I believe we woke up in Mitchell, SD around 6 and attacked the hot continental breakfast by 7. Attacked is the precise description. It’s pretty much a standard continental breakfast with a single hot item – scrambled eggs and cheese on a English muffin. It’s the sort of concoction a bachelor would create. Not the tastiest thing (or the freshest) but we put down several. Being middle class means always finding a way to stretch a free breakfast into a full stomach well into the afternoon. It’s also what makes you figure on eating back some of your room rate, therefore “winning” as my father and I joke about. For example in a related way, if an event is charging for parking and you end up parking close by for free to the given event, you have “won.” Life it seems is an endless string of wins (“we ate back at least $20 at breakfast”) and losses (“they screwed me on parking yesterday. I had to pay”) out of which the south side polack gets ahead. It’s silly when I write it down, but it certainly makes sense in my mind.

We hit the road at 7:30 and made it off the main road towards Mt. Rushmore around noon. Mt. Rushmore is about 35 miles outside of Rapid City and involves some pretty steep roads. Very steep indeed. The descent into Keystone, SD found us on a 9%+ grade going through single lane construction. I believe Greg gained some grey hairs from that gauntlet. 10 minutes later when we parked at the monument the brakes smelled distinctly strong in the air. I dared Greg a $1 to touch the rotor but he turned me down. I got close with my finger but the heat from 2 inches away was warning enough.

The monument itself is awe inspiring. Just attempting to grasp how one goes about even creating and sculpting such a thing is plenty to chew on for me. Hearing all of the foreign languages and different American accents in the air was also fascinating and beyond what I expected. I always assumed Rapid City, SD was a little off the beaten path for a foreign family’s American odyssey. I guess not. Cool.

On we drive praying for Great Falls, MT, but as the afternoon waned we ended up settling for an 8pm Billings, MT hotel. I’m told that downtown Billings is a cool town, but peripheral Billings certainly is not. We drove by the refineries and stopped at yet another Hampton Inn (the breakfast now had a perpetual target on its back so to speak). After some Outback hamburgers and a blooming onion we dragged our bloated guts back to the room. We were a little behind our schedule and had also found that our stomachs were shrinking due to the long days of coffee, granola bars, and water. We sadly left some of the blooming onion on the table. But, our plans now had us getting up at 5am to hit the breakfast at 6am in time for a 630 am pull out.

I'm going to attempt to break these entries into daily postings for each day the trip, but I have a feeling that might be too much to chew. We shall see.

May 2nd was a Friday in Madison whereupon a wonderful night of metal occurred courtesy of Jason, Lora, Eric, and a plethora of Madison's bike community. Jason provided the venue and turntables, Lora the delicious food, and Eric the black, doom, and thrash vinyl. After a viewing of Heavy Metal Parking Lot and Fubar, the records were spun and a good time was had by all. Chatting about Lost, metal, bikes, roller derby, bikes, and "3" was a blast and it made it very hard to leave Madison. I think I made it home around 1:30 am, promptly mopped my apartment, threw some stuff out, and then made it to bed around 3 am (thankfully the truck had been packed before the metal began). I feared sleeping in way past the 7:30 am wake up time, but I was so nervous and eager to hit the road that it was oddly not a problem. I pulled out of Madison around 8:30 and made it to the southside of Chicago around noon, droning and driving to Eric's terrific doom laced compilation cdr's. The afternoon descended into a blur of a 63rd street Torta with steak for the road, picking up 5' x 8' trailer in Crown Point, IN, loading my life into it within a short, single hour, and finally showering before a delicious lasagna dinner from chef Mom. It was delicious without a doubt, even more so given that we knew it would be our last decent meal for a week, minimum.

The plan was to make it to Rapid City, SD by Sunday night, though this was based primarily on Tater's 75+ mph estimates that he usually maintains in his trailerless Yukon. 2000lbs attached to my Ranger will probably not get over 75mph easily, at least not without filleting my miles per gallon averages. We decided to keep it at 65mph for the trip which yielded 15mpg on flat roads and 12-13mpg on mountainous terrain. I did discover a great tidbit in the fact that the IRS will allow you to deduct your move (minus food) for a new job. Yep, the gas, trailer, hotels, and first month of storage space is all tax deductible as long as I am moving for a new job, which I am. Great news to have. We ended up leaving Indiana around 7:30 am on Sunday, stopped for lunch in Minnesota just past La Crosse, WI, and grabbed a hotel in Mitchell, SD. Driving that trailer is so easy. I'll admit it was a bit of a question mark for me and gave me a little bit of concern, but aside from backing it into tight spots and getting it up to 65mph, you never know you're pulling it.

At the end of the first night we found ourselves a few hours behind schedule, but with a reasonable room that included a hot continental breakfast we considered ourselves right on track. Not having to stop for breakfast was perfect. We were already packing our own lunches and snacks so getting a freebie breakfast (with bananas smuggled into the truck) made the day that much faster and economical. We knew we would be grabbing a sit down dinner after we found a hotel so we let that dinner be a goal and guiding light for our day.

Tired and with a belly full of Ruby Tuesday I blogged a single line about Mitchell, SD before crashing out and heading for a 6am wake up. Glancing at the map is very daunting. Great Falls, Edmonton, Fort Nelson, Whitehorse, Tok, and Anchorage are still so far away.

Victory!

Sleeping in the truck for a few hours in Beaver Creek, YT was chilly and uncomfortable, but we pulled in to Anchorage at noon on Friday. I'm unloaded and set but still living out of suitcases. Certainly there will more later but it is nice to be done driving.

Billings, MT

Kind of a dirty town, but beautiful scenery. Soooo many antelope.

Night one. Mitchell, South Dakota

We're off...

As busy as things are expectedly becoming, I still need to find the time to blog a bit and stay excited for this huge move. I have examined my piles of stuff, packed stuff, and jettisoned stuff. I can now happily conclude that it will all fit. That was always a concern, but I believe it is licked. There may even be extra room. Probably not, but I know it will all definitely fit.

The route is being sketched out as logically as can be at this point. I’m trying very hard to be flexible, though I’m certain my plan will change drastically once we get 100 miles into the trip. After loading the trailer on Saturday the 3rd in Indiana, we’ll set off in the early morning of the 4th out of Rensselaer, IN, bombing north through Madison and LaCrosse, WI (Home of the world’s largest six pack). The goal is to get to Rapid City, SD that night, which is about 15 hours. It’s doable, especially considering that we’ll be on 4 lane roads with speed limits of 70 mph. That is really the only firmly planned day. We need to get up bright and early in South Dakota on Monday and see Mount Rushmore before tearing off into Wyoming and Montana.

Monday night it would be nice to get to Calgary, but that might be pushing it. Lethbridge is more reasonable. As I’ve become a bit of a Corner Gas fan lately it would have been nice to drive through Rouleau, Saskatchewan, but time and gas $ dictate staying in the US through Montana. I suspect Alberta looks enough like Dog River to give us a chuckle though. All the days after that will be ad hoc. The Milepost will guide us towards gas and hotels and helps us make the choices as to how much further we can push it before we end up sleeping in the truck in what will certainly be chilly Canadian nights.

Tater has pulled a boat all over the midwest and driven many, many miles at all hours of the night throughout his days and travels, so I’m certain we’ll collectively be able to push some long days and nights if we feel like it. In our Boy Scout days we drove all night to the boundary waters several times, and in our adult lives we’ve driven long days and nights to get our canoes and tents to the trails and fish of the north woods of Wisconsin and Minnesota. We’ve trained for this trip since our youth so to speak. If we need to push through most of a night, so be it. I really doubt that though. I’ve negotiated a start day of May 16th at my new gig so driving reasonable distances with beds to sleep in each night is going to happen. The old plan of killing ourselves just to get to Anchorage by Thursday is now happily extinct.

Getting to Anchorage on Friday will give us the chance to not arrive too zombie-like. We’ll unpack my life into some public storage, dump off the trailer, and hopefully head to Humpy’s for some Alaskan Amber and Halibut and Chips. I suspect Becky will be amazed and fearful at how ravenous 2 Chicago Polacks can be.

Aside from Mount Rushmore there aren’t too many specific sites for us to hit. There are hot springs right along the Alaskan highway in the Yukon, so that will be a mandatory stop. Cameras will be out at all times for the wildlife I’m told frequently wanders across the Alcan. I’m also quite certain that the local population along the highway will get us chuckling and mocking as we travel along buying liters of fuel with toonies. Like all good friendships, we’ll probably descend into our own little world where everything else is funny and ripe for ridicule. I know the reality is that the 2 southsiders are out of place in Canada, but we will sing a song of being the only sane, cool ones in a world of maple leafs. Unfair and childish for sure.

Only 2 weeks!

The pain cave beckons.

Everything is winding down, the boxes are getting packed, and things are finding their way to ebay, Half Price Books, or St Vincent's on Williamson. May 3rd is the go date. A job has been secured, a trailer rented, and excitement is really setting in.

I finally got my chest touched up by Ben at Deluxe Tattoo last week. I needed it since the summer of 2005, but always put it off because Chicago was so close. Well, that will end very soon so it's time to get on these sorts of things. I asked for an additional star along with the touch up on the sparrow. No charge, even on the new ink, and he threw me a shirt as well. Great experience.

Only 3.5 weeks till I'll finally answer the call to great white north.

Embracing the Inevitable

One Way. May 4th.

Lair of the Minotaur are legit, yet tongue in cheek at the same time.

Borne back ceaselessly into the past

Lora and took a nice field trip to Chicago last Saturday where tattoos were had by all. A quick trip in and then we scurried back safely over the border back to cheese country, dreaming of Mountain Dew and Miller Lite all the way. I always wanted something old school on the rear of my calf, and have always liked sacred hearts. But sacred hearts are a bit ubiquitous, which isn't necessarily a problem. You don't see as many Immaculate Hearts, so now one more is out there. It is full of scabs right now but soon will look clean and bright. There is a bit too much blood on the photo above so a better picture will need to come soon. Addictive as ever, as soon as the inking was done I felt the need to plan the next tattoo. Alas, Kim is far away and therefore so is my sleeve.

...

I often feel I was born too late, and that the things I love are not nearly modern enough for these times -- a bit of a Luddite. Yet, I pay the bills happily writing Java and Struts websites. Alea iacta est.

I have recently found myself back on a kick of horror and crime old time radio. If this at all interests you, we are truly living in a golden age. The shows are all out of copyright and fit into 6MB mp3 files that are all over the net for free. It is such a wealth of free happiness if it's your bag. I've found the Whistler and The Witch's Tale to be a blast and well written, while The Unexpected is a bit of a constant dud. I am amazed at how often the horror tales are filled with gore and grim endings where the villain gets no comeuppance. The connection to early 50's EC horror comics is clear and sharp, and you can sense the upcoming codes that would limit the negativity and darkness of those shows. I am a little surprised by the fact that these shows have less of a moral compass that what is on tv today. Interesting.

Looking at my timesheets at work, I notice that I haven't had a weekend off since the new year, which is annoying to say the least. This project is a beast and our deadlines are completely unrealistic, yet we soldier on. Therefore, everyday of the week is pretty much locked into my work schedule so I end up getting up around 6:30 regardless of the day. This happened today despite my best efforts to sleep in, so I decided to head to the 7am Tridentine Easter Service. Beautiful and powerful, and it is always great to hear Latin -- I could feel much of it coming back to me.

Listening to old time radio and attending Latin mass. Sounds like the 1930's, yet with expensive bikes and Doom metal playing.

I'd write a bit about Gary Gygax passing, but Scott already nailed it.

I have always been a huge fan of Mavic wheels. I'm not sure if this started from friendly recommendations or from how burly the Elites were on my Raleigh Prestige. Either way, I make an effort to keep buying these French wheels. The SL's were sweet, but the rear one developed cracks on the rim after about 10K miles, which is ok -- it still hurt as those wheels were very pricey. Late last summer I replaced it with the Elite above and man, did I get a bad penny. After about 300 miles I had to true the thing after every mellow 30 mile Paoli loop. What a dud. I had even marked the errant spoke with a sharpie because it was the chronic culprit. Today I received my wheel back from the Mavic warranty folks and they have completely rebuilt the wheel, with all new spokes nonetheless. Perfect. Those frogs are ok.

I ride my cross bike around town whenever possible and have found that my track bike never gets ridden. It has literally sat for about 6 months. Felt like a waste so I listed it on craigslist, a Milwaukee buyer arrived with some $, and off it went. It will get ridden now, which is the important thing, along with me owning slighter fewer things, which is always good. All bikes must get ridden otherwise they need to be candidates for homes where they will get ridden.

The new Vampire Count army is out and pictured above. Wonderful and better than ever. I really like that everything in the army is now undead. That will help the ghouls a great deal. New tactics....

Hills and Valleys

I really try and not become hooked on tv shows (“it steals my time and wastes what I’ve learned!”). The idea of structuring your week around tv is certainly true for many people and I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with it, but I guess the problem creeps in when it ends up driving your week rather than fitting into your week. At any given time I have 3 or so can’t miss shows, which isn’t too bad. I really should dump the cable and just watch dvd’s but I’m not that strong and I love TCM too much. I am proudly hooked on Lost these days, but also somewhat ashamed of being unable to miss LA Ink. The soap opera element of LA Ink annoys me endlessly, but seeing Hannah and Kim from Chicago just kill it every week artistically, while also appearing far more personally balanced than the walking train wreck and LA stereotype Kat is, makes it well worth watching. The dichotomy between the worth of both shows was never clearer than last week when LA Ink moved to 9pm on Thursdays. I watched a ridiculously stellar episode of Lost at 8pm that involved very challenging scientific concepts and plot threads to be juggled before dovetailing into a truly worthwhile emotional payoff, only to click over to LA Ink and begin getting annoyed at the Kat silliness while feeling sad that Kim is in LA and will not be able to sleeve me. It is sort of like watching football or hockey – I get to swear at the tv whenever something dumb happens, which is often and enjoyable. It’s a guilty pleasure that I allow myself, though having it right after Lost reveals just how guilty it is.

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Wow! Jill finished the Iditarod Invitational. 350 snow covered Alaskan miles on a Pugsley. That must truly be a case of your clothing and equipment being worth far more $ than your bike.

The Blues spanked the Hawks but the game was fun. High energy and very physical. A split second after the puck drop at the start of the game a fight broke out. Division rivalries are great.

I have no idea if it is indicative of a large or small turnout, but at 7:05am I was ballot #17, meaning that 16 people had voted in the previous 5 minutes. At least it was along my walk to work. It's nice not to detour in -3 degrees and windy.

The roads here have been particularly bad since Sunday's ice/snow storm. It seems like one of the following is true to some degree: Madison has decided that there is too much salt on the roads and has thus switched to gravel exclusively, they have run out of salt, or they have run out of salt and don't feel like paying a premium for more. I know that when it gets bitter cold salt is useless, but Sunday was in the 20's so salt was a decent choice. I vote for the last theory. I assume that the city feels like it only needs to limp through the storms at this point as they hope a melt, however minor, is just around the corner. Theoretically yes, but the 10 day is still solidly below 32. Hockey is going well, cycling not so much.


Anchorage averages 70 inches of snow, Madison 42 inches. The record for Madison was 76. We're in the mid 80's right now and counting. We might as well shoot for the hundo. Yep, it's milder in Anchorage.

I am 100% caught up on Lost and hopelessly hooked. I hadn't planned on this, but here I stand.

The Blackhawks are finally on tv tonight here as the play the Blue on VS. The Hawks are definitely having an exciting year, but pesky St. Louis always is annoying. I appreciate the St Louis pork steak, but Chicago wins the pizza battle hands down. And beef sandwiches.

Tom was completely correct. When renting Lost Season 3 dvds, even though you only get to take new releases home for 2 days, go ahead and rent 2 at a time. 8 episodes in 2 days is almost not enough.

How do people wait 7 days between these episodes?

My gym is, among many other great things, a place for serious Strongman competition training. The atlas stones, milk cans filled with cement, and log press are always available for training. Sunday morning there was a large group from upstate training hard on all of the equipment, bearded and grunting and yelling away as they timed each other on each event, trying their best to simulate actual competition. You could tell that they were serious, but that they also were not around such accurate training equipment back home – they were giddy in being able to use the exact stuff they would be using in competition. I’ve seen plenty of people train with coffee or Red Bull alongside them, but this crew was training with Mt Dew cans everywhere. On Wisconsin!, indeed. I’m sure the strongmen in IL aren’t training this hard.

Hockey Names

One of the many great things about hockey is the names -- saying them, memorizing the pronunciation, etc.

On the Blackhawks now:

Jonathan Toews -- 'taves'
Dustin Byfuglien -- 'buff-lin'
Nikolai Khabibulin -- 'hab-be-boo-lin'

And a fav from the past:
Lyle Odelein -- 'oh-de-line' -- not a tough one to pronounce, but fun to drawl out.

At least a foot it seems. Work closed at 1pm so I caught up on a movie from Turner Classic Movies (Wings of Eagles) and did some reading as well. Walking to work is great on days like these.

I resisted for years when it came to buying a cell phone. It seemed like some deep surrender. Silly. I’m a computer scientist but a Luddite of sorts. My phone started to crap out the other day and I went running to Sprint for a new one as fast as I could. Can’t live without it. Just like the cocaine monkey.

Madison is not Chicago, which is usually great for me, except for today. I miss Paczki day (along with Check Please!, Chi Tung, and beef sandwiches)

I finally developed 2 rolls of film and pushed them up to flickr. The link is to the right.
Geez, one roll had June photos on it.