Safely in Nowhere, Minnesota!

I really think there should be a place called Nowhere, Minnesota, cause this would be it. so that's how I'm going to refer to where I am at the moment. population: Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Dan and Cousin Brock. and us of course. kinda like the place we passed called Emmaville. Population: Emma.

Anyways, after a very long, treacherous journey in the weest of wee hours through the dark Minnesota jungles, I have arrived. my brother Jim and I drove through the night, arriving in Nowhere at around five thirty in the morning. we took turns driving and sleeping, although neither of us ever got very much sleep because we were always afraid that the other person was going to fall asleep at the wheel. I guess we weren't awake enough because, while Jim was taking his turn at the wheel, we somehow ended up heading back to Fargo, North Dakota...which we had passed already two hours ago. that's when I realized something horrific. something so horrible I could hardly believe it: my special ability to get lost also affects the poor soul who happens to be traveling with me. Jim was behind the wheel, yes, but I was the one at fault. but I didn't tell him that, of course.

So after that happy little adventure, we drove and drove and drove back to where we had made our wrong turn, losing over an hour of precious time. at this point we were both cranky and exhausted and depressed so we stopped and slept for a few hours in the parking lot of a Super 8 hotel. how ironic.

After being dead to the world for a few hours, despite about half a dozen phone calls from my parents asking things like "Where are you?" "Are you still okay since the last time I called, five minutes ago?", we groggily awoke and continued on at about four o'clock a.m., just praying we wouldn't hit any deer because we were both too tired to look for them. Minnesota really is the land of 10,000 lakes, people. we passed so many lakes I couldn't have counted them even if I wanted to. and each one had a dumber name than the last one. Little Toad Lake, Big Twin Lake, Lake Maxinkuckee, Big Rice Lake, Shore Lake (duh...they all have shores), and Big Lake, to name a few. I know there are 10,000, but come on, the names of these lakes stink big time.

Driving the long gravel driveway that leads to my grandparents' house made me the happiest and tiredest person alive, even if we did only have enough gas left in the tank to go another mile or two. we made it, unbelievably exhausted, red-eyed and anti-social, but alive and in one piece. whoa. that was just this morning. weird weird weird.

I never really believed my parents when they said it was hard to drive through the night, but I sure do now. Hallelujah, we're in Nowhere, Minnesota!

I'll probably give periodic updates on the current status of our trip between now and next wedensday, because I discovered, much to my delight, that my grandparents have wireless internet. I may be in one of the remotest, most isolated places in all of Minnesota, but at least I have slight contact with the outside world!

Current Status: went hunting tonight. saw one small spike buck and three nice does, but I passed on them all (although I had them all in the cross hairs of my rifle at one point or another). still holding out for a big buck. farewell from your friendly neighborhood deer murderer! :)