamber of Commerce where to find WiFi, and she gave us the complete list (library, J.D. Morrell's Cafe, and two City Brew locations). I'm willing to be that the same IT company set up the networks for all of them, as they all have every single port aside from 25 and 80 turned off, which makes it awfully difficult to do anything useful, work-wise. I ended up e-mailing a zipped version of my SPECTRE directory in hopes that it could be checked in from the other end.

While at City Brew a half dozen people parachuted into the field across the street. Post internet, Miro and I ate a quick dinner in the bus (tried the sardines left by the UK folk.. they were palatable) and took a short shopping expedition in the direction of the airport. I replaced my lost camera USB cord, bought more socks, more expendable t-shirts (for future zirk work, if needed), and Miro stocked us up on paper towels and other sundries recently depleted.

Around 10 we picked up Annely from the airport (and were aggressively waved off by a not-nice looking airport security official) and headed back to Wal Mart, our home away from home. Still makes me feel slightly ill to camp in their shadow, but free parking is free parking. It rained during the night, thus ending our longest streak of sunshine since...at least Seattle? Perhaps even before San Francisco. Still, it's not raining today and it looks like the clouds will burn off by mid-afternoon.

In the morning the light and heat (the bus is effectively a 13-ton greenhouse these days) woke us up early, cleaned, organized, bought propane, and drove back into town. Once at J.D. Morrell's I had to turn down a contract for the first time...as I can hardly find the time to do the work I'm already obligated to complete.

Kalispell is a small Western town. You get the sense that most people walking around have urgent business in the countryside and are only in the big city to take care of the essentials. Montanans, it seems, are not unlike the people who gave New Hampshire the "Live Free Or Die" motto. They're friendly, direct, businesslike, and both wary and welcoming towards strangers. I've also seen more 70s vintage mud-covered pickup trucks in the last two days than in the preceeding decade.

This afternoon we're picking up Miro's friend Mike, and then heading into Glacier National Park. We should emerge by the 27th in Great Falls, MT.