We left Brandon a little after ten-thirty after a filling breakfast. We were outside of the city - Manitoba's second largest - within no time, and by eleven we were seeing vast, wide-open expanses of sheer nothingness where we could see forever. Nearly noon, we found ourselves in Saskatchewan (province #2) at their welcome center, where we met two upbeat ladies who showed us interesting pamphlets for and lively descriptions of Saskatchewan attractions. While we did not end up getting to many o
We had a filling breakfast of eggs Benedict far surpassed last night's dinner in terms of flavor. The storm system that had pasted us last night was still in the area, but had moved past far enough for us to make good time west across North Dakota. Our first stop of the day was the geographical center of North America at a town called Rugby. We took US 2 all the way there. We saw a bunch of red-winged blackbirds. It was raining intermittently and gusted indefinitely. The record rains North Dak
Does anyone even read these? Our first stop of the day was in Northfield, a short drive from Minneapolis and a cute college town, home to crosstown rivals Carleton and St. Olaf. What should have taken thirty minutes took instead about fifty, as the Interstate down was closed. Every state has its own type of road construction, but Minnesota has its own special brand of messed up. The signs that should have denoted the complete and utter closing of the Interstate were cryptic, and we were
We left for the Mall of America at 12:20 and arrived a few minutes later. It's strange seeing the place - there's really nothing quite like it. It's not because of the shops. It's because they have roller coasters inside. Roller coasters. Inside. We walked through this gigantic area en route to the LEGO store, but had enough time to get all-day wristband passes to (nearly) all the rides. The kiddie rides are mixed in with the larger ones and the larger ones were built over, around, and o
At 10:00 we left Wausau bound for Minnesota. By 10:40 we made it to Abbotsford, the first city in Wisconsin. The sky was overcast and very cloudy. We passed farms and saw various farm animals as well as various farms and silos. While different, the sameness of the road was tiresome after a while. We were surprised to see signs warning of Amish buggies, and saw a farm animal pulling a plow, but did not see any horse-and-buggy combinations then. Each small town we passed through on the route fea
We got an early start and headed out of Alabama, soon making it to the Georgia state line and the Eastern time zone. From there we headed up to Atlanta, where I learned that tales of the city's traffic had not been exaggerated. We took the beltway around the city instead of going through it directly. I cannot imagine what kind of mayhem we'd have run into if we'd gone right through, as the drivers on the beltway were crazy enough. (I learned why signals are so rarely used: as soon as you turn on
The day began in Mackinaw City at around seven o'clock in the morning. We hadn't planned on getting such an early start, but the northern latitude of the city meant more daylight hours and earlier waking. We checked out, gassed up, and began the day crossing the epic Mackinac Bridge. It's a gigantic bridge. There's nothing special about it other than that it's just massive. You think it's going to start dipping down to the other side but it just keeps on going. Of course, we made it to the upp
We wanted to leave our hotel room as soon as possible, so we ended up getting on the road out of Louisiana at around 9:20. Our first stop of the day was Vicksburg, Mississippi, which we arrived at around 11:00. We entered the visitor center and watched a short movie detailing the events of the Vicksburg campaign before going on the auto tour around the battlefield. Vicksburg was a stronghold along the Mississippi River and widely considered the key to holding the river by both Confederate and
We got the call from the dealership around 11:00 and had the same older gentlemen who dropped us off pick us up and drive us over. The car's oil was changed and the water cooling system belt had been replaced. We cautiously got onto the freeway, but all systems were nominal as we took it up to speed. With a fully functioning car - the first time since Utah - we headed east on I-20 bound for the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Our previous route would have taken us to minor league teams in San Antonio
We left Lubbock at 10:00 and found a gas station in the midst of the confusing roads. We then exited the city - surprisingly easier than we had originally thought - and headed southeast, bound for San Antonio. Flat farmland was on either side as oil fields began to dominate the landscape. Eventually we ran into gigantic wind farms which stretched for miles and miles into the flat distance, and also saw a Google Maps truck taking pictures when we were in the town of Snyder. (If a snapshot of our
After breakfast, we re-packed our bags and headed out of Santa Fe bound for Lubbock at 10:35. We gassed up before exiting Santa Fe and took I-25 northbound (but the section we were on confusingly took us southwest) before exiting on US-285. This drive was the epitome of boring. While one lane in both directions, passing other vehicles was incredibly rare due to the deserted nature of the route. We've gotten to the foothills of the Rockies now, with the mountains of previous days turning into h
After delicious breakfast which included corned beef hash, blueberry muffins, and coffee so strong it took us one pot of cream each to tame it, we left the hotel when we got the call from the dealership that the car was ready. We went over to pick it up and realized that, in addition to fixing the cylinder (which turned out to be due to carbon buildup on the spark plugs), they rinsed off the outside, cleaned a bit of the interior, and fixed a rear taillight that hasn't been coming on consistentl
We had a hard time getting to sleep last night, due in equal parts to excitement, over-tiredness, and altitude. After route planning for a bit, we eventually dozed off. I awoke at 6:30 and got my dad up - my mom had already awoken and was getting some things out of the car. We ended up leaving the hotel a little before 8:00 bound for the Great Sand Dunes. The roads there - especially Colorado 150, which leads to the park entrance - are ridiculously straight, continuing in the ancient lake be
My dad had gotten up around 6:00 in the morning and went to get our brakes checked out at the Durango dealership. It's fortunate that he did so, as he reported the engine light blaring at him every mile or so - a repeat of the oil-light false alarm we got outside of Kamloops, British Columbia. After a series of scares he got to the dealership, where they checked the engine (which has been knocking a little bit), the brakes, and the oil. They did an oil change and reported that everything was fin
We left the hotel a little before 11:00 and got on the road to Cortez, Colorado. We passed through more rock formations similar to Arches or Canyonlands, saw swirly grass patterns and passed by a tourist trap called "Hole in the Rock" (though there are a great many holes in rocks in that area of the country), and encountered a bit of road construction but not enough to slow us down considerably. A bit after noon we entered Colorado, a state I've never been to before until today; we hit all of
After a series of long days and not getting enough sleep, we slept about ten and a half hours last night. My dad had gotten up about 5:00 and walked around the hotel and down the street a bit, where he noted a little restaurant called Sweet Cravings. We'd passed this en route to the hotel but we'd assumed that it was some kind of bakery, but it turned out to be a breakfast-and-lunch place run by an older couple. After his excursion, he returned to the room and continued sleeping. A little ways
The day started out with an adventure in getting across the street. We had originally planned to stay in Provo, which is on the southern edge of the Salt Lake metropolitan area. However, since Orem has a minor-league team known as the Owlz, we switched the reservations just ten minutes north to that city. As it turned out, our hotel was literally across the street from the stadium. Which, of course, you can't just get to normally. We had to take a myriad of turns and navigate a seemingly i
The day started at 10:26 as I drove west to Toledo. By 11:30 we had reached the stadium of the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. We purchased a pennant and hat, as well as a foam hat shaped like a hot dog. Expect this wonderful hat at this year's BrickFair. We ate lunch in Toledo across from the stadium at a place called Tony Packo's, which, we learned, has multiple locations in Toledo and is legendary in the city. It originally started as a Hungarian diner and rose to fame partially due to a number
A little after leaving the hotel, we hit the 5000 mile mark. Whether this is the halfway point or something a little after that remains to be seen. We followed secondary roads as we meandered our way back to the Idaho border. The roads were scenic and followed the zigzagging Snake River as we passed by tall mountains. Many birds were present in the region, including a number of osprey, who made their distinctive nests on the top of telephone poles (when the tops were flat) and on specially-mad
After waking up and making ourselves look at least somewhat presentable, we steeled ourselves for going out and getting a hotel breakfast. After the burned toast debacle of last night, we were concerned that whatever breakfast we got would be inedible. It was not inedible - it was undrinkable! We all got coffee and modified it with a number of creamers and sugars, but upon sampling it we all nearly puked due to its extreme bitterness - sort of like what I imagine liquified anthrax would taste
After breakfast, our destination for the day was Craters of the Moon National Monument, halfway between Carey and Arco in the middle of Idaho, which might as well also be the middle of nowhere. This was the first day in a good long while where there was neither rain nor the threat of it, and we spent the sunniness and breeziness of the day to our full advantage. Soon after leaving Mountain Home on US Route 20, which took us all the way through the Craters into Idaho Falls, we saw a full-blown
We left La Grande at 10:38, in 53 degrees with lots of clouds, though it thankfully was not raining. The rolling hills around us were mostly filled with cattle peacefully grazing on ranches. We saw mountains - some snowcapped - all around, but we drove for a good ways in the vast, flat valley before getting to them. The snowcapped peaks were mainly to our left and were part of the Blue Mountain range. A little bit after 11:00 we crossed the 45th parallel for the fourth and last time on the tri
After a good night's sleep we got on the road at noon, rested up and anticipating a drive to Boise. It was 55 degrees and, of course, it was raining. It was not a hard rain, so we were able to make good time. We saw orchards along with semi-arid hills and mountains covered in dust and sagebrush. I forgot how much of Washington was like this. We stopped on the Yakima outskirts for gas and car snacks, then hit the road again. We crossed the Yakima and the Naches rivers and continued on the highw
At around 9:30 this morning we heard a loud tapping sound outside our fifteenth-floor window. Startled and curious, we opened the curtains to reveal a gigantic seagull which had perched himself on the ledge. We saw a close-up gull yawn as well as a good look at how gulls prune themselves. It was raining - one of the many themes of our journey - so we left the hotel around 11:00. Our first stop of the day was Vancouver's famous Stanley Park, which would have been a very nice place to spend a da
Before we left our Kamloops hotel room, we saw what we believe was a marmot which had climbed halfway up a tree. He looked like he was standing guard. Just a little after 11:00 we left Kamloops for British Columbia via the Yellowhead Highway and Trans-Canada Highway 1. It was surprisingly sunny and the temperature was 14 (57). After no more than twenty minutes on the road we went up a massive hill at a high altitude. The engine gave it all it could but it sounded as if it was on its last leg
