It's all peas and carrots to me.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

MN-CA Day Three

So that's that then.

Left at noon, arrived at 11:30. Would have been in (much) earlier if not for a missed exit between 680 and 880 resulting in a poorly executed, looping path in to town. Otherwise, this leg went as well as the other two. Glad that I loaded up on the podcasts.

There's pictures, but I haven't looked at them yet. I'm hitting the bed. I've got a job to get to in the morning.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

MN-CA Day Two

Two down, one to go.

Figured today was going to be the day I hit the wall, but the second day of driving went fine. Made for a good excuse to listen to the Hitchhiker's Guide radio plays from start to finish. Left at 11:00 and got to Elko NV at about 9:00 Mountain time. Definitely getting sick of driving in to the setting sun. The "short" 550 mile leg tomorrow, then maybe I'll start checking out public transportation to I don't have to be behind the steering wheel for a while.





MN-CA Day One

One down, two to go.

Today was the long one and I managed to make my destination, if not my schedule. Minneapolis MN to Cheyenne WY, left at 11:50, arrived about 1:30 am (central time). I hadn't planned on spending as much time with the movers this morning as I did (the original plan was to leave on Sunday), but it worked out better anyway (other than the whole arriving-after-midnight part).

The weekend was a bit nuts (which is what pushed the plan to Monday). Largely packing electronics and throwing out bags upon bags of crap so they wouldn't get packed and have to be dealt with in California. Kelly helped out on Saturday and Sunday and Dave stopped in Sunday evening too. Kelly and Jen were also over today and were a big help with the many last-minute items that I didn't get to (Jen stuck around for most of the day to sign off with the movers so I could hit the road earlier).

Other than an accident on I-80 a few miles out of Des Moines which brought the whole interstate to a halt for about fifteen minutes, the drive itself went smoothly. Nebraska drove me nuts with three mile stretches of "road work" every three miles for about the first third of the state. The first five had cones and about a three-foot traffic shift, but from then on there was nothing. The only way you knew you were in a "work zone" was the warnings posted under speed limit signs promising double fines. Oftentimes the only way I knew I was out of a "zone" was that the fine signs had gone away. I'd say it was a money grab by the state, but I hardly saw a trooper the whole way.

I'm just glad that the biggest leg of the trip is out of the way, that the cat calmed down after the first couple hours and seems to be settling in to the drive, and that I decided to get a hotel (yay Super 8, free wireless internet!) instead of car camping in a Wal-Mart parking lot.







Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Segway Awaaaaayyyy!



The office took off Tuesday afternoon to do a Segway-based Minneapolis riverfront tour (actually, I was supposed to set this up for last year, but it got too cold before getting around to it, so this was done as more of a going-away thing before drinks and dinner this year).

The Segways are hugely fun, and I'd love to have one if they weren't so damned expensive. Plus, ten people on Segways are an interesting sight... one person on their own still looks doofy. The tour's good too -- seeing parts of the riverfront you don't usually and learning a bit about the area as well.

Photo is Susan and I, during one of a number of our tour stops, this one on Nicollet Island.

Friday, August 12, 2005

In the "Things Keep Getting More Real" department


Emailed to me via cell phone last night.