We rented a 2009 Mitsubishi Galant for this trip as to avoid having another “Danville”. The car seemed nice but upon driving for hours upon hours it’s shortcomings seemed apparent.

First and foremost it only had on cigarette/accessory outlet. That is not very handy for the modern traveler with a GPS unit, Radar detector plus a 12v/AC adapter. As we are driving through southwestern Minnesota and into South Dakota we are getting a very nasty wind across the front passenger’s side to rear driver’s side. Google Weather (I lt;3 Google SMS) was reporting 33 mph winds. This car does not exactly love the 75mph-80mph we are doing in the wind. The bikes are flailing about on the back of the car as the entire car has a noticeable force pushing on it’s side. As we went over passes and bridges (which there are many of) the car would suddenly jerk at the loss of the wind. On top of this the cruise control did not like the hilly terrain. The car would suddenly down shift and jerk in an attempt to keep speed with the set cruise control. The combination of all of these conditions made for quite challenging driving. Then we stop to get gas for the second time to find out the car is only getting 18mpg!!! The car is suppose to get 25mpg highway, this comes as quite a disappointment as it will greatly increase our fuel cost for the trip. All in all, we would not recommend a 2009 Galant.

We got up at at’em at 5a.m. with the hopes of being ready to leave by 6a.m. having packed as much as we could the night before. We ended up leaving our house by 6:15a.m. By 6:30 a.m. we were at the local gas station realizing I did not have my Visa with. So we backtrack ten minutes home. The two minute stop took about ten as I could not find my Visa. So we figured we would do without.

Before we leave the second time we realize that the bike rack needs adjusting. Somehow in going about adjusting it Amy and I put two huge gouges in the paint on the bumper. Darn. No biggie, it is a rental.

Adjustments made we head on. Another ten minutes down the road and we realize we still need more adjustment of the bike rack. Stop, Adjust, and we are off again.

Fifteen minutes down the road we realize the Garmin GPS is low on battery, pretty odd since it is plugged into the car’s accessory outlet (aka cigarette lighter). After a bit of fiddling (while trying to drive of course), I realize the tip of Garmin’s power cord plug is gone….as in there is no way the connector is going to provide power. No biggie, I have my laptop with the Garmin’s USB plug that also charges. All we need to do is plug the laptop into the 12v/cigarette lighter/ac adapter then plug the Garmin into the laptop. Of course life is not this simple, the 12v to ac adapter will not work and there appears to be no reason why it should not. The unit has a green light and a red light, the red light is on so it has power.

So now we are cruising along with the laptop running on battery to charge the battery of the Garmin which we need/want for navigation. All of these little things happening in our first hour of travel seemed a bit discomforting.

So, Sunday I found a new hiking backpack, a Camelbak so I can get convenient water supply as well but it was $60! Which I know isn't too bad for a hiking/camelbak pack, but I just don't have $60 to spend on a backpack. Well Sunday night and yesterday I combed the internet and found me a $15 off coupon! So last night we went and picked up my hot new camelbak! Brought it home and went for a test ride to Cub. I almost got caught in a storm on the way back but I hauled arse and made it home just in time!

Here's my new pack :

div class=image_blockimg src=http://nathanamy.com/blog/media/blogs/new/camelbak.jpg alt= title= width=177 height=150 //div

So excited for South Dakota- which is the main purpose for my pack purchase. We're hiking Harney Peak this weekend. We'll also be visiting Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, WAll Drug, The Corn Palace, and the BAdlands. We're bringing our bikes as well!

Anywho, so excited! Hope everyone's having a good week!

~Amy

This week I've really been hating my job. I'm not totally sure why. I think part of it is because sometimes I feel so useless. I get my work done but I never exceed expectations. I just plod along doing my 8 to 5 and just enough to get by. I'm jealous of Nathan and his passion for work. His desire to innovate and do better. I don't know how to achieve that though. It's seems like its almost something that's built into your system from the day you were born and my system is missing it…

I've slipped into this funky depression of hating my work life. It's starting the affect my home life. I haven't cleaned the house in forever and laundry is piling up… I need to get out of this funk! I need to find my passion in life and pursue it but- I have no f-ing idea what it is.

The only time I truly enjoy myself is on the weekends or when traveling when all thought of work is far off. I wish I could just not have to work. Lately I've been kind of wanting to go back to school, but the problem is I'm not sure what I want to go for. I know if I did decide to go back Nathan would support my decision 150% and he would help do whatever it takes to make it work, which really encourages me to go back, but like I said, I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up…

Wow, sometimes I just hate life. I don't know what's up with this funk lately… Maybe I'll figure it out soon. Hopefully…

~Amy