the WU reborn

Ninth Stop: Redding, CA

Yeah Redding.... *sigh*

Jon texted me this morning to tell me that he couldn't talk, a symptom of being really sick. That left me driving to San Diego by myself. Oh well, I'd come this far alone; mise well finish up. Graham took me to do a little minute shopping, then I was off, but didn't hit the road until 11. Consequently, I didn't get as far as I wanted to...well that and the fact that for some reason I had to pull over twice to sleep (uncommon for me), I got a ticket, and it started raining. Holy crap there are a lot of mountains in southern Oregon northern California.

Anyway, Redding is a pile and I'm never coming back. On the upside, I talked to my San Francisco contact who is planning on taking me around tomorrow. I'm gonna try to hit the sack by midnight to be up early so that I can get to SF by noon.

*grumble grumble*

Trip Itinerary

Eighth Stop: Portland, OR

New Photos in the Portland album.

The drive to Portland was pleasant and uneventful. The most interesting thing
to happen was the cro-mag border guard trying to trip me up with stupid questions. I felt like saying: "Yes of course I have something that I am bringing into the country....a fat sack of weed. Do you want to search my car?"

Jonathan's brother Jacob lives in Portland, so I called him up a few weeks ago and arranged to stay with him. He is an urban planner, so while he took me for a tour of Portland by foot, he was explaining all sorts of things about how it was built and details that were really helpful. We climbed to the top of a park where there was an amazing view of the city, and a glimpse of Mount Hood. For dinner we met Jacob's pal Katie at a place called the Farm. I had some tasty halibut.

This morning, I went for a long-awaited massage at a place called Common Ground. They had a "sandwich special" which included 30 minutes in an outdoor hot tub or sauna, a one hour massage, then another 30 minutes in the spa. It was great, and only $60. I would certainly go again.

Jon, my travel companion from Portland to San Diego is sick so will be here tomorrow. Consequently, I looked up an old pal Graham, who I know from Magic. He was in Madison for school, but moved to Vancouver, WA (which is about 15 minutes from Portland) about a year ago to live with another Madisonian named Jason. Anyway, Graham and I decided to go for sushi. He took me to Eastland Sushi, one of the most ridiculous places I've ever been to. Their sushi happy hour is from 8-10. Hey Beckett, get a load of these prices:

$1 any piece of nigiri
$2 rolls (california, tuna, salmon, etc)

That's like less than half of what I pay in Milwaukee, and the quality was good too. Amazing what living on the coast can offer.

Tonight we sat around and watched Shade. It had it's cheesy parts, but was entertaining overall.

Gas Prices:

Fife, WA $2.29
Portland, OR $2.49 (although it's all full service). I didn't gas up in Portland
Vancouver, WA $2.25

Time for some online poker...

Made some minor changes to the Trip Itinerary as I have heard an overwhelming concensus that San Jose is ass.

Leaving Vancouver

New photos in the Seattle/Vancouver album.

A week in Vancouver is just what I needed. Wandering around Chinatown is always fun...so much to see. I even got myself a copy of Hero, which hasn't been released in the US yet. Yesterday, I got a haircut by and Iranian woman. Not too bad, and cheap: $10 Canadian which is around $7 USD.

I've spent a lot of time with my cousins. Last night, Gerald and I were going to try to see a movie, but once again movie website's suck, and it hadn't been released yet. So, we ended up drinking gimlets for a good portion of the evening, and then ended up at Hon's for a late dinner.

John and Jeannette are building an arbor in their backyard as part of their renovation. It's coming along very well.

Anyway, I love the city, and it is certainly one of the ones I would consider moving to. I have a lot of thinking to do.

Tomorrow I leave for Portland.

Trip Itinerary

Congratulations Brian!

My cousin Brian graduated recently with a Bachelor's degree in History from Northwestern University. Unfortunately I was unable to attend as I am on this road trip but I just wanted to say nice work Brian!

More on Vancouver

Well, the last few days have been super relaxing. I've been catching up with my relatives a lot, and having fun. Yesterday, I met Aunt Jeannette and Oliver for lunch at a Singaporean restaurant called Orchid. That's right Vanessa...all the local faves...char kway teow, oyster omelet, bee hoon, rendang. Very good stuff. Last night I met up with Gerald and we went to the Pink Pearl for dinner then to see Dodgeball, which I had low expectations of. I was pleasantly surprised as it was pretty funny.

Other than that I've been swimming, talking to a lot of locals about quality of life here, and brushing up on the old poker skills. I opened an account on Party Poker. It's fun, and you can play either play money or real money. I've been running 2-4 tables and doing quite well. If you don't have an account yet but want one, let me know because we both get a referral bonus.

Spiderman 2 is coming out soon, which I'm pretty pumped about. I'll have more photos before I leave. I guess we're all planning to have a dinner here tomorrow night.

It sounds like everyone back home is doing well. Tina has a blog now, and Steve is keeping a livejournal. Talk to you all soon.

Seventh Stop: Vancouver, BC

New Photos in the Seattle/Vancouver album.

140 miles is child's play after some of the jaunts I've recently submitted myself to. The drive to Vancouver was uneventful but pleasant. In the car, I chatted with Dad a bit to wish him a happy Father's Day.

I arrived mid afternoon. My cousin Oliver had bought a bunch of lobster tails, prawns, sausages, ribs and salmon. Actually, he told me that the salmon he got from a friend who is a commercial fisherman. How cool that must be! Everything was to go on the grill. He had also brought his children Deven and Serena, although they were not to go on the grill. =) My other cousin Gerald was over as well. Uncle John and Aunt Jeannette got ready, and we all sat down for this Father's Day feast, which was delicious. After a soak in the hot tub, I was ready for bed.

This morning it was hot as hell. I went for a swim in the pool and then decided to wander the city a bit. I wanted to get a few postcards, a car wash, and find a particular card shop that I had heard of. I managed to navigate my way around Vancouver without too much trouble. I chatted with a few of the locals about life in the city, had some lunch and then met Oliver downtown at 6. We headed to his house to walk his dog and a couple of dogs that he is sitting. After chatting with his roommate for a bit, we left to check out a movie called The Blind Swordsman. Cool sword fights, but some random scenes as well. Japanese films are strange sometimes. Afterwards, we went for pho. I dropped him home and drove through the city back to home base.

Gas prices: Vancouver, BC. $.99 / liter. That's Canadian dollars folks, which comes to USD $2.74 / gallon!

It's nice to have a bit of a rest stop between all of this driving. Sunday I leave for Portland, so I'll update more during the week as things happen. Have a great week everyone, and thanks for reading!

Trip Itinerary

More on Seattle

Well, it didn't rain at all when I was there, but it was hot. Saturday Jon, Shane, Jesse and I went for Thai food for lunch, and then to a casino for poker. Seattle has a ton of local casinos right in the city, most of them privately owned I think. They are small, and offer blackjack but also poker. We sat down at a 3-6 (Texas Hold-em) table. I started out down, but ended up winning a whopping $19.

Afterwards, we went home to veg, then people started coming over before the party. We left around 10 p.m. for a warehouse near downtown. 4000 or so people were there, and it was pretty fun, although a bit hot inside. There were 3 different music tents, and tons of people milling around in various states of consciousness. It was very unlike what I'm used to, as the Chicago club scene is more stifled, where as this was filled with raver kids. Anyway, we left at about 1, got home, and I emailed a bit before turning in early.

Sunday at noon, I went for an oil change, and then headed for Vancouver, BC. I stopped in duty-free shop near customs to get some Scotch for my Aunt and Uncle who I am staying with, and then drove to their house.

More on arrival in BC later....

Sixth Stop: Seattle, WA

New photos in the Westward photo album.

As I had less than 300 miles to go today, I treated myself to sleeping in and watching The Fugitive on HBO.

I left for Seattle and took my time, stopping along the way at the Columbia River. The view was amazing. Eastern Washington is very scenic, much like the bits of Idaho I saw, and most of Montana.

I also stopped when I saw a semi parked with a great big "CHERRIES" sign on the side. I bought some for Jon and Megan. Before dinner, Jon and I sat around munching some; they were tasty.

We had steaks tonight at Daniel's Broiler right on the ocean. Really fricking good.

Gas prices: Ellensburg, WA: $2.19

***however, one exit before this, at the same gas station where the cherries were, they were charging $2.49.

Trip Itinerary

Here is a short video from the scenic view point at the edge of the Columbia River:

Columbia River

Fifth Stop: Spokane, WA

New photos in the Westward photo album.

This morning I left Miles City heading for Spokane, WA, a distance of 685 miles.

Last time I drove through mountains, I was in a three-cylinder Geo Metro. The six-cylinder Jetta is a big difference.

You probably already know this, but Montana is really beautiful: mountains and hills, huge plains and lots of cool landscapes. The northern bit of Idaho was just as nice if not more amazing than Montana. Lake Coeur D'Alene was breathtaking, even from the car. Because of rain and all of the mountain passes, my average speed dropped to only 72 mph for this leg. However, I gained an hour again as I passed into the Pacific time zone.

I picked a crappy day to be in Spokane. President Bush decided to show up today to lend support to a hopeful Republican Senate candidate. Exits blocked off all over the place, blah blah blah. The only hotel in the area with non-dialup Internet access is the Hampton, where I am sitting right now. On the upside, the connection is pretty good.

To celebrate driving through Montana, I may Scarface, starring Tony Montana into the laptop.

I've decided to stop in Seattle tomorrow after all. Jon wants to take me to a rave. The itinerary has been updated to reflect the change.

Gas prices:

Bozeman, MT $2.19
Coeur D'Alene, ID $2.29

Here's a little 20 second glimpse of Montana from the road:

Montana is Beautiful!

I'll write from Seattle tomorrow if I can.

Fourth Stop: Miles City, MT

New photos in a new photo album.

At 8 a.m. I left Regi and Amy's after a breakfast of Wheaties. I filled the tank up yesterday, so I was able to just get going. My goal was to get to Dickinson, ND, somewhere arouand 600 miles. I ended up in Miles City, MT.

There was some congestion for the first 100 miles or so mostly surrounding Minneapolis and St. Paul. Once I got past that though it was smooth sailing with increased speed limits and all. Minnesota is 70 mph, and North Dakota and Montana are both 75 mph.

I stopped in Fargo, ND to get gas and was disgruntled that there were no huge wood-chipper sales going on. Furthermore, the gas station attendant didn't even have a Frances McDormand accent. *sigh*

I was surprised to find that I was driving right right by Theodore Roosevelt National Park which featured the North Dakota Badlands. I got out and took some photos, which are in the album. Apparently the Badlands in North Dakota is much older than the one in South Dakota. Learn something every day...

Although I was tired for the first part of the trip, I caught my second wind which is why I opted to go further. I guess I'll shoot for Spokane, WA tomorrow.

My hotel has dial-up access in the room, or high speed DSL in the corporate office room...yeah guess who locked himself in and jacked in?

In other entertaining news, I was in my room for five minutes when another guy unlocked and opened the door. We exchanged an awkward glance and joke, and then he went downstairs to straighten it out. Lucky that I wasn't undressing the local technical college's cheerleading squad or something. Gawd.

Per Karl's request, I have decided to add gas prices for your entertainment. I use premium fuel in my car so here goes:

Milwaukee, WI $2.39
Eau Claire, WI $2.13
Fargo, ND $1.99
Random ND city $2.11

I shot a short movie at the National Park. Link is below. If you have trouble viewing, right click link and save to your desktop. Then you should be able to check it out.

North Dakota Badlands

I need some interesting news from back home. Somebody set up us the updates.

Ciao!

Trip Itinerary