Whoa. Hey there, strangers. Two months was the last time I updated this – unacceptable! But not my fault, I promise! I haven’t been on an actual computer until a few days ago and things have been a little chaotic.
I spent most of December in New Mexico with family (yay!) and then all the sudden moved to Northern Idaho. Whaatat? This involved an absolutely brutal drive from Albuquerque – Las Cruces (nothing traumatic on that leg of the trip) – El Paso, TX (70 mph winds. Rock in the windshield. Scrap metal flying out of a pickup truck into the semi in front of me that almost swerved into my car).
Fort Stockton, TX (took an extra 5 hours because of an ice storm and tons of terrible accidents. Watched way too many cars and trucks go off the road. Terrifying) – College Station, TX (more icy roads and miles and miles of standstill traffic, 4 extra hours. Lots of fishtailing. Crazy rain/sleet and my wipers stopped working. Not cool).
I met Ant (who drove down from WI with my catboys) at our storage unit and we loaded all of our long lost material possessions in the pouring rain on New Year’s Day and then started the crazy drive to Northern Idaho. This ended up taking 3 extra days because of the gnarly weather. (Remind me not to drive cross-country in the winter ever again).
College Station, TX – Texas Panhandle tiny town (unplowed roads with 3+inches of snow. We got thwarted.) – somewhere in central CO (Had plans of making it to Boulder but got stuck in a pretty hefty snowstorm on mountain roads) – Boulder (only a little black ice on that drive) – Laramie, WY (pathetic! only got 2 hours in because the interstate totally shut down because of 80 mph wind!!
Cats were happy though to get out of the truck for a day) – Northern Utah (first half was a semi/trailer graveyard. Rather upsetting. Up to 30 trailers and semis overturned from the insane wind. Completely disturbing.) – rest of the drive was less nail-biting, except for a few hours of ridiculous zero visibility fog.
So there’s that boring account of the drive. I’m sure that was thrilling for all of you. Made it Idaho safely though, which I am really grateful for because honestly, that drive was completely terrifying and I’m pretty sure I’ve got arthritis now from gripping the steering wheel so hard for 9 days straight.
Ah hah! I am no longer wheel-less by the way. And with that comes another MONSTER THANK YOU to all of you wonderfuls who helped me out on my gofundme site!! His name is Kimmo (I’m sticking with Nashville Predators players from the early 2000’s. It’s a thing).
Kimmo is no Vladimir but I still love him. So there you have it. My excuse for not blogging it up lately. I am pretty stable at the moment but may be in and out of the field (I freaking hope) for really small spurts.
Jill Wussow
Jill Wussow, 31, is a seasonal field biologist, nature photographer and nomad. She has worked with several federally endangered bird species (including the Golden-cheeked Warbler, Black-capped Vireo and Piping Plover), sea turtles, and bats all over the United States. She is rarely in one place for more than a few months at a time and her whereabouts are often confusing. Field work has given her great opportunity to travel often and meshes with her passion for wildlife and nature photography perfectly. Through her photography, Jill hopes to convey her love and respect of the natural world.
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