Destination Notre Dame {Day 1: Bellingham to Bozeman}



A dad's duty: loading the car for departure.


Alarms ringing at 5AM, only a few hours after a few of us finally fell asleep, the departure for Zachary’s new life at the University of Notre Dame drew near. Awakened by his sleepy friend, Patrick, who had crashed on Ezra’s old bed after the final round of DnD in the wee hours, Zachary watched as his dad systematically loaded all the carefully packed bags and boxes into the van in the darkness of pre-dawn while the coffee brewed.



One down, two wide awake and ready for action.



Only half an hour after our posted leave-time we were all road worthy, and began the 2,000 mile drive with the traditional family prayer. The Joyful mysteries of Christ’s life on our minds and in our hearts as we lifted up our journey and Zachary’s launch.



A shortage of beds leads to creative negotiations.



An uneventful day of driving, with as few stops as humanly possible found us arriving safely in Bozeman, Montana, only to discover that the over-the-phone hotel reservation service (rhymes with stupedia) misled us and booked a room that could only sleep four at a hotel that didn’t even own roll-a-way beds. After over twelve hours of driving nothing satisfies like calling an 800 customer service number for a gigantic corporation, waiting on hold for 30+ minutes and getting hung-up-on by before finishing your first sentence.



Pizza time in Bozeman, Montana



Oven-fired pizza to the rescue; the guys walked 3 miles to the restaurant in the warm Montana night and I brought the van for a speedy trip back to the hotel after our 9pm supper. Without complaint, Joseph slept on the floor on a pile of blankets and bedding willingly provided by the hotelier, sorry for the mis-representation of the room we booked.



Noteworthy:

• Zachary slept most of the 12 hour drive.
• Coastal environs of our hometown gave way to mountainous terrain, followed by high plateaus.
• Our Lady of the Rockies statue outside Butte has a commanding presence at the Continental Divide.
• Unexpected 94 degree heat at a fuel stop in St. Regis caught us off guard and significantly reduced our desire to linger.
• St. Regis the man led a pretty phenomenally holy life.
• Having a smart phone makes on-the-go Q&A's a breeze.