I arrived in Missoula, safe and sound, on Thursday night after two very long days of driving.  I left Chippewa Falls at around 11:30am CDT on Wednesday morning and arrived in Rapid City, SD at 9:30pm MDT for a total of 11 1/2 hours (with the time zone change) behind the wheel.  After spending the night, I left Rapid City Thursday morning at 7:30am and arrived in Missoula at 7pm, completing my second 11 1/2 hour day behind the wheel.  I believe that’s about my limit.  I was pretty exhausted.

The drive from Wisconsin to Western South Dakota is one of the most boring drives ever.  There really is nothing to see until you reach the Badlands (and it was dark by the time I got there).  I’ve done this drive several times when visiting my brother and his family in Rapid City, which makes it all the more boring.  What little there is to see, I’ve already seen before.

The drive from Rapid City to Missoula, on the other hand, is incredible.  It starts in the Black Hills, briefly degenerates to open grasslands, but then jumps into one mountain range after another.  It just keeps getting better.  Even though I was tired from the previous day, I still really enjoyed it.  I tried to take pictures while I drove (not that safe, I know, but there was very little traffic and I shot everything one-handed without looking through the viewfinder) and I ended up with a few really nice ones.  This is my favorite:

You can view the rest in my Flickr stream starting here.

I officially have an apartment for the summer.  I talked to my future landlord tonight and confirmed he had received my check for the security deposit and rent so it looks like everything is set.  The apartment is located in downtown Missoula, just three blocks from RMSP’s office/classrooms.  On days when we have classes there, I’ll be able to walk.  RMSP also uses some of the University’s facilities, which are about a 10 min bike ride away, so with any luck, I won’t have to drive my car most days. 

My apartment is pretty small, only 290 sq ft.  It’s basically an old motel room.  The owner converted a motel into an apartment complex.  The unit I will be in doesn’t have a kitchen, but the rent is so cheap that I can afford to eat out more often and still spend less over the summer than if I found a place with kitchen and cooked for myself.  I’m pretty lazy when it comes to cooking anyway.  Luckily, there are a number of small cafes/sandwich shops in the downtown area.  I should have plenty of options to find a relatively quick and inexpensive meal.  Otherwise, I can live on sandwiches and cereal for the six months.

This is my birthday present to myself (a month early). I’m such a giver.

The rationale for these purchases:

The gorillapod: Because sometimes you just don’t want to carry a full tripod.

The 50mm: I’m always reading about how great these lenses are for portraits, especially in low light, so I had to have one.  This shot was taken with this new lens.  The DOF will take some getting used to.  My face is slightly out-of-focus and I’m only at f3.2!

The 12-24mm: I’m moving to Montana at the end of the month.  Is there a better reason to get an ultra-wide?  This lens should rock on my full-frame 5D!

The 40D: Why get a 40D when I already have a 5D? Three reasons. 1. I wanted to have a back-up body when I’m at photography school.  I don’t want to be in the situation I was in two winters ago at a photography workshop in Maui where my camera (my old Digital Rebel) broke and I had to tape it back together in order to keep shooting. 2. I also own the Sigma 50-500mm lens.  I was happy with this lens on my old Digital Rebel with the crop sensor, but was really disappointed with it on the full-frame 5D.  It shows significant vignetting on the full sensor.  The 40D has a 1.6X crop sensor so I should be happy with it again.  3. I like wildlife photography and wildlife tends to move, often very quickly.  The 40D can shoot at 6.5fps while the 5D can only shoot at 3fps.  I figure the 50-500mm will stay on the 40D most of the time.  I’ll use the 5D for everything else.

I also purchased a couple of polarizers and some camera bags to carry all my new gear.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been living without any furniture (except for my bed) and no television.  I sold my furniture to my family in preparation for my move to Missoula.  I don’t want to have to rent a trailer or moving truck for the move.  I just want to be able to fit everything in my Jeep Grand Cherokee.  So the furniture and my 26" widescreen TV had to go.  (So does my bed, but I haven’t gotten that far yet.) Originally, I was planning on buying a USB TV controller that would allow me to watch television on my laptop.  However, the night before my television departed, I decided I would just go without for a while and see what it’s like.

I’ll admit the first couple of days were a little rough.  I kept looking for the remote so I could see what was on.  Gradually, I found other things to occupy my time and I started thinking about television less and less.  Watching a few DVD’s once in a while on my laptop helped a bit too, especially during that first weekend.  As I approach the end of the second week (tomorrow) without television, I can definitely say I won’t be buying that USB TV card.  I don’t miss television anymore and I’m pretty sure I’ll be way too busy this summer to sit around and watch it anyway.

As for the furniture, I don’t miss that either.  I’ve been using a couple of folding camp chairs with some throw pillows added for extra comfort.  They’re no where near Lazy Boy’s, but they work well.  I really don’t notice any discomfort while I sit and work.  One of them is even a recliner and works great when I decide to throw in a DVD.  It’s surprisingly comfortable.  For end tables and a desk, I’ve been using folding TV trays.  I replaced my lamps with a couple of cheap clip-on desk lamps and one of my umbrella/flash stands.  When I need the stand for photography, I just unclip and go.  It doesn’t look pretty, but the whole set-up is pretty functional.  Now I just need to get rid of my bed and all the big items will be gone.

Bring on summer!