We want to take a moment to say thank you to our Mother’s on this holiday!
We’re in Bozeman, MT, been here 5 days now. After Missoula, we headed up to Whitefish, MT. A very beautiful drive two hours north where Flathead Lake shines. Went to The Northern (of course another bar) and were treated as family by the owners who offered the upstairs apartment for a night’s sleep before our departure in the morning. Thanks to Kathy, Scott, Stephanie and the awesome bartenders for all their support and accomodations! Sarah was born in Livingston, MT so we headed there next to check out her birthplace a.k.a. the tiny hospital that was hard to find an entrance into. Bozeman is similar to Los Angeles they say, seems to be spread out the same. We were welcomed in by Sarah’s old college co-worker, Janet and enjoyed several nights of playing with her dogs and watching movies. It has been very nice to shower daily, do laundry and cook. On a very sad note, Sarah went to Target to get help downloading pictures off her camera and the guy “helping” her deleted all of them. We are sorry to say all of our pics up until now are gone…and we had some great ones of us in cowgirl hats, of Uncle Chuck and all the lonesome cowboys, of great dance shots in Sedona and hanging over the edge of the Grand Canyon, of all our new friends…so yup it sucks..we’ve got to let go of those attachments perhaps. Anyways, I’m getting kicked off this computer in the library…we’re headed to Yellowstone in the morning..

Sarah and Lily were reunited to celebrate Cinco De Mayo and our new friend, Eiliea’s birthday last night in Missoula, MT. During the day, Sarah had the opportunity to sneak into the University of MT Dance Department to use the impressive dance facilities. Later that evening, we were surprised to find salsa dancing at a local bar and rallied up the crowd with our California craziness to fill up the dance floor. We ended up doing a late night/early morning/slightly intoxicated dance performance inside The Top Hat bar. It reminded us of performing at the Ivar Theatre in Los Angeles years ago, when we were able to stay inside after the doors had closed. Some of the best art happens during these creative, uninhibited moments. Lily was blown to the ground after the helium tank went off near her ear. A close call but her hearing is okay… Thank you to Jason for all the art conversations and of course Sarah’s beloved painting. This morning we awoke to the lovely screaming from psycho-ex girlfriend Stephanie pounding on our door..”are those california girls in there?”..c’mon Jason… We’ll see you in Yellowstone!

Lily performed “Cocytus” with Eleven Eyes in Spokane, WA outside of a deli for the Brooklyn Nights Outdoor Music Festival. People were attracted to the sight of a woman dancing in a trash can full of water to the sounds of the psychedelic jazz band. It was a good experience to play with the timing of the choreography as both parties improvised together. The audience was mostly a heavy metal, grunge crowd who were mainly into their beer.

Thanks to Aaron (Sarah’s friend from the Guatemalan orphanage) we have stayed 3 nights in Missoula, Montana! We can’t seem to stop drinking cause we keep getting free drinks, and also concluded bars are great places to meet the locals. Memorable moments include playing pool against Sean Connery’s brother at The Top Hat bar along with Ashley (cocktail waitress), Jason (bartender) and Eleven Eyes (traveling band from Oregon). After closing down the bar we made friends and commitments for future projects to make some art together. Jason met us on the street to paint on a huge canvas while we performed in a dirty alley for the town’s First Fridays Event. We performed “Deaf We Drifted” over and over then transitioned into improvisations of storytelling while one of us danced, we took turns before inviting participants to free flow thoughts to our movement. Hackey sacks were flying and dj’s were spinning all over the streets filled with diverse styles and ages of white people. We have counted 4 black men since Idaho. Two hours later we went to La Parilla for some great mexican grub. Tomorrow Lily is headed to perform “Cocytus” in Spokane, Washington with Eleven Eyes. We feel happy to have met such interesting people here and will return!

Woke up to snow covering the ground and falling from the heavens. Really beautiful… It was hard to leave, but we hit the road and continued the journey to Missoula. Missoula is a larger, more progressive college town. Young punksters and old grannies alike praised their town where people went out of the way to be nice.

We were both taken aback by Chuck’s generosity and sincerity. He lived alone and loved watching the western channel. He was 78 years old (after forgetting and previously telling us he was only 68) and still worked for himself. He had simple philosophies and a playful smile. He took us to breakfast at the Longhorn (which had ten dead deer heads mounted on the walls), where he guessed our ages at 16 (Lily) and 18 (Sarah). He let us drive his four-wheeler all over the beautiful small town. Dillon was a cool little town surrounded by beautiful snow-capped mountains and hosted donkey basketball at the local high school. We enjoyed the countryside and cooked dinner for Uncle Chuck- his first enchiladas and first tofu. We ended up going out to his favorite bar called The Lion’s Den. Met some of his friends who called him ‘the legend’ and learned that there is a 5:1 ratio of men to women… the odds were in our favor. Chuck told us that we were “half-way attractive so a guy wouldn’t have to put a sack over our heads…” We were blown away that two Fat Tire beers and a 7&7 was only $9… Went two-stepping at the Joker bar where you can still smoke inside and we were gifted real cowgirl hats. Thanks Mike Anderson!

Drove up to Idaho with the intentions to enjoy the bit of the state we could see and visit with the locals. Hunted down some hot springs (Lava Hot Springs) that ended up being crowded and concreted, so we continued on our way. Stopped in Idaho Falls to meet unfriendly folk who recommended we continue passing through town because there is “nothing to see or do in Idaho”. Stopped in Dubois, Idaho (which everyone pronounces ‘do-boys’) a tiny town that has no bar and the only restaurant is a gas station that closes at mid-night. Asked a woman what brought her to this town and she said she was “running from trouble and the law couldn’t find her here…” Although a possible husband-killer, she was very nice. Spent some time playing cards at the gas station, resting from the drive when Uncle Chuck walked into our lives. He was a tall, older cowboy who had a hard time keeping the banana he was eating inside of his mouth. We took a liking to him immediately. Within ten minutes we were caravaning with this truckdriver to Dillon, Montana and ended up crashing in his spare room.

Sprung for a cheap hotel room to relax and get a good night’s rest in Ogden, Utah. We were lucky to pick a hotel which had a cat that came with the room. We named him Balls and we all enjoyed watching our governor play a machine in the Terminator.

i had a crazy experience in Zion NP in Utah 2 days ago…i did a 5 hour hike
up this mountain, got to the top, it was pretty steep and i was kinda exhausted before the top, i briefly
hyperventilated..but kept going cause i’m a tough chick and wanna climb a
little mountain.. (more…)

Left the beautiful Zion and continued through Utah, making a pit-stop in Beaver. (Can we make Beaver jokes on our website?) Once again the universe was on our side as we were stopped at a local gas station. An attendent pointed out the plug and crack that ran up the side of our rear tire. We received a discounted tire and free labor from the cute mormons who were happy to joke about the number of their wives. Also received free bottles of what was deemed the ‘2008 Best Water of the USA’ by some group in Washington DC. It was very good water.

Salt Lake City, Utah- Brewvies Cinema & Pub, Lily performed Cocytus at mid-night after the Jazz basketball game for an appreciative, although semi-confused crowd at the bar. Had tons of support from the nice crew that we acquired, helping us carry and fill the trashcan, film the show, etc. Ended up getting lots of free beer and good video footage. Audience members were impressed and most had never seen anything like that before. “Best thing I’ve seen come out of a trashcan” was my favorite quote of the evening. Thank you to Andy for the hospitality and we’ll come to claim our jobs eventually…