Many Miles to Go

I had intended to write and photograph a little while I was here in Minneapolis, but for some reason I just never got around to it. I spent a lot of time driving around in circles, writing absurdly large amounts on checks, and then staring at maps again. All in all though, it was pretty fun. I think I’m going to like it here. It’s just the getting here that’s the problem. I shouldn’t have figured out the mileage— I have around 4,000 miles worth of driving to do in the next few weeks. So, blogging is probably going to be fairly slight.

At least we can throw away all the apartment guides now. We found a good place with plenty of space for books (we were worried about that, given the size of the collections we’re dealing with). Now the only problem is the loading and toting of all our crap up here, and ferrying the cars. This move, though it seems shorter and simpler than my move from California to Arkansas, is actually more complicated. But I’m glad we made a trip, unencumbered, to just cruise around and check the place out before I have to navigate a big truck around.

The drive back will start tomorrow; I’m hoping it will take a little less than the fourteen hours it took last time to get to Oklahoma (around 750 miles, but much of it is on less than perfect roads). Then, after running some errands for my mom, it will be another 2 1/2 or three hours to Little Rock (180 miles). I suppose I’ll be due for an oil-change before returning to ferry the other car up here, perhaps leaving next Wednesday. I’m just thinking out loud here, because I’ve been horribly uninspired writing-wise. I suppose it’s slightly better than blogging my breakfast.

Most of the real “content” I could post is nestled on my hard drive in Little Rock. But it’s been really great having the little 12″ mac for the trip. Of course, I underestimated how bleary my eyes would get with the constant driving. It’s not conducive to staring at a screen after hours of staring at the road. I feel very out of touch, since I haven’t taken my usual two hours or so of reading blogs each day. I had some thoughts, but I think they got lost in the cornfields along the way.

Right now, I’m still processing the incredible sort of quiet there is up here. One has the tendency to want to whisper in stores. Of course, I’ve mostly been touring the suburbs, finding the places I’ll need to get essentials when I start setting up the new place. But people are nice in a very odd, almost passive aggressive kind of way— “You will be nice to me or else!” unlike the Southern “You will be nice or we’ll ignore you completely” method. As a guy from a “rude” state (California) I find all this niceness really fascinating.

We arrived in Minneapolis during the pride celebration, which drew 400,000 people though we didn’t attend any of the festivities. There were lots of rainbow vehicles at the hotel. It’s nice to think that this is a liberal place; I’m looking forward to the change. The weather up here has been beautiful too, while it is flooding in Arkansas and Oklahoma. I’m not looking forward to driving back into it. Hopefully, it will let up before we get there.

If I were smart, I’d probably just announce a hiatus. But rather than doing that, I suppose I’ll just announce “Beware: inanities about moving ahead!”