Journey

Snowstorm in Billings...fear and loathing on I-90....Lets Get To Seattle ALIVE....

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Snowstorm in Billings, originally uploaded by Andrew Sprung.

Low and behold i make it to Billings alive and pass out in the nicer of the two hotels I stayed in on the trip. I wake up expecting a nice easy drive to finish out the last leg of the trip to Seattle...oh it was anything but....

As soon as I hot the freeway I was caught in the midst of a hellish snowstorm blowing the Saturn Vue every which way. Taking refuge behind a semi it was a 35mph crawl for an hour until we could clear that treacherous mess, and lord knows those mountains were going to give me trouble..i just wanted this go forsaken snow to end...

Having a death wish I decided it would be a good idea to snap pictures with the Palm Pre all along the snowy journey through the western United States... I did so much of this that the Billings to Seattle journey is going to need to happen in several intense, life risking, and near death posts to come....

Rochester,MN to Billings, MT via Heather Murdock and Sioux Falls, SD (Day Two)

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Wind Farms, originally uploaded by Andrew Sprung.

Day two of the trip started off bright and early as passing out night before left me very well rested to continue on towards Seattle. When i started down the highway I had yet another bright idea!! Knowing that my friend Heather was currently living in Sioux Falls, SD; I decided to call her on a few hours notice and surprise her by swinging into Sioux Falls and paying her lovely self a visit.

Making great time, I was able to get to Sioux Falls early enough to spend a decent amount of time catching up. It was really nice to see Heather, as our hanging out has been few and far between since we both graduated and moved on from Michigan State in 2007. The stop was also a welcome break from driving through hours and hours of wind farms in central Minnesota and South Dakota.

Having spent an hour or so with Heather and getting ample driving rest, it was time to continue on with the journey. Like with the girls in Chicago, if I had known that I would get to Seattle as quickly as I did, I would have stayed and hung out much longer in Sioux Falls with Heather and her boyfriend John, but not being a good judge of time, I forged on ahead towards Billings.....

Driving from Detroit to Chicago (Day 1)

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The move to Seattle began not so early during this past Tuesday. I had packed the Saturn Vue to its fullest on Monday night; with a Hot Tub Time Machine break afterwards. Embarking upon my journey I made a point to stop over and see the ZAAZ Chicago Girls as well as the always lovely Sarah Pinto. This was my first stop of the day after leaving Madison Heights, so I made it a long one since it was a beautiful 70 degree day.

Quite simply The Chicago girls are a very fun time and I didn't want to leave!  I contemplated staying and drinking for the rest of the day; and if I would have known that driving to Seattle would have been the most boring thing in the universe I probably would have brought one of them to keep me company.  However I was attempting to keep to a driving schedule so I had my lunch, drank a beer and continued the drive to Rochester, MN.  Leaving was not the easiest thing for me as it struck me that there was no turning back at this point and that it was going to be a very boring and lonely drive the rest of the way.  

The drive would commence through the boring countryside of Wisconsin. If rural areas of that place are God's country, he must be playing some kind of cruel joke on those people. On to Rochester!