Adventures in Montana - Day 7

Today we woke up to some good news.. Chris got the apartment!! YAY!!! So we headed out to the "hill top" apartment to sign the lease.

After signing the lease we got the keys and we unpacked the stuff from Chris' car. We then drove back to base to drop off the car and pick up the moving truck. Got back to his new place and with in an hour we had the truck unpacked.

We drove the truck back to the base to drop it off (going to return it on Monday), We filled and I mean filled up Chris' car with the stuff from the hotel. We check out of the hotel and made our way back to his new apartment. We unloaded everything from the car and the move was complete.

The next phase of the move is unpacking and getting things orgainized. Chris is very particular on where he wants everything. I helped here and there but really all I did was unpack the boxes and Chris would put things where he wanted.

We walked to Taco Bell for lunch (Since it's near his new place). And then got back to unpacking boxes.

While arranging furniture and things we noticed that the outlets were two prongs, since it's an old house, so we had to go to Home Depot to get some grounded three prong convertors. Once we had those Chris got his TV system up and running.

We finished the night with another "First Time Movie Viewing" This time Change Up. I have to say this was the worst movie I have seen in a long time. It vualgar, gross, unrealistic and just plain stupid. Okay that's not completly true, the last half of the film was okay but it didn't make up for the first half. The Ryan Renyolds character was the worst human being. I kept saying I can't beleive anyone would act like this.. but as Chris mentioned, there are all kinds of people out there but I know I would never associate with anyone like him.

After the movie we watched a few Friends episodes on DVD before fighting over who would sleep where. I wanted Chris to sleep in his bed since it's the first night in his new place but he insisted I take the bed and he take the couch. Two very stubborn people going head to head.. in the end I gave in and took the bed.

Adventures in Montana - Day 6

Woke up this morning to snow. Not a whole lot but a constant downfall of snow all day. We bundled up and headed out to breakfast. When we first got here Chris said that for the two weeks that I'm here we were not going to eat at the same place twice.. so for breakfast we tried a new place called 4B. Great prices and really good food.

After breakfast we headed back to the hotel to wait to hear from the owner of the apartment that Chris wants. It was snowing outside and cold so we figured we'd figure we would just hang out in the warm hotel room and wait. While we waited we watched another movie that I had never seen... Watchmen. We watched the three hour plus directors cut. It was a long movie but never boring. Interesting story and some great effects. I really enjoyed this movie.

After Watchmen we still hadn't heard about the apartment and we were starting to get worried. We called the lady and left a message just checking in. We were worried that she wouldn't accept him and then the other 2 bedroom apartment that he liked would be rented as well and we'd have to go back to looking again.

Since it was still snowing we decided to watch another movie... Source Code. I really enjoyed this movie, I'm a huge Jake Gyllenhaal fan and I did want to see this movie when it came out in the theaters. It was a cool concept and I think they did a great job at showing the same 8 minute scene over and over but each time a bit different. Didn't see the final twist coming so that was a surprise. I really enjoyed this movie.

We headed out to Fuddruckers for some lunch and then back to the hotel to continue my "First Time Movie Viewing". Next on the list is Knocked Up. This was a fun movie. Not too slapstick or gross, just a nice comedy.

We got a call from the apartment owner and she still hadn't decided on the apartment or not. She had references to call and stuff for them to fill out. This owner is very particular on who she rents too.. and Chris already has a ding against him because he's military, even though he's perfect for this place. She said should we let him know tomorrow if he got the place or not... so we wait.

For our final movie of the day... The Time Travelers Wife. This is one of Chris' favorites and I remember wanting to see this when it came out. This is a fantasy romantic love story. I really enjoyed the story. Trying to keep track of which version of the main character was on screen during a certain scene took some doing but I liked how everything worked out. I cried the last fifteen minutes of this movie, so they definitely got me. It was a great way to end today's movie marathon.

After the movies we watched a bit a TV before calling it a night.

Adventures in Montana - Day 5

Today Chris had to actually go into work for a few hours and check in with his new unit. During this time I tried to get some blogging done as I was further and further behind. In the few hours that he was gone I did manage to write three blogs. When he got back to the hotel room we ran out to grab some lunch... today it was Quiznos.

So after looking at apartments all day yesterday Chris found two that he really liked. The first one was a 2 bedroom, 1 bath place that had washer/dryer hook ups and a dishwasher (both on Chris' must have list).. The second one was the apartment that we call the "hill top" apartment. It's the one I found while Chris was chasing collage girls. It's 1 bedroom, 1 bath with a washer/dryer and dishwasher... it also has it's own garage and it was $60 cheaper then the first one. We set up an appointment to see the "hill top" apartment today in the early afternoon and set up to see the first apartment later in the evening.

So after lunch we met up at the "hill top" apartment and checked it out. The place it pretty big for a 1 bedroom, it's great to have your very own washer and drying in the unit. It's also a duplex and this is the lower unit and partially subterranean so all the windows are raised toward the ceiling. The appliances are all fairly new and the bathroom is a pretty good size. The garage is pretty big where he could get his car in and still have plenty of storage space. Overall the place is great.

Once we looked at the "hill top" we had about five hours before we looked at the 1st unit so we decided to head back to the hotel and continue my "First Time Movie Viewing".

First up was Horrible Bosses. At first I had a hard time with this movie because the bosses were so horrible it made me uncomfortable to watch. In the end I really enjoyed this movie.. lots of fun and craziness.

The second movie of the night was Due Date. I remember seeing commercials for this and it looked funny. This was a fun movie and wow was this a road trip from hell. Of course no road trip would ever be this bad, so many things happen all at once it's very unrealistic but man was it funny.

After Due Date it was time to head out to see the 2 bedroom apartment. This place is a bit bigger all round, bedrooms, kitchen but it only had washer and dryer hook ups but not the appliances and though it did have a dishwasher all the kitchen appliances looked fairly old. There was no garage but it did have a parking space and this one had a nice patio.

After seeing the "hill top" place and without seeing the 2 bedroom I was leaning towards the "hill top" place because it had a garage and I know during winter that will come in handy and he won't have to shovel the snow to get his car out every morning. It was in a great location near a mall and main street with all the restaurants. But after seeing the 2 bedroom I started to think maybe this would be better for him. The owner of the "hill top" place had some bad experiences with military renters and was leery. The woman with the 2 bedroom was ready to sign Chris to the lease as soon as we looked at the place. I just wanted Chris to find a nice place.

But in the end he liked the "hill top" place better and I agree it was the better of the two places. So we took a chance and went for the "hill top" place. He quickly filled out the application and we drove it over to the owners house. Chris met with the husband of the owner who is a former military and chatted with them for a bit while I stayed in the car. We hope to hear back from them tomorrow so we could move in over the weekend.

We drove by a Macaroni Grill on our way to turn in the application so Chris wanted to stop by there for dinner. Had a nice dinner before heading back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel we ended the night with another "First Time Movie Viewing"  This time it was Eagle Eye. I really enjoyed this movie.. it was a fun action packed adventure and I totally loved the storyline.

After the movie we watched a bit of local TV before calling it a night.

Adventures in Montana - Day 4

With the road trip over and Chris and I now in Montana it's time to get him settled in. The first thing we had to do was find him an apartment. So we drove out to the "business" section of town. Before we started looking we had breakfast at this cool 50's diner (5th Street Diner). We then spent the next two hours driving around parts of Great Falls looking for "For Rent" signs. We found a few and made some calls but nothing panned out. So we opted to head back to the hotel and look online for some places. Chris found six or seven places and wrote down the info and we headed back out to look at these specific places. The first place we looked at was a 2 bedroom apartment in a decent area and looked nice from the outside. Chris called and left a message asking to see the place. We drove around a bit more looking at locations and buildings. We found one on the water front (Missouri River). Chris called to look at the place and the manager was on site and was able to let us in and see it immediately. They called it a studio but it had a seperate kitchen and bathroom. The place was old and run down but the building was nice, the area was good. Chris liked the place so we put it down on our short list.

Once we were done with that we drove around a bit more looking at various places (nothing too exciting). Chris started to follow these "college" girls in a truck and it lead us to another area of town near the college. When we lost the girls we drove by this one duplex and I just happen to see this "For Rent" sign out of the corner of my eye so Chris stopped by and we checked it out. All the blinds were open so we got a pretty good look into the place and it looked great. Chris called and set up a appointment to see it tomorrow.

We drove around a bit more but called it a night a few hours later.

We headed back to our hotel room and started watching movies. First up was Office Space, many of my friends rave about this movie and I never got around to seeing it until now. I enjoyed it, I have worked in an office setting many times and could sympathize with the characters.

After the movie we ran over to the commissary to grab some snacks.

The next movie Chris wanted to share with me was Definitely Maybe with Ryan Reynolds. I had never heard of this movie so I didn't have a clue what to expect. Chris knows I love romanatic comdies just like he does and this is one of his favorites. I really enjoyed the movie, I liked the way they told the story through flashbacks. It was a romantic mystery as you didn't know who the mom was of this little girl.. it was fun guessing along the way.

We then went out to dinner at Ming's chinese restaurant. At the restaurant they had these placemats with all the Chinese Zodiac layed out.

I'm a Dog, Generous and loyal, you have the ability to work well with others. Compatible with The Horse and Tiger, my opposite is the Dragon.

Chris is a Tiger, Forthright and sensitive, you possess great courage. Compatible with the Horse and Dog, his opposite is the Monkey.

We both agreed that those fit us to a tee.. as well as he and I being compatible.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to watched a bit of TV before calling it a night.

Road Trip to Montana - Day 3

Got up early once again, had breakfast at Denny's next to our hotel before hitting the road. This would be our final roadtrip leg... Salt Lake City, Utah to Great Falls, Montana. Today's scenery was vastly different from the previous two days. Before it was deserts and rocky hills. The next leg took us through green snowy hills and forests. Salt Lake City is in the northern part of Utah so it only took us a little over an hour to get to the border with Idaho.

Idaho was lots and lots of flat brown farm lands. We could see mountain in the distance all around us but it was pretty much a flat straight drive. Towards the top of Idaho and before we entered Montana we started to see hills and greenery again.

Just pass the Idaho/Montana border we stopped from lunch as this little cafe called Jan's Cafe. Here I manage to get another picture of the scenery. Montana was hills, forests and snow, it was cold.

Great Falls is in the middle of Montana so it took us another few hours to get to Malmstrom Air Force Base. As we enter the city we start checking out everything.. the stores, fast foods, restaurants and such. The city is fairly small but has a decent amount of places. One thing that surprised Chris and I were the casinos. Driving down the main strip there were two to three casinos on each corner, were not talking huge building like Vegas.. but small bars, fast food looking places... it was pretty crazy. The actual airbase is on east side of the city. Once we got there we had to go the visitor center because Chris had to check in and give them his new orders and if I was going to stay on base with him they needed to check up on me. That only took a few minutes and we were on our way to the base lodging. It's a pretty cool hotel on base for those who transfer and need a place to stay for a bit.

We had to park the truck and trailer in a special parking lot and then drive over to the hotel room. The hotel room was really nice. It had a full kitchenette which makes sense since you can stay there up to a month while looking for a place to live.  We settled into the hotel room, watched some TV before calling it a night.

The road trip part of this adventure has come to an end, but this trip is far from over. It's now time to get Chris settled in to his new "home". He's going to be here for at least 3 years. :(

This wasn't the road trip I was expecting. Chris has four days to get from CA to MT so I figured we would stop here and there while traveling to take pixs or to see certain things but instead we drove for 8 to 10 hours a day and really didn't stop.. only to eat and sleep. I'm not saying it wasn't a fun road trip.. I had a blast hanging with my bestie but I didn't get to take as many videos as I would have liked to. :)

We have a big day tomorrow.. apartment hunting is next.

Road Trip to Montana - Day 2

Woke up early and decided to grab breakfast on the go. After driving around a bit looking for a McDonalds that we could park the truck and trailer, we were finally successful on the outskirts of Vegas. We had a quick breakfast and then headed up north to the Arizona border.

We were taking the 15 freeway and it nicked the corner of Arizona for about 60 miles.

We stopped only a few times during our trip but this one of the times as Arizona has some of the most beautiful rock formations.

About an hour later we entered Utah. It's funny but Nevada, Arizona and the southern end of Utah all pretty much looked the same. Brown, some cool rock formations but very desolate looking. The only difference between Nevada and Arizona compared to Utah.. there was snow on the ground in Utah. Also realized when we entered Utah that the time had changed. We were now in mountain time.

We stopped at Del Taco somewhere in Utah for lunch and Denny's for dinner next to our hotel. When we got to the hotel Chris hooked up his iPad to our hotel TV and we streamed the latest episode of Once Upon A Time before calling it a night and going to sleep.

Like yesterday Chris drove the entire time and it took us about 8 + hours to get from Vegas to Salt Lake City.

Our next leg of the trip will be from Salt Lake City, Utah to our final destination. Great Falls, Montana.

Road Trip to Montana - Day 1

Today started off with releasing my 29th episode of my MASH Podcast. Everyone got up around 8ish and we headed to another new place for breakfast. Sweetwater Cafe is a in my little town and once again I have passed by this place everyday but never stopped by. This time it was Chris, Rupert and I and like yesterday it was a great way to start the day.
Chris and Rupert started to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2 while I finished prepping my house for my two weeks absence. My best bud Chris is in the Air Force and they are transferring him from California to Montana for three years. I told him I would drive up with him and help him settle in for a few weeks.

While I was getting ready my other best bud Robert called me and he, Chris and I chatted for a bit before Robert decided to drive up to see us one last time before we left.  I finished packing when Robert arrived. The four of us hung out for a few hours before Chris had to say his final goodbyes to Rupert and Robert.

The Adventures Begins....

The first leg of our adventure was driving from my house in California to Las Vegas. The trip was pretty uneventful other then the time it took us to get there. I live about 4 1/2 hours away from Vegas but because we were in a moving truck pulling a car we had to go slower and in the end I think it took us over 6 hours to finally get to Vegas. On our way to Vegas I booked us a room at the Luxor and had to find parking for our moving truck and trailer. Luckily Luxor/Excalibur has a section of parking for big rigs, RV's and other large vehicles and after searching for it we finally found the lot and parked the truck.

We checked in, found our room in the maze that is the Luxor hallways, had a quick pillow fight before heading down for dinner and a bit a gambling. We had a hardy dinner (meatloaf and mash potatoes) then played a few bucks on the slots (as we wanted to get some free drinks). Well the waitress never showed up to our section so finally Chris just went and bought us some drinks. We walked around looking for this virtural dealer black jack table that Chris really liked. We found one but it was $5 minuium a hand, which was a bit to much for us so we continued to walk around, drink (free drinks) and play some slots. To end the night we went back to the $5 virtual black jack table and played $20 (Chris played $40) but I actually did really well for a while and was up $60 before ending the night in the hole.

All in all it was a great start to our adventure.. tomorrows agenda.. driving from Vegas to Salt Lake City,

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 29

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Show Notes

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, & Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 2, Episode #5 - Dr. Pierce and Mr Hyde
29th Episode Overall

Directed by Jackie Cooper
Written by Alan Alda & Robert Klane
Production code K405
Original air date October 18, 1973

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary:Hawkeye has been in non-stop surgery for 3 straight days without sleep, and the wounded keep coming. He decides to find out who started the war, and sends a telegram to Harry S. Truman. After listening to some of Frank's rubbish about the North Koreans wanting better plumbing, he tries to send the officers' latrine to the North Koreans with an offer of peace. Trapper finally manages to sedate him.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny