I’m now running about a day behind schedule. I underestimated the number of things on my list for Southeast MN and didn’t make it into SD until around 5pm. So, tomorrow I really have to make up some time. Though I’ll be watching out for troopers since they got me for speeding the last time I was here in SD.

There were lots of non-roadside diversions today. I took lots of photos that will never make it to my website — and many that won’t make it here either. Here’s one odd little place — Gnome Park in Dawson, MN. There are about 20 or so gnome statues — some alone, some in little scenes. I particularly like the photographer.

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It’s been awhile since I talked about food at this blog. Mostly because it’s been unremarkable thus far because I’ve been getting by exclusively on stuff I brought from home. But I ventured into a supermarket to stock up on a few things yesterday. Not really worth reporting or photo-ing: cheese, oranges, bananas, cookies… I thought I might get some Wheat Thins or Triscuits and headed for the cracker aisle. I’m really out of touch with suburbia because I was overwhelmed by the options. There must have been 10 kinds of both brands. I finally opted for this combo: Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil. It’s proven a good choice. By themselves, they are a bit too salty but they have a nice kick. Really good with cheese.

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How about a little behind the scenes van tour. Here’s the “fridge” which resides in the passenger wheel well where I can keep an eye on it. I used to keep the coolers in the back but Nik figured out how to bang his paw on the button to open them. When I first got Grem, she spent several determined days scratching and gnawing on them but has finally given up. The little blue cooler usually holds the stuff that needs to be on ice (cheese, yogurt, chocolate, meaty dog treats, etc.). The bigger red cooler holds the Diet Coke — my life blood. That’s “Larry the Laptop” charging next to the coolers.

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And here’s the “pantry”. It may look like a dog crate to you — but this is where I keep the less perishable stuff and the open bag of dog food. Only on very rare occasions does it get used as dog crate.

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The other dog food bags are in the very back of the van barricaded by plastic boxes. I keep an ear out if I hear any digging back there. Nik manages to bust into the plastic boxes quite frequently to get to his toys. He proudly brings them to me immediately hoping I’ll throw-it! throw-it!. But usually he only gets a “thank you buddy!” and the toy goes away and the box gets shut. He pouts like a little kid.

This guy on his tractor was driving down the main street in the little town of Kerkhoven, MN while I was there. It reminded me of that country song about the wife hiding the husband’s keys to keep him home at night but he just drives into town in his John Deere. Or those stories about people driving their tractors around when they’re drunk because they didn’t think it counted the same as a car. Anyway, I’m sure this guy was just running an errand. It seemed like such a cool thing to do but the thing was louder than a motorcycle.

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A glorious bit of juxtaposition here. A hearing aid store – that explains the giant ear. But, oh, that tile, the flowers and that odd bank-like window.

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As much as I plan these trips, sometimes I have a bad address — or no address — and I have to rely on the kindness and knowledge of the locals. This usually works out fine in the smaller towns. Especially in this case where I had cleverly printed a photo of a place in Willmar, MN that I was looking for before the trip. I showed the print-out to a few passersby and they didn’t recognize it. But then one guy did and he drew me this little map — ain’t it sweet? I should really save all these trip artifacts and create shadow boxes with them or something.

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I was distracted by a lot of statues/sculptures today. I’m mostly attracted to the animals, of course.

A metal mule in Pipestone, MN:

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There are a bunch of sculptures in downtown Sioux Falls, SD. These are just a few:

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And lastly, I went to see the Porter Sculpture Park in Montrose, SD. Here are some other photos & info about the place:
http://flickr.com/photos/detourart/sets/72157606547783074/
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/4427

It was nearly sunset and I think I was the last tourist for the day. The “greeter” said it was fine if I let the dogs loose to run and go see the statues. Fix and Grip are no problem but I had to worry about the other wildlife-crazed beasts. Nik stayed busy with his Chuck-it ball throwing it for himself pretty much the whole time. I kept Grem on-leash while I was taking pictures and nervously unhooked her when I could pay close attention. Lately, she’s been staying pretty close as it seems Cheddar cheese is her weakness. But God forbid anything should move out there in those vast fields and I knew I’d be in trouble. Luckily, nothing bad happened. On the way out, I realized the greeter was the artist himself and we chatted for awhile about various topics. An incredily nice and interesting guy and the artwork is really fantastic. The place is right off I-90 so you really must stop if you’re ever headed that way. Wayne keeps a little guest book for everyone to sign with “The Most Important Thing You Know.” People signed things like “Never give up.” What say you all?

I didn’t get as far as I’d hoped today but I got lots of great photos so it’s all good. I should be able to get back on schedule in the next day or two. Most of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana in the next few days is going to be straight highway miles. Maybe some driving at night to get through the distance as well. So don’t panic if I skip a day of blogging to get through it.

No doggie parks, no beaches. The poor things had to make do with plain old grassy fields and retrieving games. They are pretty fried but will catch up on their sleep on the interstates coming up. Nik and Grem are still going ballistic (screaming and bouncing) at every motorcycle or dog that they see. The two senior dogs are really over it.

I stopped at the Franconia Sculpture Park (in Franconia):
http://www.franconia.org/

I went there to see the giant silver men — which are pretty faded now but still impressive. Here are a couple other pieces that were on display:

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“The Drive-in” in Taylors Falls has a Frostop Mug sign and is located right next to a modern but nice-looking miniature golf place. I can’t vouch for the food since it wasn’t open but it really looks like a place worth supporting:

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You know you’re in the North Country when you see billboards like this:

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I’d never been to Duluth before so that was fun. One thing that puzzled me in the Canal Park section was this water fountain. It’s built in a busy location and really part of the sidewalk. I don’t think it was purely decorative but meant to be used. Although I didn’t see anyone walking through it. Maybe it’s for kids to play in? Very strange.

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Here’s a fun sculpture also from the Canal Park section:

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I had in my notes that there was a Red Goose Shoe sign at Grandma’s Restaurant in Duluth so I was eager to see and shoot it. They have three locations around town:
http://www.grandmasrestaurants.com/

So, obsessive-compulsive that I am, I went to all three of them. No Red Goose Shoe signs at any of them. But there were lots of other neat signs (vintage and repros) at all three restaurants. Here are some examples:

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The third location that I went to did have this Red Goose statue which would have been displayed in the window. This is the closest that I could come up with on this bona fide wild goose chase:

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Canal Park is big on signs — lots of old painted wall signs like this one:

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and there are lots of modern neon signs as well. I have never seen a neon Subway sign before:

Most of the day was spent in the Twin Cities. The day started grey but got sunny and hot quickly enough. Got tons of photos. I finally got to see two statues that have been on my list for years: the Beach Dude and the Snowman (photos over at the Flickr account). There were some really nice and interesting gas stations and midcentury churches. I shoot an awful lot of churches for an atheist. Here are a couple that won’t make the cut for the website.

This is the Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis. The silvery side faces a major highway and then changes shape as you drive by it. I don’t know if there have been any accidents as a result but I know my attention to the road was not good.
http://www.bethelsynagogue.org/about/index.shtml

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And this is St. Peter’s Lutheran in Edina — smaller scale and more elegantly simple than the synagogue:
http://www.stpetersedina.org/

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Downtown Minneapolis has lots of skywalks which link buildings together – a convenient necessity during those long winters. It’s sure hard to imagine how cold it gets here at this time of year.

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Also in downtown Minneapolis: this one puzzles me. Were these water fountains originally or only for certain times of the year? Is this just for summer that they grow these prairie grasses to as an eco-friendly gesture? Or is this an art piece?

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The Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis has the nicest manhole covers I’ve ever seen:

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I parked the van in a parking garage downtown for about 20 minutes because there were no spots and I needed to shoot a few things indoors and on the pedestrian mall. It was one of those spiral type garages that I love and I risked getting rear-ended to get this shot. I love to drive just a teensy bit too fast on these to hear that echo-y tire squeal.

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When I returned, I discovered that the dogs had busted into the cooler to get the cheese curds. Gone — just a ripped up plastic bag as evidence. I don’t know if it was just one dog that reaped the profits or if it was a family affair. I should find out soon as there are also some roasted cashews missing.

And if that wasn’t the highpoint of their day, Cleary Lake was. An incredible dog park with 28 acres just for off-leash romping. A big pond, mowed trails & big unmowed fields if your dogs like to deer-hop like mine do. Fenced but a determined little dog could get out (luckily mine didn’t). Fun, fun, fun. There are lots of other big, fenced dog parks around Minneapolis & I wish we could have sampled them all.
http://www.ecoanimal.com/dogfun/minnesota.html

Here’s a really nice painted wall sign in downtown Minneapolis:

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I went to Como Town in St. Paul to shoot the old kiddie rides. While there, I noticed these bumper cars. I’ve never modern ones like this before:

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When you’re a kid, there’s just nothing as much fun as driving your own car. Although these kids were way too highly supervised by khaki-wearing employees:

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Speaking of driving — very late here– and I have a lot of it to do tomorrow. Time to call it a night.

I covered a lot of miles today although it was not as productive as yesterday. Road construction had me driving all over the place for various detours. Unfortunately, none of these extraneous unplanned routes provided anything photo-worthy. As my list dictated, I shot a lot of theatres and gas stations today.

We went to a really nice dog park in Mankato today. It’s just across the street from the sole-remaining Happy Chef restaurant with a giant statue. Although there wasn’t a pond for the dogs to cool off in, there was a hose & kiddie pool. There were two really big fenced areas so we sampled them both. However, one had some pretty wide spacing to the fencing and tempting woodsy areas just beyond it so I didn’t chance that one for long. Grem could easily have fit through it. I guess not a lot people take their small dogs to dog parks — or else the designers don’t own small dogs.

The weather was pretty grey today so my photos didn’t have the same punch. I’ve been blessed a lot of sun on this trip. Still very warm during the day (around 90) but I won’t complain since it’s been over 100 in Dallas/Phoenix/etc. for about five days. I chose this time of year for this trip since I wanted to avoid rain in the Pacific Northwest. Here’s hoping.

Now on to the photos —

This sweet guy is on the plastic sign at Barney’s Drive-in in Waseca:

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In downtown Waseca, a nice facade and sign at Barden’s Bar:
http://www.bardensbar.com/

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A purchase from Bongards Creameries with their giant cow in the background. I forgot that I’m not fond of cheese curds, a popular regional snack. These will probably wind up being dog treats. If you haven’t had them, they are a bit on the sour side, probably lower in fat than regular cheese. Kind of a strange rubbery texture. Here’s more about them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_curds

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Another nice sign and storefront: Janousek’s Cafe in Hutchinson. Unfortunately, this place is now vacant. There’s a nice long counter inside with stools. I sure hope it can come back as another restaurant.

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How about one more old storefront in Hutchinson? Although the sign here is nicely maintained, there is only neon on one side.

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These have to be the prettiest license plates I have ever seen:

A very fun and productive day. Most of the day was in southeastern Minnesota. As it turned out, just about everything on my list was statuary of some sort: fiberglass people, cement people, even carousel figures might qualify I suppose. Only a few signs and buildings here and there. Lots of miles. Lots of cornfields. And another late night here at the “office” getting stuff uploaded. On with the show —

Everywhere in Wisconsin and Minnesota there are these plastic beer signs. I sure don’t remember seeing so many in the Northeast.

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I went to LARK Toys in Kellogg, MN to see their modern but incredible carousel. They have a big display of vintage toys.

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LARK also has as other purchase-able toys including these modern and repro kiddie cars (is that what you call them?). Do people really spend over $300 on these things to watch their kids slam them into trees? Or are they just for display? I’m including the New York police car even if it’s blurry as a tribute to my “home town”. Yes, it really does say that silly stuff on the real cars (CPR: Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect):

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In Nelson, WI, I came across this fireworks stand. I’ve never seen one quite as elegant or open-air as this:

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A cute sign at the Gingerbread House Bakery in Rochester, MN:

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A nice fountain in Rochester — at 80+ degrees, it was tempting to jump in:

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Also in Rochester: Tangerine Gifts has a nice modern sign. Even though it’s LED tubing instead of neon, hey, it’s better than some plain lettered piece of plastic.

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One more in Rochester — Gone Fishing has this giant bug on the roof. They say he’s from the mid-1990s.

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This cheerful wood carving is south of Rochester on the lawn of a farmhouse. It reads “Because I Love These Things” around the top.

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The kids got their kicks in big grassy fields today. Just as well we lay off the water for a couple days as Nik is completely obsessed with it right now. Any time he sees or smells a lake or a river, he goes berzerk (screaming). He’s got Grem doing it now, too. This is not good in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

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In case you’re wondering what that thing is around Gremlin’s neck — it’s a “Spray Commander”. I’ve learned in the eight months since I adopted her that she’s “a runner”. When she takes off, she probably wouldn’t think of me until a week from next Tuesday. After too many scary incidents near roads and a terrifying chase across the desert, I gave in to purchasing this device about four months ago. “Come” really means come — it’s a matter of life and death with her. The thing emits a little spray (citronella or scentless) that startles the dog out of whatever he/she is doing. The remote control give me about a 100′ range – which isn’t a lot with a fast dog like her so I have to really pay attention. They say these are way more effective and humane than shock collars. All I know is, she has more fun and freedom with this than the long line. She’ll probably always have to wear this cinderblock around her neck when she’s off-leash since she is obsessed with wildlife and exploring the universe.

A very fruitful and exhausting day. The dogs got another romp at the beach in Chicago. Then later in the day, they got a good chunk of time to play at a river. Thank goodness the AC in the van is working great as it was again around 90 today. I try to use the AC sparingly since I hear you get better gas mileage by not using it. Gas prices have gone up since the Spring trip. The cheapest I’ve seen was as a Flying J in PA at $3.43; the most expensive in downtown Chicago $4.53. I’m sure I’ll see worse as California had the highest in the Spring.

I had far more on my list for Illinois than I realized so that ate up most of the day. I should be able to finish the Wisconsin stuff in the morning though and I’m pretty much right on schedule or slightly ahead. Took tons of photos today & am starting to get back in the groove though I’m still exhausted from no sleep the night before last. So let’s get to the photos —

This building in Chicago is so ugly, it’s cute:

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If wood shingles are your thing, how about this geodesic dome covered with the stuff in Freeport, IL. It’s used as an accounting office strangely enough:

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I kept seeing these things in Chicago and wondering what the heck they were. They are perched way up on top of poles and have ugly masses of wires attached. I figured they must be some pull the lever & call the police sort of thing (flashing blue lights at top) — but I never saw any lever type boxes or anything to go with them. I’d love to know what the deal is:

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A cool-looking candy store in McHenry, IL. I don’t know if that’s what it always was. The tip of the building’s pointy tower has some dripping chocolate sauce:

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A beautiful old silo, west of Marengo, IL (might be Garden Prairie, IL):

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Way out in Illinois farmland (I saw a LOT of corn today) — this odd sign. Blurry but I’ll include it anyway. I’m not even sure what it means. And the salesman seems to be posed in a Jesus-y sort of way.

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This motel in Baraboo is apparently endorsed by Gumby:

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A couple great (but not great enough for the website) cleaners signs in Baraboo, WI.

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And lastly, this bus was parked in Baraboo, WI:

Today was a killer physically. Worked until 2am, left home 3am, and drove all day & am here doing this now at 1am. So pardon me if I’m incoherent. Arrived in Chicago late afternoon & got to a few things on my list. More importantly, got the dogs some well-deserved exercise after being cooped up all day. Here are a couple crude videos of them in action at Montrose Beach — a fantastic, huge, off-leash area right on Lake Michigan downtown:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/2720982227/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidenut/2720982217/

The weather was hot (high in the 90s) and overcast until I got to Chicago. And then it got very dark and started to rain. Not great for taking pictures. So I could only get a few things done before we hit the beach.

Just a couple photos for the blog for today & then I’m hitting the hay. These two neat signs are not neat enough for the website and the agilitynut flickr account but I’m glad to have this venue for them. Both were “stumbles” (not on my list but things I stumbled upon) in Oak Forest, IL:

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We’ll hit Montrose Beach one more time in the morning and then I’ll finish up a few things here in Chicago before moving on to Wisconsin. Here was the sunset on the river. Some dogs visible in the water — people on-shore are unknown to me. The water was incredibly warm. Usually there are pretty big waves which don’t phase Nik but the water was calm today.

All good things must come to an end. I aborted the trip a couple days early because of the snow in Colorado & the Midwest. I can take decent photos in the rain but snow makes for ridiculous white blobs that ruin the image. Just as well, lots of stuff to deal with back at work before I return to my Real Job (nothing to do with this roadside stuff).

Reflecting on the math of this six-week trip: we covered 16,304 miles and it cost about $5,000 — the bulk of that was gas (~ $3700) plus some “hidden fees”:

one speeding in school zone ticket in NM ($63)
one speeding ticket in Houston, TX ($200)
one seatbelt ticket in L.A. ($93)
one parking ticket in downtown L.A. ($70)
one parking ticket in Pasadena, CA ($37)
[these expenses were cheap and so worth it considering the number of stop signs I rolled through, the illegal U-turns I made, the speed limits I ignored, the stop & shoot double parking/hydant parking violations, etc.]

And considering the amount of photos (about 6,000), the memories, good times had by me and the dogs = priceless!

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Now to catch up on a few photos that I took on the way home. The weather was brutal and I was exhausted from the stress of driving in the snow and quite eager to get home. I understand it’s still snowing in Denver and raining in the Midwest. So I’m thrilled to be home in the sun and relative warmth. The dogs were positively gleeful to be back running in their familiar park this morning.

Going back in time… to the April 9th when my flash drive bit the dust (thanks Nik). Here’s a place in Duchesne, UT that was known as the Bottle Hollow Resort. Some interesting and sad ruins of a mid-century motel and gas station.

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Here’s proof of the awfulness that befell me during the last couple days of the trip:

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Sparkle was anything but sparkling. Some interesting hubcab formations:

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A dip in a hot spring (there were lots of them around) sure seemed like a good idea:

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My last sustaining bit of road junk food from a Safeway. There were fewer marshmallows than the label implied. It was pretty much all cream (can’t complain) with mostly bits of coconut & pineapple. I’m not sure about the pistachios — but the product was this lovely shade of green. Hey, it’s the small pleasures in life that get us through the hard stuff. Happy to be home & I hope you’ll join the dogs & I again this Summer when we will head off on another marathon trip to the Pacific Northwest.

Not much to report — nothing but interstate today. 750 miles worth. Some rain and high winds but nothing terrible. Hopefully, with an anticipated early start and good weather, we’ll be home late tomorrow night. Just a mere 850 miles to go. Then I’ll post those remaining photos here on Sunday morning with the final posting for this trip. It’s COLD here near Chicago and we’re all eager to be home where I hear it’s in the 60s.

We’ve hit some awful weather here in Colorado. It made yesterday’s ordeal look tame. We got a little break once we got over the Rockies and into Denver. So we went to Boulder for a little bit before darkness. Just long enough to shoot a couple things and get a romp in at the East Boulder Dog Park. After the stress of the snow, it was fun to just get out of the van, throw balls and get muddy. According to the Weather Channel on Sirius, the Midwest is getting hit hard with snow — not to mention tornados in Iowa. So I drove to Julesberg until it got scary again and called it a night. I only took a few photos for the website and the blog since I barely got off I-70. The rest of the trip will be all interstate. So I will probably just wait until I get home to post the rest of the photos here and at Flickr. I’d like to get us home a tad early (this weekend) with just stops for gas, coffee, peeing, and brief naps. But I won’t be stupid with this weather. Onward!