Well, it's been a week since I last wrote. This week was more focused to site-specific training (at least the latter part of the week). Monday was up in Kenai (again) and we were discussing dropout rates, and other such things. 149 students from the district dropped out last year, and it's a major concern that's going to be addressed. I'm intrigued to see how that works out, and what programs they start to put into place.
Tuesday was a workday, and I managed to get a lot done. Mark (the choir director) came in and we talked about the concert schedule and how things generally work around the school, which made me feel a lot more confident. I managed to get my handbook, grading policy, class expectations, and other "paper" type things done.
Wednesday was meeting in our departments to talk about goals for the school and our departments, and it was definitely interesting. I got to see a lot of what the teachers think about the school right now. The new principal (Dr. Gee) seems to have a lot of really good ideas for how to get things going, and I hope that they keep going the way that he talks about.
Thursday was mandated state training - bloodborn pathogens, teacher education programs, that sort of thing. Definitely useful, even though I've heard most of it before. It's a good reminder of what to do to be careful. We also learned more about H1N1 - there's 400 cases or so in Alaska so far, so we'll have to see about that.
Yesterday was more sporadic. I was in the middle school for the morning, working on my instrument inventory for there. Then I went over to the high school for freshman orientation. I didn't feel too particularly useful because they thought I was going to be at the middle school so they didn't assign me a group of freshmen to sit with, but that's all right. I got to meet a decent amount of freshmen through the scavenger hunt and find out what instruments they play, as well as get more of them interested in jazz band. I just hope that they're able to sign up. Then I went back to the middle school and finished my instrument inventory. I got my handbooks printed off, as well as the grading expectations. I plan to go in tomorrow sometime, to finish printing off everything that I need and getting it copied so that I'm set for the first days. I also pulled some music for the high school ensembles so that I can get them playing as soon as possible, which makes it easier to know the level that they're at.
Today is a lazy day. I managed to sleep in until 11am which was wonderful. I finished cleaning my room, now it's just time to start doing laundry. I'm going over to Mary and Eric's for dinner - married couple who are also new band directors in the area. They're supposed to be going clam digging today, so hopefully fresh clams. Otherwise pizza - which is still good, as is socializing and meeting new people. I'm going to run into town at some point, to go to the music store and do a bit of looking around and exploring. Hope everyone's having a good week!
Oh, if you're looking for my new address, just comment with a way for me to email it to you and I'll make sure to do that! Also, if you have my cell phone number - at the moment, I don't have enough service in my house to receive calls. However, it does ring (I just drop them if I try to answer) so I get voicemails and all that, and I'll call you back as soon as I can!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Getting to Homer, New Hire Orientation
I got into Homer on Monday, and I got a chance to go to the high school. I got my keys, met the principal and the vice principal (who is actually the guy who hired me) and then I got a chance to explore around the band room. The music collection looks pretty standard which is good. Talked to the choir director tonight (he invited me over for dinner with some other people) and he said that the fall concert is pretty relaxed as to what I can do, which is good. Means that I can pick pieces that I'm familiar with, and focus on those. That way I don't have to learn the music AND the new class. I already know the music relatively well. That's a goal for Tuesday - pick out the music that I want to pass out and make sure that I have all the copies that I need. After that, I went down to meet Laura on the Homer Spit, found out where the house was, and came up here.
I moved in, and am definitely going to be staying here. It's an environment that catches me by surprise on a fairly regular basis (as Homer does, all by itself) but that's okay. I'm going to set it up with Laura so that I can stay here at least until May, and we'll see about anything after that. I have a bedroom that faces east (I think), and then another bedroom that I'll be able to use for storage, as well as a living space, but I don't think I'll really be needing that once I get my room setup.
Tuesday I didn't do much. I was tired so I slept in (took me a while to fall asleep in the first place) and then I just kind of relaxed. Ran into the middle school to get my keys for there, and met Zach, the new art teacher. He's from Minnesota, which is exciting and fun. Definitely more outdoorsy than me, but most people here are. We'll see if I can fix that. I had dinner with Laura and two of her friends which was nice, meeting people slowly is good and it makes it easier to remember names when it's just a few people.
Overall, the training was useful. Getting questions answered by HR and Benefits, going into the music store in Soldotna where we'll be getting instruments from, all that sort of stuff. It was also nice to get to meet all of the new hires (which is what Wednesday-Friday was), especially those from the area so that I know who's here and who's new and who I can rely on, if I need someone to talk to. :)
Ended up getting back into Homer about 4pm today, and went over to the choir director's house for dinner. It was definitely an interesting experience, especially since the people there have all known each other for a long time. There were some conversations where I had no idea what was going on, but overall they were pretty good about explaining to me what's going on. There's one guy who's 37 and very environmentally friendly - he's building a house out of tires and cob and other such things up on one of the mountains, that eventually he'll live in to decrease his impact on the earth. That's how a lot of people feel up here, and though I haven't been up here for too long, I can understand it. It is beautiful up here (although it's not home), and I can understand wanting to preserve it. With all the questions about what to do up here with the oil and all that, people are concerned about what's going to happen, which makes sense. I just don't have enough knowledge and haven't done the research to know exactly how I feel. That's a project.
So this weekend, I actually get to relax. I'm in Homer for quite a while now (at least for sleeping purposes) which is absolutely amazing. The goal is to get all situated. Get everything put away and organized so that I know what I need, and then... get what I need from around town. There are a few things, but I think that overall, I'm going to be okay. One of the main things is to find things to put up on the walls. I'm not quite sure what to do yet, so if people have suggestions, I'm more than willing to hear them.
I also will bring all the boxes in from my car this weekend (been doing it slowly because it's been raining since I got home), which means that I will get my camera cord. Hopefully I'll be able to download the pictures and get those posted up here, as well as take pictures from around Homer and of the house and everything else.
I moved in, and am definitely going to be staying here. It's an environment that catches me by surprise on a fairly regular basis (as Homer does, all by itself) but that's okay. I'm going to set it up with Laura so that I can stay here at least until May, and we'll see about anything after that. I have a bedroom that faces east (I think), and then another bedroom that I'll be able to use for storage, as well as a living space, but I don't think I'll really be needing that once I get my room setup.
Tuesday I didn't do much. I was tired so I slept in (took me a while to fall asleep in the first place) and then I just kind of relaxed. Ran into the middle school to get my keys for there, and met Zach, the new art teacher. He's from Minnesota, which is exciting and fun. Definitely more outdoorsy than me, but most people here are. We'll see if I can fix that. I had dinner with Laura and two of her friends which was nice, meeting people slowly is good and it makes it easier to remember names when it's just a few people.
Overall, the training was useful. Getting questions answered by HR and Benefits, going into the music store in Soldotna where we'll be getting instruments from, all that sort of stuff. It was also nice to get to meet all of the new hires (which is what Wednesday-Friday was), especially those from the area so that I know who's here and who's new and who I can rely on, if I need someone to talk to. :)
Ended up getting back into Homer about 4pm today, and went over to the choir director's house for dinner. It was definitely an interesting experience, especially since the people there have all known each other for a long time. There were some conversations where I had no idea what was going on, but overall they were pretty good about explaining to me what's going on. There's one guy who's 37 and very environmentally friendly - he's building a house out of tires and cob and other such things up on one of the mountains, that eventually he'll live in to decrease his impact on the earth. That's how a lot of people feel up here, and though I haven't been up here for too long, I can understand it. It is beautiful up here (although it's not home), and I can understand wanting to preserve it. With all the questions about what to do up here with the oil and all that, people are concerned about what's going to happen, which makes sense. I just don't have enough knowledge and haven't done the research to know exactly how I feel. That's a project.
So this weekend, I actually get to relax. I'm in Homer for quite a while now (at least for sleeping purposes) which is absolutely amazing. The goal is to get all situated. Get everything put away and organized so that I know what I need, and then... get what I need from around town. There are a few things, but I think that overall, I'm going to be okay. One of the main things is to find things to put up on the walls. I'm not quite sure what to do yet, so if people have suggestions, I'm more than willing to hear them.
I also will bring all the boxes in from my car this weekend (been doing it slowly because it's been raining since I got home), which means that I will get my camera cord. Hopefully I'll be able to download the pictures and get those posted up here, as well as take pictures from around Homer and of the house and everything else.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A Recap of the Rest of the Trip
Sorry that I haven't been the best about updating. I keep getting distracted with other things.
The trip from Dawson Creek to Watson Lake I commented on a bit, but didn't have the energy to write much more. The next time that I do this drive (whenever it is), I'm not going to make a reservation at a hotel. There's lots of little "towns" every 50 kilometres or so that mostly consist of a cafe of some sorts, a hotel/RV park, and a gas station - all connected to each other and owned by the same people. They appear to be open only in the summer (which would make sense) and they amuse me a great deal. Most of them have rules like "if you arrive after 9, just grab a key or a space and pay us in the morning", which I suppose makes sense - better than them having to have someone on duty all the time.
The place that I stayed in Watson Lake was very... quaint. It's called the Air Force Lodge, and to explain it, I have to get a little historical. The AlCan highway was originally built for military personnel during World War II, to get them up to Alaska because it was easier to leave from there to get to the Pacific Fight. So the Air Force Lodge was just that - a place for pilots to stay along the journey. The rooms are relatively good sized, but have no bathroom or shower. The guy who owns it amuses me a great deal, as he managed to pack a whole little history lesson into just getting me checked in.
The next day was a very easy day, as I could go 100 kmph nearly all the time, and it wasn't a long day to begin with. The town of Beaver Creek is right on the border (I crossed it 30 minutes after I left the next morning) and has a population of 80 people in the summer, 50 in the winter - the extra 30 people are who they hire to come live out there and work the hotels and restaurants. It's very quaint, and the hotel that I was at didn't have wireless internet. I couldn't even plug my laptop in, because the outlets were so old that they didn't have three prongs. I was staying in a hostel-type room, so there were two twin beds. Had someone else shown up that wanted a hostel room I would have had a roommate, but this appears to be the slow part of the season so it wasn't a concern. I just relaxed and read, which was good.
After that, I got to get back into the States. I was all prepared for a difficult border crossing because I have so much stuff, but once we established that I was moving for a job and it was all personal items, he just let me go through. After all, after I'm in Alaska, where am I going to go? Back to Canada? :P I think it may be more difficult to get back into the States when I move all my stuff back, whenever that is, simply because I'm going back into the Lower 48 with a lot more stuff, as opposed to a state with one border with another country (then again, maybe I can see Russia from my window!). So we'll see.
The drive through Alaska to Anchorage was definitely interesting. I know that I drove around a glacier, but I couldn't see it because I was in the clouds. Literally, I was driving through clouds. It was rather crazy, because it meant being up high and not being able to see tons. The bottoms of clouds amused me, though. It almost looked (when I was below them) that they were just sitting on a sheet of Plexiglass with flat bottoms, and then when I got closer they kind of have wisps that hang down, but they're very easy to see through. It also rained a lot on this day, which I was not impressed with.
Anchorage was fine. It's a city, but I got Qdoba and all was good. The hotel seemed so luxurious after the two nights I'd just had (I had a bathroom in my room!), which was nice before I headed down here. There is a mall there, but it's actually in the middle of the city, and I had no desire to fight with the one-way streets and all that just to get there and walk around. Perhaps another time when I'm up there for longer (and maybe with someone else).
The drive down the Kenai Peninsula was pretty impressive, but I didn't stop to take many pictures. At this point I just wanted to get to Homer, which I think is understandable. I'll be making the drive at other times, so I'll stop then and take pictures. I got into Homer fine, took some pictures of the view and then proceeded to the high school. But that's for another entry. :)
The trip from Dawson Creek to Watson Lake I commented on a bit, but didn't have the energy to write much more. The next time that I do this drive (whenever it is), I'm not going to make a reservation at a hotel. There's lots of little "towns" every 50 kilometres or so that mostly consist of a cafe of some sorts, a hotel/RV park, and a gas station - all connected to each other and owned by the same people. They appear to be open only in the summer (which would make sense) and they amuse me a great deal. Most of them have rules like "if you arrive after 9, just grab a key or a space and pay us in the morning", which I suppose makes sense - better than them having to have someone on duty all the time.
The place that I stayed in Watson Lake was very... quaint. It's called the Air Force Lodge, and to explain it, I have to get a little historical. The AlCan highway was originally built for military personnel during World War II, to get them up to Alaska because it was easier to leave from there to get to the Pacific Fight. So the Air Force Lodge was just that - a place for pilots to stay along the journey. The rooms are relatively good sized, but have no bathroom or shower. The guy who owns it amuses me a great deal, as he managed to pack a whole little history lesson into just getting me checked in.
The next day was a very easy day, as I could go 100 kmph nearly all the time, and it wasn't a long day to begin with. The town of Beaver Creek is right on the border (I crossed it 30 minutes after I left the next morning) and has a population of 80 people in the summer, 50 in the winter - the extra 30 people are who they hire to come live out there and work the hotels and restaurants. It's very quaint, and the hotel that I was at didn't have wireless internet. I couldn't even plug my laptop in, because the outlets were so old that they didn't have three prongs. I was staying in a hostel-type room, so there were two twin beds. Had someone else shown up that wanted a hostel room I would have had a roommate, but this appears to be the slow part of the season so it wasn't a concern. I just relaxed and read, which was good.
After that, I got to get back into the States. I was all prepared for a difficult border crossing because I have so much stuff, but once we established that I was moving for a job and it was all personal items, he just let me go through. After all, after I'm in Alaska, where am I going to go? Back to Canada? :P I think it may be more difficult to get back into the States when I move all my stuff back, whenever that is, simply because I'm going back into the Lower 48 with a lot more stuff, as opposed to a state with one border with another country (then again, maybe I can see Russia from my window!). So we'll see.
The drive through Alaska to Anchorage was definitely interesting. I know that I drove around a glacier, but I couldn't see it because I was in the clouds. Literally, I was driving through clouds. It was rather crazy, because it meant being up high and not being able to see tons. The bottoms of clouds amused me, though. It almost looked (when I was below them) that they were just sitting on a sheet of Plexiglass with flat bottoms, and then when I got closer they kind of have wisps that hang down, but they're very easy to see through. It also rained a lot on this day, which I was not impressed with.
Anchorage was fine. It's a city, but I got Qdoba and all was good. The hotel seemed so luxurious after the two nights I'd just had (I had a bathroom in my room!), which was nice before I headed down here. There is a mall there, but it's actually in the middle of the city, and I had no desire to fight with the one-way streets and all that just to get there and walk around. Perhaps another time when I'm up there for longer (and maybe with someone else).
The drive down the Kenai Peninsula was pretty impressive, but I didn't stop to take many pictures. At this point I just wanted to get to Homer, which I think is understandable. I'll be making the drive at other times, so I'll stop then and take pictures. I got into Homer fine, took some pictures of the view and then proceeded to the high school. But that's for another entry. :)
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Dawson Creek BC to Watson Lake YT
Yesterday's travels were much better than the day before. More annoying construction, and lots of mountains which means slowing down, but there were no car accidents! Time to get on the road now, I'll not have internet at the hotel tonight, so you'll have to wait until I get into Alaska to hear more about it. I'll be in Alaska Sunday morning, as I'm staying very close to the border tonight. Anchorage Sunday night - I'm down to the last 1000 miles. Yay!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Banff to Dawson Creek)
First off, I am in Dawson Creek. Note, the lack of 's to separate it from the TV show that was on quite a while ago, starring Katie Holmes and James Vanderbeek. So no, don't ask if I've seen them.
Today was not a good day of driving. The hostel in Banff was interesting. I felt strange being there only one night, especially since most of the people who were there seemed to be staying for 3 nights at least and going off to do outdoorsy stuff (it is in the middle of Banff National Park). In the morning, I decided to be safe and go to fill up on gas before I left Banff, because I didn't know how far it would be.
Well, after I was done I went to back up - just as a guy in a large Dodge Ram pickup truck did, and we hit each other. I did very little damage to him (a few scratches and a bit of the liner on his step into the bed of his pickup truck was screwed up). However, I managed to shatter my left tail light, and screw up the handle on my hatch. Thankfully it still opens so I can get things in and out of it, but it is going to have to be fixed at some point. I also seem to have misplaced the most recent insurance card for my car. I don't believe that I need it to get back into the States (I have the registration and proof of sale and my enhanced driver's license), I'm just annoyed that I managed to lose it - in my car. I'm sure I'll find it at some point (at least, I certainly hope so). I'm just annoyed.
So then I finally got on the road. Called Dad to let him know what was going on, and then hopped on the road. Jenn had one way for me to go, but it involved going on a road that was neither primary or secondary (so possibly dirt), so he found a different way for me to go. However, his way did not show up on the GPS, and tried to get me to turn into the middle of a field (GPS and directions got confused, neither wanted to fix the other). So I ended up having to go to Canada 2 and then up to Edmonton just to come back west, to get to Dawson Creek. It added an extra 100 kilometres (see, the Canadian spelling!) to the trip, which just make me cranky. I left the hostel around 8am, and rolled into Dawson Creek about 8:30pm (once I found the hotel and got checked in and everything). It was a long day, and tomorrow is a long day as well (11.5 hours, though pretty much all on the Al-Can Highway, which is good).
I still need to write about Missoula, but that's not going to happen just yet.
Today was not a good day of driving. The hostel in Banff was interesting. I felt strange being there only one night, especially since most of the people who were there seemed to be staying for 3 nights at least and going off to do outdoorsy stuff (it is in the middle of Banff National Park). In the morning, I decided to be safe and go to fill up on gas before I left Banff, because I didn't know how far it would be.
Well, after I was done I went to back up - just as a guy in a large Dodge Ram pickup truck did, and we hit each other. I did very little damage to him (a few scratches and a bit of the liner on his step into the bed of his pickup truck was screwed up). However, I managed to shatter my left tail light, and screw up the handle on my hatch. Thankfully it still opens so I can get things in and out of it, but it is going to have to be fixed at some point. I also seem to have misplaced the most recent insurance card for my car. I don't believe that I need it to get back into the States (I have the registration and proof of sale and my enhanced driver's license), I'm just annoyed that I managed to lose it - in my car. I'm sure I'll find it at some point (at least, I certainly hope so). I'm just annoyed.
So then I finally got on the road. Called Dad to let him know what was going on, and then hopped on the road. Jenn had one way for me to go, but it involved going on a road that was neither primary or secondary (so possibly dirt), so he found a different way for me to go. However, his way did not show up on the GPS, and tried to get me to turn into the middle of a field (GPS and directions got confused, neither wanted to fix the other). So I ended up having to go to Canada 2 and then up to Edmonton just to come back west, to get to Dawson Creek. It added an extra 100 kilometres (see, the Canadian spelling!) to the trip, which just make me cranky. I left the hostel around 8am, and rolled into Dawson Creek about 8:30pm (once I found the hotel and got checked in and everything). It was a long day, and tomorrow is a long day as well (11.5 hours, though pretty much all on the Al-Can Highway, which is good).
I still need to write about Missoula, but that's not going to happen just yet.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Banff, Alberta
So it's beautiful, but getting here was a massive pain. I don't have my map with me, so I will have to write out the whole entry of where I went when I get back to the hostel, and then post it tomorrow. But let's just go with
1) Getting into Canada is easy. They didn't even want to look at my inventory list, as long as I wasn't bringing firearms, explosives, tobacco, or alcohol into the country.
2) Mountains that are not yellow are pretty, but also frighten me.
3) Being in a national park, between a whole bunch of really high mountains when a torrential downpour and thunderstorm start is not fun - especially when people start getting mad at me because I don't want to go 90kmph.
4) I'm getting better at thinking in kmph. It helps that I can switch the GPS into kmph and not have to worry about following it on my speedometer.
5) Hostels are strange, especially when you're not there for backpacking/exploring/that type of thing. I'm at a Starbucks right now, and plan to head back and read and then sleep for a while. I have at least two roommates who appear to be sisters. We'll see what happens when they get back (their stuff was there, they've been there since yesterday).
I'll write more when I get back, and just use my laptop in the room to write about where I was and what I was doing and all that. I have wireless at my hotel tomorrow I believe, so I'll be able to post everything that I write tonight.
1) Getting into Canada is easy. They didn't even want to look at my inventory list, as long as I wasn't bringing firearms, explosives, tobacco, or alcohol into the country.
2) Mountains that are not yellow are pretty, but also frighten me.
3) Being in a national park, between a whole bunch of really high mountains when a torrential downpour and thunderstorm start is not fun - especially when people start getting mad at me because I don't want to go 90kmph.
4) I'm getting better at thinking in kmph. It helps that I can switch the GPS into kmph and not have to worry about following it on my speedometer.
5) Hostels are strange, especially when you're not there for backpacking/exploring/that type of thing. I'm at a Starbucks right now, and plan to head back and read and then sleep for a while. I have at least two roommates who appear to be sisters. We'll see what happens when they get back (their stuff was there, they've been there since yesterday).
I'll write more when I get back, and just use my laptop in the room to write about where I was and what I was doing and all that. I have wireless at my hotel tomorrow I believe, so I'll be able to post everything that I write tonight.
Heading into Canada!
So today, I start the trek into Canada. PLEASE do not call or text me, because it will incur massive roaming charges on my phone, and having that is not going to be my idea of a good time. I will update this journal as often as I am able (the next two nights for sure) and then again when I get to Anchorage. I will be finding an international calling card when I get over there (they're nearly impossible to find in the States without being ridiculously complicated) so that I can call home and Jenn, but that's really about it.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Billings to Missoula
Got a rather late start, but that was all right because it was only a 5.5 hour drive and I wasn't in a super hurry to get there, as I will be in Missoula for two days. The drive was relatively pretty, but it kind of surprised me how yellow Montana is. I suppose that it's because it's been dry and they haven't had enough rain to keep everything alive, but it still just didn't strike me as too beautiful (sorry, Montana). There were some parts that were very impressive. like the mountains that I was able to see just east of Bozeman. Thankfully the roads go between the mountains. I'm rather frightened of heights, which should be interesting as I'm going to be in mountains for the next... quite a bit of my journey. I'm essentially going to be following the mountains up until I get into Alaska, and even then, it's not very flat. I'm not going through the super huge Rockies (those are south of here) but I'm sure that I'll be getting up relatively high. But hey, this trip is about pushing myself, right?
I also wanted to make sure that everyone knows that you can subscribe to my blog, and then you will get an email whenever I update. If you have a gmail account, just click on the left side of the screen and follow me. That way, whenever I update you'll know, and you don't have to play the guessing game. For the rest of my trip, I will have internet here in Missoula, in Banff (the 5th), Dawson Creek (the 6th), not the 7th or 8th (that's when I'm in the Yukon, and hotels are hard to find), and then when I get to Anchorage on the 9th and after that. So it's only two nights that I'll be away from the internet, and I'm hoping that somewhere along the way I'll run into a McDonald's or some other place where I can connect. We'll just have to wait and see.
Well, that's enough for now. I'll write again when I get another chance!
I also wanted to make sure that everyone knows that you can subscribe to my blog, and then you will get an email whenever I update. If you have a gmail account, just click on the left side of the screen and follow me. That way, whenever I update you'll know, and you don't have to play the guessing game. For the rest of my trip, I will have internet here in Missoula, in Banff (the 5th), Dawson Creek (the 6th), not the 7th or 8th (that's when I'm in the Yukon, and hotels are hard to find), and then when I get to Anchorage on the 9th and after that. So it's only two nights that I'll be away from the internet, and I'm hoping that somewhere along the way I'll run into a McDonald's or some other place where I can connect. We'll just have to wait and see.
Well, that's enough for now. I'll write again when I get another chance!
Fargo to Billings
Sorry that I didn't write this the night that I actually got into Billings, but I was rather tired when I got in. The drive across North Dakota and into part of Montana was really rather boring. North Dakota is flat, until you get to the last 45 minutes of it. Then you get to the Teddy Roosevelt National Park and then it starts getting more exciting. I stopped at the View Point overlooking it and took some pictures, which will be uploaded once I have the cord for my camera. It was rather windy, so I wasn't quite brave enough to go to the edge and have someone take a picture of me against it, but I got some cool pictures of the different rock formations. Then I hopped in the car, finished North Dakota and headed into Montana.
The other thing about ND that amused me was all of the "LARGEST" that exist there. I passed the largest turkey and the largest buffalo without stopping, but when it came time for the "largest metal sculpture" along the Enchanted Highway, I just had to. I drove up to it (nearly bottomed out my car) and took a few pictures. It's just geese on this big eye thing, but again, I'll post pictures once I get them.
Montana was nice. I like the road engineers a lot better than in ND, because they actually took into account how steep you can make a hill without the cruise control getting all weird (or at least, it appeared this way to me because my cruise was working far worse in ND). The hills looked rather large to me, but I also knew that I was going to be getting to see hills that were a lot bigger along the trip, so I tried not to be too cityish and freak out about the OMG BIG HILLS!
Then I got to Billings, which is a very confusing city. I think most MT cities are confusing, because they all wanted to be different than each other and it didn't really work too well. I had to use my GPS just to find the restaurant to pick up my food, because it didn't make sense at all.
The other thing about ND that amused me was all of the "LARGEST" that exist there. I passed the largest turkey and the largest buffalo without stopping, but when it came time for the "largest metal sculpture" along the Enchanted Highway, I just had to. I drove up to it (nearly bottomed out my car) and took a few pictures. It's just geese on this big eye thing, but again, I'll post pictures once I get them.
Montana was nice. I like the road engineers a lot better than in ND, because they actually took into account how steep you can make a hill without the cruise control getting all weird (or at least, it appeared this way to me because my cruise was working far worse in ND). The hills looked rather large to me, but I also knew that I was going to be getting to see hills that were a lot bigger along the trip, so I tried not to be too cityish and freak out about the OMG BIG HILLS!
Then I got to Billings, which is a very confusing city. I think most MT cities are confusing, because they all wanted to be different than each other and it didn't really work too well. I had to use my GPS just to find the restaurant to pick up my food, because it didn't make sense at all.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Fargo, North Dakota
So, I am now done with the first day of my travels. The trip to Fargo took from 10:15am Eastern until about 7:30pm Central (so about 10 hours of driving). It wasn't really a bad drive, tomorrow should be even more interesting. I hop on I-94 and drive straight for 600 miles or so. At least I should be able to go fast.
The drive wasn't that terribly remarkable - very similar to driving along US-2 in the UP for a while. Lots of trees, a few hills and areas without hills. I'm not too sure about the drive tomorrow. I drive straight across North Dakota, and then into Montana until I get to Billings.
The cord to plug my camera into my computer is in my car somewhere, but I'm not sure where so I will have to wait until I get to Alaska and do my unpacking to upload the pictures. I didn't take any pictures today, because I wasn't sure exactly how long it would take and I wanted to get here as soon as I could (I also got a later start this morning than I wanted to).
I'll write more tomorrow. It should be a shorter drive, and I also plan on getting on the road a little bit earlier.
The drive wasn't that terribly remarkable - very similar to driving along US-2 in the UP for a while. Lots of trees, a few hills and areas without hills. I'm not too sure about the drive tomorrow. I drive straight across North Dakota, and then into Montana until I get to Billings.
The cord to plug my camera into my computer is in my car somewhere, but I'm not sure where so I will have to wait until I get to Alaska and do my unpacking to upload the pictures. I didn't take any pictures today, because I wasn't sure exactly how long it would take and I wanted to get here as soon as I could (I also got a later start this morning than I wanted to).
I'll write more tomorrow. It should be a shorter drive, and I also plan on getting on the road a little bit earlier.
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