Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

The morning started with a fascinating walk around the property. There's a miniature golf course over on the other side. I didn't see it  until I was driving away, or I definitely would have explored that up close. But I was happy with the rusty car frame missing a chassis, and a discarded turret.  We found all of this in the back of the building, where there was also this apartment and a banquet room (both long abandoned).  Since it was Oregon, I let some dude fill Babe up with premium gas. He made small talk with me as the tank filled. He asked if I was traveling anywhere today. I guess in a (ahem) town like Baker City, it's a safe bet someone is just passing through. Maybe my car being from out of state and completely covered with dirt gives me a well-travelled look. Or maybe it's all the luggage and the dog I've got piled in the back that gave me away. When I told him I was headed to Twin Falls, he lit up and said that the guy he was just talking to h...

My first stop was for a bit of gas and to clean all the dirt off of Babe from yesterday's back country adventure. I also had to stop at the local Petco to restock River's ice chest. And then we drove over Coeur D'Alene Lake as we left the town of the same name.  River settled into the back; he found the sunny spot. I had to make a quick stop when I passed this place on the way out.  Little did I know it would be the last civilized thing I saw all day. I'm so glad I followed the instinct to stop. The burger was good, too. But Mini Nav took me on another rugged adventure. It started out innocuous enough. I was driving through normal towns on a highway. I had stopped in Plummer, as I mentioned, for the burger. But then, the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by this...  We stopped for the view and to get some exercise in this giant, lonesome parking area.  The roads were paved, so far, and I made a note of being grateful for that. I had no idea how ...

I woke up early on Thursday to get ready for the Woodstock Experience Nia class at Peak Fitness Center in Hayden. Jamie, my host, met River and I outside and let us in the back door. This is my third or fourth time at Peak Fitness, and it's always a big, enthusiastic group.  Also, the class is free to members, so we usually put out a donation bowl and I do pretty well considering it's all out of the kindness and generosity of the students. As I've come to expect from the Hayden crowd, they came fully decked out in the dress of the theme. This year, of course was 60's so the tie-dye was plentiful.  Besides the generosity of cash they dropped in the bowl artfully created by one of the students, I was also given a leopard print bandana which I put on my head and wore for class and a gemstone bracelet made of Golden Citrine and Amethyst.  Elizabeth was the artist and her company, named after her dog, is Hannah's Heart Gemstones. I got to choose from a wide variet...

It's a very good thing that I didn't have a class planned this afternoon.  I don't know if I would have done anything differently, but I very well may have been late if I did have class.  My Mini navigation took me on an unpaved road through the thick of the Lolo National Forest. She's done this to me before, several times. So far it's never messed me up. I recall a few other times this happened, it was coming into Idaho or involving Idaho somehow.  You and those roads, Idaho! Get with it. While it was a beautiful drive (that aspect of it wasn't lost on me), it was a harsh, unpaved road.  The navigation system reads it as a regular 35 MPH road and figures my arrival time based on that. But the reality is that I can't go faster than 20 MPH and average about 15 MPH the whole time. I don't know what the word is for it, but the road is 'grooved' 'ridged' ....?  I'm not sure if this is intentional or just a natural breaking down of ...

I was looking for a place to grab lunch before I headed to the park. It wasn't far away from where I was staying. It was an easy day trip to the park and back. Especially when taking the whole state of Montana into consideration, I was hardly covering any ground at all. The town I was in, Kalispell didn't offer many sophisticated dining choices, so I expanded my search to neighboring towns. I found a place that looked decent and had good reviews. It was called the Pocketstone Cafe. I almost decided against it immediately upon visiting their website and seeing a picture of the front of their menu. But I gave them the benefit of the doubt and took it as a whimsical picture. I wanted to look past it because of the good reviews, so I started to look through the menu items and I came to the burger section. The menu is written in a casual style that I think is inappropriate. When I'm hungry and looking for food, I don't want to be amused by your clever writing, I ...

For someone who considers himself largely a 'homebody', I sure do get around a lot. Today I woke up in Helena and took River for a romp near the pear tree that's on the motel property. The class I was teaching was a five minute drive away, so I put on my Amazing clothes, packed up the car and headed to Gentle Healing Wellness Center where I was met by my host, Kathryn. I taught Amazing to a group of over a half dozen and the feedback was that it was "Beyond Amazing." And the students in Helena wanted me to be sure I thanked all of the contributing communities for their contribution to the routine.   I have. And I did again when I visited each place. And I will again at the end of this journey when I'm home again. Thank you!  After class, I took a shower in the Wellness Center and took off for parts north. I passed through Helena National Forest, Lolo National Forest and Flathead National Forest.   I also passed by several lakes, includi...