Day 1 - Leaving Minnesota

For Saturday, 3 September 2011

Oh boy. This was challenging. I knew I had lots of stuff. I had stayed up after midnight trying to get things ready. And then I got up around four a.m. to complete loading the car. It did not take long to figure out that not everything was going to fit in the car. Expecting all kinds of weather, camping nearly every night, cooking most meals without electricity, and other gear, it all added up.

I played the odds and left some car things behind. Out of the potential paid ventures, I decided I would only bring equipment and clothes for a potential mountain bike rental. And still the car was stuffed, with no passengers. It was so full I contemplated postponing leaving for several hours and getting the roof box out of storage and put on the car. It would be helpful. But gas mileage over several thousand miles would really suffer. So I rearranged things until “good enough”. Even with the back window blocked, that wasn’t any worse than most trucks and vans that require dependence on the side mirrors. But I was able to keep a small area behind the driver’s seat open. And I had a pretty good view to the right rear passenger window and a bit of the right rear window. Those are key for safe lane changes.

Trying to put the frustrations of the past hours behind, I finally headed out the driveway. After a quick car wash and gas fill, I was able to finally leave Burnsville by 10:00 a.m.

I headed up I-35E and I-494 over to U.S. 61 south of Saint Paul. Born in 1961, I took 61 through Saint Paul and up towards my old stomping ground. Fortunately my mood was now better and I was adjusting perspective. So I was able to do a few drive-by prayers along the way for a random funeral, a great church in Saint Paul, and an office that takes quite a stretch to love. Since I moved, I haven’t been in Forest Lake much. So I stopped a block off 61 at the park by the lake. There are plenty of experiences and emotions associated with that town. But no profound insights came to mind in my very brief stop there.

I continued on up to where U.S. 61 officially stops now in Wyoming, Minnesota at I-35. I took 35 (former U.S. 61) on up to Duluth. There was road construction on the way. The only twisted “highlight” on this stretch was seeing a renegade corn stalk growing in the ditch near Hinckley, as I sat in traffic. I went to the north end of Duluth to be on Minnesota 61 and also see the lake. I haven’t been up to that area by Lake Superior for nearly two years. That is unusual for me. So I enjoyed a few minutes at the lake on a cloudy day. I also ate some old-time Cracker Jack snacks I had received from my sister. But I could not linger long. It was time to head west.

From Duluth, I took U.S. 2 west. The plan was to follow 2 to the end in Washington. I had been on much of U.S. 2 in Minnesota. But there were some new areas near Duluth and most of the western end in Minnesota.

Because part of the trip goal was experiencing a wide variety of landscapes, I decide I had better take at least one photo from near home with several trees. So this photo is from north central Minnesota. Yeah, there are plenty of tree-lined roads in the North Central states. But many of our fellow Americans never get to travel a road like that.

Over by Crookston, I discovered something pretty unique. Along the road were little couple cutouts. One or two would be interesting. But it turned out to be one every quarter mile or so for at least 30 miles. I still do not know for sure what they signified. I did not notice any other signs. But it is possible they were supposed to be a pro-marriage statement. I’m not sure. I searched the Internet and found no answers to the mystery. They may have just been up there for a fund-raising walk one day.

I passed through Grand Forks, North Dakota and on to parts of North Dakota new to me. On a holiday weekend Saturday, I did not notice any military jets by the Air Force base. I miss having those military jets around like we did in Virginia.

Unlike some people, I kind of enjoy the opportunity to drive through open areas where you can see for miles. So North Dakota was fine for me. There were some lakes near the highway. And heading west in late afternoon, I notice some potentially interesting lighting with the clouds. Well, it looked interesting a few minutes earlier. So I pulled over for a photo or two. That is much easier, and is even legal, when not on the freeway.

Pulling back on the road, I was surprised to hear the engine sounding a little strange and have the “Check Engine” light come on. Okay. That isn’t welcome any time. But I especially did not appreciate it on the first day of a long trip. I had tried to be fairly diligent spending around a thousand dollars to get the car ready. And now this comes.

It would be really handy if the light gave a little clue about the seriousness of the situation. But the few times in my life I have seen it, there is no hint. It was now after 6:00 p.m. on Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Even in a larger city, there may not be any shop open to check on it. And out here the odds were very poor. So I continued on.

Added to this was some stress with annoying car alarms going off several times, even while I was in the restroom at a rest area. The alarm problem only seems to be an issue on trips. After a while I figured it out. When a stuffed car has pressure on a door, the alarm system thinks someone is trying to pull the door open. So the alarm goes off. I learned to be more diligent to keep a tiny bit of space between the stuff and the doors after that.

I did stop in Rugby for the geographical center of North America. I did not turn the car off. Hint: the marker is not where all the signs point to the museum. It is probably more obvious in bright daylight or later when the lights come on. But I found it at sunset time.

The next significant city was Minot. I wandered around some trying to see if they might have a Mazda dealer. I found none. But as I was driving around in a strange city, I did hear a bit of The Black Eyed Peas benefit concert at the state fairgrounds for flood victims.

I paused and pondered next steps. According to the map, it appeared Williston was about the same size as Minot. So perhaps there was just as much chance to get an auto repair there. It was after 10:00 p.m. by this time. But I still felt pretty awake. So I continued on towards Williston. Along the way it was fun to see the new oil rigs all over there. The big flames were lighting up the night. About the only other traffic late at night were petroleum semi trucks heading to refineries (or somewhere). And there were lots of trucks. I guess oil doesn’t shut down for holiday weekends. It was good to see this part of the country prospering.

As I pulled into Williston well after midnight, I knew sleeping options were limited. I hadn’t noticed any campgrounds on the way. And the oil boom has every motel full continuously (well, mostly). So as I drove past a large parking lot, I checked out one possibility. I joined the people in at least 15 other vehicles already sleeping in the parking lot of a large popular retail store. There were cars and trucks, RVs, and some semis. It was fine. We all parked far from the entrance so no overnight business suffered. And the lot was well-lit with security cameras. So it was fairly safe, if not comfortable.

Other than the few seconds when the Check Engine light came on, the car seemed to be working fine. But I had not shut it off since then. As I turned it off, my hope was that the car would start in the morning. Sweet dreams…