To Be Scared or Not To Be Scared...that is the question....

I believe it's time for you to see some pics cause I have a lot on my camera I have finally been able to get off and put on a flashdrive. I actually have access to a computer with internet and that allows me to attach external drives! Woohoo! Count yourselves lucky! :) So, the snow is gone for the most part. Yes, we still are seeing snow up in the mountains, but not on the ski mountains. Columbia mountain still has some, but we might be able to make it up there if we tried again. I just thought I would include photos from throughout my stay here. And who really poses normal? Obviously not me.


It definitely took me a while to really believe where I am living. I have mountain peaks on one side of me where the sun rises and rolling hills on the other where the sun sets. But, then again, once you stay in a spot for so long, you start to get accustomed to what you see. It's going to be wierd to be leaving this place, and only in a couple months really! I do enjoy going on my morning or evening runs and looking up and just seeing the high mountains with snow still on them. What a good motivator to keep going!


I'm pretty sure I have told you all about the bears in Montana. I have had encounters with bears before, but they were black bears in Southern California at my summer camp. Is it something we should be scared of? NO. Is it something we should be aware of? YES. Black bear and grizzly bears are VERY, VERY different in how you treat them. Black bears, just act big, startle the bear, and they run away, unless of course, they have cubs and you are threatening them or something along those lines. BUT, with grizzlies, that won't work. You don't want to make any sudden movement. SO DON'T RUN AWAY!!!! Talk firmly and matter-of-factly to a grizzly so it starts to understand you are a human. Make sure they don't think you are threatening in any way. Wave your arms around slowly. All as you slowly back away. If you think that all sounds crazy, wait til you here this! If a bear charges you, 80% of the time it is a bluff charge meaning they either run by you or stop right before you. Yes, I know what you are thinking. I'm in deep shit! No, stand your ground. Yes, you read that part right. Stand where you are. Perhaps you are so scared out of you mind anyways that you have already pissed in your pants and your legs are frozen. Your body in that case knows best than what your mind might be thinking to do...:) haha Also, if the bear is still checking you out and is real close to you, it might stand up on it's hind legs to get a better feel of you and what you are. They aren't trying to intimidate you. Again, stand your ground. Of course, if you are being attacked, lie down on your stomach, legs apart and arms and hands over neck. Try to stay on your stomach since that is where all your vital organs are anyways. Here's the killer part of it all, black bears are not always black. They can be brown, black, cinnamon, or even white! So, there are five features that distinguish a black bear from a brown bear. Brown bears have a lump between their shoulder blades, have short round ears, have a curved face out to the snout, have 2 inch claws, and the paw print shows the length of the claws. Black bears have 1 to 1 1/2 in claws and much pointier noses. If you are really curious, look this up on the internet. Bears do require us to make sure our 'smellies' are either in the car or hanging from a tree before we go to bed! :)


The start of our hike up Columbia Mountain did not start on solid ground. Well, I guess ice is pretty solid...I definitely slipped down the path for half a second like it was a slide. Even on our way back down the mountain at one point, we all sat on our buts and went down the ice slide. Pretty sweet actually. Not REAL serious, but kind of serious, we almost lost one of our buddies. He slipped in the same spot twice, but luckily that same tree was still there to catch him from really going down the mountain. The first part of the hike definitely could have used some Yak Traks!


One of the great things about living in Kalispell, MT is that we are so freakin' close to Glacier National Park and one of the great things about working with MCC is that I get to work IN Glacier National Park. What an office. I bet all of you sitting in your office right now reading this blog are really jealous that I might be in my office which is what you see in the distance in this picture. But, don't get too jealous. You do have a steady job most likely and you might have a clue where life is taking you. Me, on the other hand, we'll see! Oh, the anxiety and excitement at the same time!


The start of this hike on Columbia Mountain started off on ice. Then we were getting so high, the ice was gone, but the snow appeared. It's hard to say exactly how deep of snow we were walking on. But we trudged on...at this point Snow Shoes were needed. We went so far, we didn't see footprints in the snow anymore, but we kept going. We think we were on the right path, but the mountain seemed to get steeper and steeper. Again, pictures don't always tell you exactly how it is, but I think this one gives you a pretty good idea. Just think of Lord of the Rings when the Fellowship was stuck on the side of the mountain of snow. If only we could all walk on the snow like Legolas. Definitely sunk more and more as we went up, at least up to my hips. Needless to say, we decided to turn around at this point.


My co-leader and I stopped at Kootanai Falls for our lunch break. This is where we stopped to eat. Unfortunately we only had like 5 seconds, so we didn't make it to the swinging bridge, or the falls themselves. Dang responsibilities. We were on our way to recruit some kids from Libby and Troy.















I wanted to add this one because I think this tree has some great curves. Don't you think?


I am thinking that perhaps this picture needs a little explaining. It all comes from this hilarious inside story with my co-workers here at MCC. So, one of the leaders was doing a lesson for us all on "How to Shit in the Woods". It was, first of all, hilarious because shit happens. Anyways, she "randomly" picked volunteers from the crowd to show everybody their favorite pooping positions in the woods. I am a "volunteer" and show that I like to lean my back against a tree. Elaine goes next and she likes to hold onto the tree trunk and lean back. Eric likes to hang over a fallen log. But here's the one that got us all going even more...Dan said this: "I like to find a branch at the right height and hold onto it. Then I get myself aimed over the hole and lift up my legs. I like to call this one the Orangatang Hang. It takes a little bit of practice and aim to get it in the hole. If you want to challenge yourself even more, you can try bringing your legs up in a pike position." Hence, this picture now. Don't worry, I do have underwear on!!


Like my beard? That's only part of the surprise for you all...:) haha Anyways, I am in Glacier right now with a couple of friends. I became the tour guide that day and tried to teach a couple of non-Montana-ers about all that I have learned in the last 3 months or so. Hopefully I did an all right job...except I didn't even get the name of this moss stuff correct (what my beard is made up of). So, I told my friends it was Witch's Beard. Sorry, Jenny! It can have one of two names. Some people call it Witch's Broom...some peole call it Old Man's Beard. I just put the two together. I like it better! :)


In the end, who doesn't like jump pictures. So, these are some of the people I work with the most. To the very left is Ahmad, he is my co-leader. Then it's Alicia, a fellow youth crew leader (YCL), then Kate, our Senior Youth Crew Leader, then Julia our regional supervisor person, and then Matt, YCL. We are coming down from a backcountry hitch training. Just to let you know, we never even made it to the trailhead. We had to park 6 miles or so away because our rig would have never made it through all the snow we could barely walk through. About every 5 steps, I fell through. So, yes, we camped on at least 3 feet of snow on a road. The neat thing about the snow, though, was that on our way out we saw mountain lion prints, bear prints, and moose prints. It's neat all the wildlife that can be found here!


I know Jill, my camp Mom, will be a little worried. My history shows that I am not the greatest with plants. A nickname of mine this past summer was Poison Oak...and, I must admit, well deserved. BUT, I do know that you can eat these flowers. They are called Glacier Lillies, but like anything you eat, you don't want to eat too many of them. :) They would probably be pretty good on a salad...


So, how Montana Conservation Corps works is that we are a company that other places hire to do a certain job of sorts. We are hired out all around our area here, even all the way down in Missoula which I will be getting a really cool story from there here soon! Anyways, I am in Noxon in this picture and, it is once again a lunch break for us. I didn't realize, but I am blocking the peak behind me. Kalispell and Whitefish are kind of pretty, but nothing compared to this place. Noxon is a VERY small town, very unspoilt and that's, I'm sure, what made it even more beautiful. The town is made up of...200 people. Maybe 250. Everybody literally knows everybody. I got to use a pole chainsaw, drive a 4 wheeler, getting it up to 40 mph, and see some gorgeous parts of Montana.


This is still in Noxon. This place is a reservoir, a water source. They built a dam where a rive once flowed through. It reminded me of Tehri Dam in India where they flooded out a village in order to have a dam. They did the same thing here. They closed down a small town and built a dam, which has created this amazing landscape which you see here.


And here I am showing it off, just to give you a bit better show of how magnificent it is. But, to tell you the truth, the best way for you to see it is to come see it for yourself. I don't have one of those cameras that can capture everything. In fact, it captures very little. BTW, this is another one of my lunch break areas.


As we all pretty much know, America's national bird is the Eagle. I think I may have seen an eagle or two before coming to Montana, but they are abundant here in Montana. So, while we stayed in Noxon, MT, we stayed at the local park/recreational area/baseball fields. Eagles come back year to year to their same nest, so they have had this local Eagle for a while. It's really quite neat to see this huge nest so far up in the tree, and while I was mowing the baseball field on a big mowing tractor, I saw the babies heads come up. I'm sure I was not the only one watching something else. They all definitely had their eyes on me also.


And there's the mama...or the papa...Not really sure, but they were always around and ALWAYS watching. :) They had so many birds flying around the place. We saw Osprey and a Turkey Vulture. I might as well bring my kids this summer there so I can do the bird lesson there. Forget making paper cutouts of them! Gees, what a waste of time! :)


So, on our way back from Noxon, we drove right through Kootanei!! Yeah, we made it to the swinging bridge. Sweet! The water was raging!! Did you know that A River Wild was filmed here? Well, now you do! The rapids look crazy. Only a pro would go through it, and even then, it's pretty crazy! Who knew Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon would be so good at getting through so crazy rapids!


Just imagine with these two pictures that I am Harrison Ford on a sketchy swinging rope bridge...then you have seen where my mind takes me sometimes...





























Now you can see a bit more of A River Wild. The glaciers are definitely in the process of melting which makes the color of this water so amazingly brilliant! That water also has to be SOOOOOO freezing. It looks good to drink, though! I can't say that this is one of the prettiest places I have seen so far in Montana cause, as mentioned just before, Noxon was absolutely gorgeous. It seems like I get pretty lucky with hitting the right places to see.


It's also pretty crazy that many of these places that I get to see and be in are all a part of work also. I leave in less that a week to go out with kids to even more places and see more things here in Montana. What a good goodbye to America for a while. Thanks to my old college roomie who told me I would like Montana and Glacier National Park. She knew what she was talking about! BTW, these are the youth crew leaders again.















This was last week in the Rattlesnake Wilderness in Missoula, MT. We worked alongside the youth crew leaders from Missoula. MCC has 5 regions in Montana. I will have to say, Kalispell is one of the best regions. Although, Missoula gets the Rattlesnake Wilderness which is pretty cool. So, here is a great story from last week and our work:

We worked in the Rattlesnake from Tuesday through Friday. Our sponsors were funny and kept bringing us random stuff each day. We got brownies, cookies, hummus, garlic-parsley butter, german chocolates, etc. The list goes on, but they were great! Anyways, on Thursday night, Val, one of the Missoula YCLs, was heading to the latrine, our hole in the ground in the woods. She likes to sing as she goes anywhere by herself, cause I have mentioned before, there is a lot of wildlife in Montana. Anyways, she's singing, and then about 20 feet in front of her, a cougar runs away. Yes, a mountain lion. She didn't make it to the latrine. She dug herself a cathole and got out of there. So, we decided from then on, nobody goes to the latrine by themselves. We need buddies to sing with as we head back there. Well, about 11 that night, Jesse, from Missoula, goes to put something in the rig, some smellies so the bears don't show up on camp also. As he is walking to the rig, he sees 2 cat-eye eyes kind of walking toward him. He goes "Oh, shit." and screams bloody murder basically. Harry, from Missoula also, heard this. He was already in his tent but just reading. Apparently, all of us from Kalispell slept through the bloody scream. Harry, anyways, heard it all. He thought his friend Jesse was just attacked by the mountain lion. He thought that was his dying scream. He froze for the longest minute and a half ever! Then he finally got out of his tent and luckily found Jesse by the campfire with Chris. Jesse still needed to get the smellies in the rig. No way did we need a bear problem also. So, Jesse and Harry both go to the rig with their headlamps and put the smellies in the rig and search their lights around the area. They see what looks like eyes staring at them, but half-assed convinced themselves it was the shovel tips shining back at them. Then Jesse looks away and at that moment Harry sees the eyes go down and move away. This is when I woke up. I heard them walking or running back to the campfire, Harry saying "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit." I tried to strain my ears to hear what was going on. I got a tiny drift of it, but I went back to sleep. It freaked me out a bit...not going to lie. Luckily, everybody was fine. The next morning, though, the sponsors came and they went up about a mile, if that, to turn around at this bridge area. On their way back from the bridge, following the same road back, they found a bloody pelvis in the middle of the road. No, it was not a human pelvis, thank goodness! :) It was pretty crazy!!!

Side story from all this, completely unrelated: I put my tent up about 15 feet from the creek running by. I woke up one morning and saw that I was only maybe 6 feet from the water. Guess I could have got washed away in the middle of the night...haha

Well, don't take these stories and worry about me. I'm not. It brings excitement to have these things going on all around me. It's the world. They don't really want to bother us. They are probably more scared of us than we are of them. As my camp director says every year to the kids. "Is it something to be scared of?" NO "Is it something to be aware of?" YES. Just always keep that in mind. And we always have bear spray with us. Which is like Mace but 100 times worse!

So, I have been 100% awful at updating my blog. To answer some questions about me that you may be having: 1.) Yes, I'm still alive; 2.) Yes, I'm in Montana; 3.) Yes, I will answer the question of what I am doing here.

As I have mentioned before (and I'm mentioning again in case you have forgotten by now), I am working through the AmeriCorps in a division called Montana Conservation Corps (from now on referred to as MCC). It's pretty much exactly as it sounds. I conserve things in Montana. I am still in training right now. I've only got a little tease on using a chainsaw. Most of my training so far has been working with youth since I will be a Youth Crew Leader through MCC. One experience with youth here has been leading field trips at a local state park. The other one has been with the Center for Restorative Youth Justice (CRYJ). Both have been really cool experiences. We have also been building these garden boxes for senior citizens. They are basically 5' by 3' boxes raised up high enough so that the elderly don't have to bend over. They can garden from chairs/wheelchairs. It's actually a really cool thing. Everything we do is based around community service which is pretty cool (also makes sense since we are 'volunteers').

In a couple weeks I'll be training for trail work, chainsaws, fencing, etc. All the technical work basically. It's actually quite exciting. My dad never taught me any of that nor probably wanted me to be working with that. Although, he would send Kari and I out with an ax and shovel so we could dig us a lake. (Then, of course, Kari and I fought, so we both dug our own 'lakes'). It makes me nervouse on how to 'fell' a tree, but it will be cool to learn for sure. Then starting in June, I'll be doing all this training will be good for. I'll be building fences, constructing and maintaining trails, habitat enhancement, watershed restoration, planting trees, etc. All of this for 2 four week straight sessions with youth. It will be the same kids for one four week session and then a different set for the second session. It's definitely going to be a different experience then I've ever had, which is pretty exciting. All good professional development for myself and I get to spend some time in Glacier National Park!

Well, that's all the work aspect of things! I hope you haven't fallen asleep yet. I know I have been asked that question, so I thought it was time to explain. Plus, I didn't really know all what I was doing before I left for Montana. At least training has done something! :)

The people I work with are pretty fun, but only like 1 or 2 of them are actually from Montana. A lot are from the Midwest (go figure!). We also have one from Georgia, and on from Alaska. Some random places. And don't get me wrong when I say this (cause I love hanging out with these people also), but it's really hard to make friends outside of work. That's something I really loved when at Purdue. I had a variety of friends (which guaranteed somebody would want to do something at some point). I had my Triathlon friends (for at least some time), I had my rugby friends, I had my friend(s) from freshman year, I had a friend from since I was a year old, I had my high school friend. I had a good variety. So, I have been trying to create that here. Unfortunately, there is no good community sports for adults to get involved with that I have found. So, what do I do? I try to make something. I have been trying to start a women's rugby team here in Kalispell, but my hope for the team's dying. I had one girl show up once and she was SO excited to get a team going. I contacted the men's team in Kalispell, the women's team in Missoula, and the Montana Rugby Union in general. I placed flyers all around Kalispell. I had the one girl show up once, and there has been nothing else. I've definitely gotten a lot of info, even found a rugby pitch here. With my short period of time here, my hope of a team getting going and lasting after I'm gone has died. I would just be happy having somebody show up to play with, especially on these nice days. Perhaps my next step should be to see if the guys would let me play on their team with them! :)

I've also taken a couple dance classes for the West Coast Swing. The girls do a lot of spinning in that class! A lot of the people there are older married couples that came with other friends, so it makes it difficult to actually make friends.

I got myself a tennis racket and I go serve by myself at the tennis courts here. That's been nice, but nobody comes to play with me randomly (I will give you that one, that was a far fetched hope).

I'm definitely still having a great time here and I will continue to try to make other friends while still having a lot of fun with my work friends. Basically, I have almost found it best to make friends by going to bars with my roommate who is from Georgia cause she seems to know everybody (if you thought I was a social person, meet this girl!) :)

Other things that have been going on:
1.) I actually used my Wilderness First Aid
2.) I had a friend come visit
3.) I have hiked at Glacier and in snow up to my hips
4.) I have snowboarded 3 times here
5.) I have yet to see a moose or a bear

Probably not seeing a bear or moose is a good thing. A little FYI, how you treat grizzly bears is different then black bears. Moose is a whole nother story. I heard the best way if they charge is to run in circles around a tree (apparently their antlers inhibit their mobility around a tree) (Oh, and if a grizzly bear charges, most likely they are bluff charging so you are suppose to stand your ground.) Sounds silly! I'll let you know what happens...if I can...:)

I loved the snowboarding. I loved the hiking. Glacier is just as pretty as the books and people say. My friend's visit was awesome (I DO have friends!)

Are you on the edge of your seat yet? Are you like, "She used her Wilderness First Aid training?!?!" Well, yes, yes I did. I definitely realize what I could have done better...but I wasn't actually in the wilderness at this time. It was actually across the street from my house. Ready?

I was in my room talking with Jenny, my friend in town. We both heard something that didn't quite sound right. I didn't think much of it, but I looked out the window and low and behold, across the street was a wrecked car. I ran out of my room, told my roommates to look out the living room window. Casey called 911. I slipped my shoes on real fast. Sarah told me not to run. I told her I wasn't going to get hit by a car. I saw a bloody person lying by the house about 20 feet from the totalled truck. I still ran to the truck first. Sarah was going towards the bloody guy. I checked to make sure nobody was in the car. The car was smoking and tons of fluid was pouring out the front of the truck. Would that be gasoline? Who really knew, but the car was still on and most definitely smoking. In my mind, that car has the chance of exploding. I went over to the guy. He was conscious, so means he had a heartbeat and was breathing. Check, check, check. Blood covered his hands and his head. He obviously had to have been thrown from the car. Probably through the front windshield when the car rolled over and somehow landed back upright. The guy was moaning and rolling back and forth with his hands by his head. None of us approached him at first. Sarah ran back in to get gloves. Looking back at this situation, the first thing I should have done was introduce myself and explain how I could help and then hold his spine and neck in place. Instead, I did try to see how awake and oriented he was. He obviously had a concussion. He kept looking at his hands and his truck very confusingly and was asking "Why I have all this blood on my hands? What happened to my truck?" He finally gave me his name and age, but he didn't know where he was, if he was driving or if anybody else was in the car. I began to check for other victims just in case they got thrown somewhere else.

The police actually showed up pretty quickly, and this experience with them gave me so much less respect for the cops. The cop approached and his first questions where "Were you drinking? Were you on drugs?" What happened to the "Are you okay? We are here to help you." Or going through an actual medical emergency procedure versus those questions and moving him around to say the huge scratch on his ribs was "only a bruise" and to have him lean over enough so the cop could get the guy's wallet. I know the cop was only "doing his job", but there are some moral values that need to be thought of. If he was drinking or on drugs, that could have been tested at the hospital. It doesn't make him have a less of a right to treatment. Those concerns of the police should not have been the first concern. It's also a very negative way to look at things. But, of course, I did not say anything. Perhaps I should have, but I wasn't ready to take on a policeman. I guess it could have been my one time experience of life behind bars? :)

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what happened to the guy. I'm guessing (and hoping) he's all right. Here's how I think the accident happened:
He was going way too fast and his right tire must have gone off the road some so he overcorrected too much and too fast. This caused him to roll the car. He had no seatbelt on, so he was probably flung through a side window or the windshield.

it was my first time ever responding to an accident where I had to use my WFA, let alone being the first time to ever see an accident first hand without cops and ambulance already being there. Someday it would be nice to get my WFR (Wilderness First Responder)...

On another note, my Peace Corps medical and dental have been cleared. I am healthy and good enough to go to Africa according to the American government. It's all coming together! I still don't know where in Africa, but I have decided to try to learn some Swahili anyways (randomly found a used Swahili learning book at a used book store). I'll go from being surrounded by white people galore in Montana to being surrounded by black people and sticking out like a sore thumb. Sometimes I feel like I always stick out like a sore thumb. To tell you the truth, I kind of like it. It's nice to be different!

Story of my life in Montana in a nutshell so far. I love it here. The mountains are great, people are fun, weather's been pretty good, but it's getting to the point where it's time for me to get out of AMERICA!! :)

Pics of where I am

This is my home here in Montana. I have mountains surrounding me in the valley that I live in.




This is my view out the back with an old train track bridge (they are making it into a trail to run around the city)




I forget exactly where I am, but it's definitely somewhere around here and I see this kind of view a lot. (I am just trying to make you all jealous right now)




Kiss the snowman...Snowman love




That's me and you are now looking down the dam.




There was a Hungry Horse who ate Whitefish with a Bigfork. . . (BTW, those are names of some of the cities close to around where I live)




Bringing the leg hug around the world! This is one of my four roommates. We are working on the leg hug...its nothing like the Lindsay Potts leg hug (when she's not pregnant anyways) :)




Getting up to see the sunrise at Camp Mak-A-Dream (a place where we did a week of training on youth behavior, learning styles, etc.)




We made it to the top of the summit at Camp Mak-A-Dream that same morning as above, and we made it in just the right time to jump on the sun!




So, I actually do work here and not just enjoy the scenery. Here I learned how to make lumber from logs. They have taken the American Elm that have all died here due to a beetle and we are going to make box gardens for senior citizens here who can't bend over to tend garden. Long story short, I am working at a small sawmill in order to help the community. :)




Favorite tool name: Pickaroo, but this is not a Pickaroo I am posing with. It's a PV.




I was looking through my camera and forgot I had these on there and was so excited to have an awesome picture of each of my nieces! Here is Aliza, deciding to put on her dad's boots!




And here Marissa is making out with a Mexican coke bottle. MMMMMMMMMMM




I can't say much more than...cute.

Thought for the Day

Limited expectations yield only limited results. - Susan Laurson Willig

Our thoughts determine our actions, and when our thoughts are negative, our successes are few. What we hold in our mind is certain to be reflected in the day's activities. And we are capable of fueling our thoughts possitively, if we choose to.

Positive self-assessment and uplifting pep talks can become habitual if our desire to live up to our potential is great enough. The expectations we privately harbor, be they small or far-reaching, will set the pace for the progress we make today, and every day.

We can greet a challenge with eager anticipation when we've grown accustomed to believing in our capability for success. First, we must expect to handle, with poise, whatever confronts us.

Noone but me determines my course today. My success begins in my mind.

I woke up this morning, pulled out this Book of Daily Meditations given to me by a wonderful lady, one of my best friend's mom. So, I decided that every day I should make it a ritual to wake up and read what the meditation says for that day. The above is one excerpt from the book and I really liked this one. Not to say that the other ones aren't as true, cause they are and are also great to read, but I read this one this morning, and it was like "Wow, that's my thoughts already, just worded so nicely in a book." I also thought it was worth sharing with anybody who is reading.

There isn't much else to write about right now. I have been enjoying the mountain views and the quaint town of Whitefish, MT. It kind of reminds me of a smaller (and a bit chillier) Gatlinburg, TN. The weather hasn't been too bad. I went up into the mountains yesterday and it was snowing big white flakes. Truly beautiful, passing log cabins on the drive up and down.

Thoughts have definitely been going through my head, and I know my sister will make fun of me for this statement, but if I EVER settle down, I believe here might be a real nice place. So much to do around here in the summer and the winter and the fall and the spring. I keep hearing so much about Glacier National Park which is just around the corner, and I can't wait to check it out. There is a ski resort right here in Whitefish for the winter. They have river rafting real close. These are the reasons I have always loved Colorado, and so is are the reasons many people talk about Colorado. But, then if I go to Colorado in the end, wouldn't that be where everybody else is also? Oh, my random thoughts in the head. I'll definitely have time to check out the schools here and get a good feel of life in this area. That's pretty exciting.

My Train Through Vast Land

The train ride became truly exciting when I single-handedly took down one terrorist after another. They no longer just called me Mandy anymore, I'm now known as SuperMandy.

Okay, for real though, the ride was alright. Not as smooth as a plane. It's the longest I have ever spent in a train before. The most before was I think 14 hours to get from Kerala back up to Goa in India last year at about this same time. But trains are most definitely different between the two countries, and not only in cost.

For example, the cheapest train ride in India is the Sleepers class. Basically you have 9 people in one little cube area (that's if its not overbooked and way too many people on board). You all sit on one bench which happens to also be the bed for the person who is assigned that seat. Your backrest comes up and forms the second bed and then there is one more over our heads. (the best one to get is the top cause then you don't have to wait on everybody else to go to sleep!)It's all pretty close quarters. And then at every stop you get the people who just walk through just trying to sell you chai, food, little gadgets and thing, and also the people who are begging for money, people I never quite understood how they got the deformities they got. It was probably due to lack of accessibility to hospitals and medical treatment, and perhaps some due to big dogs out there who give it to them so when they beg they get more money. (the last one is more speculation) I didn't get this as much as some of my friends on the trains there, but you get cockroaches crawling around you and in some cases on you. It's all a whole new experience. And, oh, there is no checked baggage, so you got to keep an eye on all your things. Some people had chains they used to lock them up. I used my big bag as a pillow at night.

Now, in the US, that experience on a train is much different. The cheapest train is in coach and there are no beds provided, just the chairs that slightly recline and have something that comes up for your legs to rest on. I got a spot with plenty of leg room and both the chairs to myself and next to a window. Yes, it was only coach, but it felt like luxury! :) People were spread out and nobody was touching elbows. I got to check bags and I don't recall seeing any cockroaches. Nobody came on the train to try to sell me anything or to beg for money. They even had a car for people to come and lounge in.

It was definitely a long ride, about 36 hours total when you include the 5 hour trip from Indy to Chicago on the train. The countryside was open. It was real exciting getting more into the mountains in Montana. One, because I love mountains (totally miss the Himalayas!), and two, because this whole month of anticipation of getting here and starting my next big adventure(s), was finally coming. I have left everything and everybody I know behind. No, not forever, but it's such a great feeling to be on my own again, being on an adventure, not knowing truly what I will be doing from one day to the next, one month to the next, one year to the next. I have the general idea, but it will all be exciting and new.

I am glad over the last few months I was able to see many of you (sorry if you weren't seen by me, I really tried to see just about everybody). I am also extremely greatful for the people who allowed me to bum on their couches or floors. It's nice to know you really got friends out there and people are genuinely nice, even out in LA where people as a whole can be jerks, but a person there can be great. It took me about 8 months to get here where I am now and it wouldn't have been possible without all the people I knew and have met throughout this time. I think I did already say thanks to everybody, but I just wanted to make sure EVERYBDOY who helped me really knows I mean it. If I can't get you back one day for helping me, at least know I will do my best to "pay it forward" and continue the generosity.

And here I am, with people asking the question, "Where's Wal...I mean, Where's Mandy?" Keep yourself updated by checking out this blog. I will e-mail when I update it sometimes. I'll try to do my best at updating it...

And one more thing, feel like packing up your bags and heading out somewhere? I suggest 2 things: 1) DO IT! and 2) Visit me while you are it. If you are willing to sleep on a floor, let it be a carpeted and one in Montana, come see me here in Montanaa. If you are willing to sleep on a floor, let it be mud and you might need a mosquito net, come see me in Africa (where I will be, I'll let you know when I know). If you are willing to do either, be my second luggage and I'll stuff you in. :)

Well, I'm off for now to check out my new area of living for the next 7 months. So far what I've seen in the dark, I like it. :)