Dale vs 900 Km

So June 1st. At long last. Woke up early and packed the car full of my stuff. Tim treated me to breakfast which was awesome. We were gunna go to a place he recommended called Cora's, but it was way too busy, sadly. So instead we just went to Sal's. Good stuff. I dropped Tim off and said goodbye, and hit the open road! A full tank of gas and 0 on the trip odometer. I was curious to see how many kilometers to a tank I get, to see if my worst-case scenario of $1500 for gas was in fact the realistic scenario.

Headed south from Emerson, cranked the tunes and drove. And drove. And drove. When I finally reached the border the GPS was a little wonky but I figured it out. Of course they searched the car. They always do for young people. At least I assume that cause every time I've gone we've been searched. Could be the tattoos I suppose, though I dunno if that's just me being defensive.

From the border it was hours of straight line. But at 120 km. I had been nervous to drive that fast, but in no time I felt myself fighting the urge to speed. Driving in the U.S. is so much better than Canada. Their signs, road conditions, and overall system is just way better. I stopped at a few rest-stops to eat, drink and pee. There seems to be a rest-stop every 50 miles on the interstate and each one has FREE WIRELESS INTERNET!

After 6 hours on the road my brain was turning to mush. Eventually I noticed the roads seemed to be busier, and there was a lot of traffic on the overpasses I went under. After a while I realized the interstate was taking me right beside downtown Minneapolis. That was when it all hit me. I was driving by myself in a country I don't live in, and out the side window was a freakin' metropolis. It was awesome. The Minneapolis skyline looks really impressive.

Thank God for GPS. Thanks to it I was navigating the 12 lane highway near downtown Minneapolis like I'd lived there my whole life.

As I was leaving Minneapolis (the aunt and uncle I'm staying with live in Rochester, 2 hours outside Minneapolis) it was beginning to get dark out. But suddenly red and blue was flashing in my rear-view. I was being pulled over! Had I been speeding? I thought I got the whole kilometers to miles thing down pat... I pulled over onto the shoulder and waited. The cop turned on the flood light so I couldn't see back in the mirrors. Eventually he came up to the window and asked if I knew why he'd pulled me over. "Speeding..." I answered apologetically. "Really? Not that I noticed!" Great, lol. I explained that I thought maybe I had been cause I was from Canada and was getting used to the coversion, but if I wasn't speeding then why WAS I being pulled over? My new Ipod holder... Apparently you're not allowed to have anything attached to your windshield, lol. So I took it down :P There was also some confusion over my insurance cause apparently in the states you get a card, but in Canada its just a big folder up paper. But the cop was nice, he actually lived in Winnipeg for a while, so it was no big deal and eventually he sent me on my way. Already an interesting story to tell.

So finally, at 10:30 pm I turned onto the street my aunt and uncle live on. It was so dark I couldn't see the numbers so I had to call them and get them to come out and wave at me, lol. They have a really nice house! So I sat and talked with them for a while, and one of my cousins, Jordan, was still up so he sat with us too.

They went to bed and I've just been uploading pix and videos, checking email and writing this blog. And even though it's only midnight, which is usually really early for me, I'm exhausted so I'm going to bed!

Oh btw, I made the whole trip on just over a full tank. So I get 900 km to a tank on highway! That's over twice what I'd figured in my worst case scenario!!! This trip might actually be comfortable now! Also, I'm uploading all my pix and videos to flickr, so check em out if you have time! http://www.flickr.com/photos/notme2000/