*that* visitor

The dogs are howling, and they do sound eerily like wolves. Rick has 16 right outside and the neighbors down the way have 50. Rick is Iditarod-bound next year, and it won't be long before I'm pressuring everybody I know to buy a sponsorship t-shirt.

I'm in ... I'm in the yurts, I'm not sure what "town" they are officially. I passed Willow 20 miles down the road. Of course at the rental place they ONLY had a BRAND-NEW never driven WHITE car for me to take. Some Chevy which rides low. Yeah, I was thrilled about THAT on these gravel roads! They only charged me $15/day to rent it, but we'll see what the damage costs add up to.

It's great seeing Tiff and Rick and catching up. It's been just a few weeks shy of 7 years, but it's like time hasn't passed. The only differences are Rick is even funnier when he drinks (and sorry Tiff's mom, he hasn't once deserved his special song), and Keegan will call out to remind us that "little kids are listening!" or Rohnan will stealthily eavesdrop which probably has an even stronger effect. The mosquitoes came out in full force when we went out for a walk last night - but they seemed to just swarm rather than bite.

I'm more than a little afraid of being known as The Visitor That Woke Us All Up at 4:30 a.m. Finally I got out of bed at 5 a.m. because I couldn't take it anymore. I thought I'd adjust to time changes better than I am - but sleeping in to 8 a.m. CDT is unheard of for me and I have the headache to tell me that, despite it only being 5 hours of sleep, it's time to get my lazy ass up. So I made coffee, stumbled down the stairs to the bathroom (where it's WARM!), and type here right outside their bedroom. It's wild to SEE people who have been just blogs to me for so long.

The yurts are really great - well, the big one (the little one was to be used as an Arctic entryway, but they go in downstairs instead usually). Spacious and airy. And Rohnan and Keegan are great - their parents do a great job with them.

There's still snow on the ground here. No A/C here for sure!

And my cell phone doesn't get any reception. It's like camping in the wilderness - but with electricity and running water and lasagna! :) And Tiff gave me their down comforter which is like MAGIC keeping me oh-so-toasty warm sleeping in "Erin's bed."

A very nice visit with old friends (yeah, we are old now, hehe) which will be topped off with a trip to REI today! Then I fly out to Kodiak for about 34 hours, then fly for about 20, then hopefully sleep, then have a job interview (I got a call for a law firm interview when my plane had JUST landed in Minneapolis - why did I have to answer it and sound like a disoriented moron?) and then take a final. So, I think I'll take something for this headache and do some studying now. I can hear somebody snoring, so I'm not that Evil Visitor Who Woke Us All Up at 4:30 a.m. to everybody. Though I will always be "that boring adult who kept talking to our parents and prevented us from watching Eragon when we wanted." But they're too nice to say it to my face. :)