Day 14: Morris, MN to Hartland, MN

Woke up and was very sad to see only the tiniest little dusting of snow on the car. I packed up and shipped out; it was a relief to get out into fresh air again! I hit the road and soon passed this, in I believe Cyrus, a town of 303 people.

Which reminds me. Even though Morris is only a town of 5000, there were signs everywhere for churches of every denomination. That's something I've noticed out here on the plains: religion is far more common. In Utah you pretty much just have the one religion, though Helper is a little unusual in that the Catholic church is the main church in town. In California… well, I don't don't to say anything. Nevada I noticed the odd church, but over here on the great plains I've noticed signs for Lutheran, Methodist, etc etc etc.

The other thing that is BIG over here is the anti-abortion campaign. It was big news on the radio news every day (who cares about the deficit, or the recession, or creating jobs…) and all along the highway were signs like "Thank your parents you're here today", or "Your parents chose LIFE". Nevada and even Utah didn't seem to see it as much of an issue (based on my highly scientific highway billboard analysis) whereas out here it's everywhere.

Onwards I pressed till I was about to join I94 and passed under a bridge that had a lot of grain hoppers on it. Most of them had CANADA in big bold letters. Hmm might be a train here… I looked in the rear view mirror and WHOA HOLD ON! Quick semi-controlled skid-turn and some rapid detours later (GPS was getting very angry at me: "Make a U turn NOW! Oh for… where the hell are you going!? I never told you to turn down here! This isn't even a road!!!")

Yes! Another railroad to add to my list. Canadian Pacific, since apparently Minnesota is now part of Canada too. I drove on. Was starting to get a little bleak:

This is a highway, and that white stuff is swirling snow, blown in from the fields either side. I passed a very cute barn:

And then had to do a U turn because I saw a sign for Westport. Did you know Westport gets snow 6 months of the year (if you believe the locals) and their major export is grain? This is possibly not the same Westport as back in NZ :-)

Turn off for Westport / Attractively curved pylon about to disappear in the blizzard.

More driving. I joined I94 and the snow was getting a bit heavier. In a couple of places we were at a standstill due to accidents.

Eventually I entered the twin cities of St Paul and Minneapolis. What a fantastic name, Minneapolis. I took exit 297 for St Catherine's University and followed the GPS's instructions and found Rudolph Ave.

I followed Anna's very careful instructions and was soon creeping through the St Kate's grounds peering at a laptop and trying not to run girls over. St Catherine's (St Kate to her friends) is a all girls Catholic university; a completely foreign concept back in NZ. Apparently the Catholic bit is fairly superficial, although there is no denying the all-girls part.

Soon enough I was opening the door to Rauenhorst hall and before I'd even finished stepping inside there was an almost slightly surprised Anna right in front of me! I'd travelled over 1200 miles (2000 kms) in 4 days, averaging a state a day, and here I was finally, 13,000 km from home!

We went up to Anna's apartment which was very nice, met her flatmate Gina (the others hide), met Gina's boyfriend Doug, and learned all about the phantom buck that apparently prowls the campus. Had an amazing cookie that kept me going for most of the weekend, and spied a silver squirrel bounding through the snow and from tree to tree. I was a little surprised since I thought squirrels hibernated through winter but nope, here he was making funny tracks in the snow. I was a little worried he'd get cold but they assured me he'd be fine.

Anna and I went off to get lunch; though this was possibly just a ploy by Anna to examine my driving. She spent about half an hour giggling at my "drive on this side" arrow… who would've through some yellow insulation tape would elicit so much curiosity and humour!

We went to Chipotle which is the Subway of Mexican food; choose your vessel, choose your meat, choose your embellishments, choose your sauces. It was very good, and very filling. I insisted we sit at the window so I could watch the snow. Anna really doesn't get my fascination with snow!

Back at her apartment we made plans to head for her home, Hartland, MN. Anna checked with her mum that Hartland still existed and we were soon on our way. We took a slight detour and visited the Mississippi River which in my mind has always been the diving line between the Eastern and Western halves of America. We crossed the Mississippi River too, so now I can officially say I've seen more than just the West of the US.

The fairly frozen Mississippi River, and an amazing bridge.

My car, looking a little snowy / St Paul's Cathedral.

Anna pointed to a blob through the great swarms of snow and said it was St Paul's Cathedral, at least it would be if you could see it. I was impressed, it was a very big blob, and very pretty too.

Onwards we drove, south bound on I35. By now the snow was coming down quite heavy and there were many accidents and stuck cars. We had to get petrol which proved a very complicated process, what with nearly getting stuck on the off ramp, and then the utterly confusing combinaton of one way and dead end streets, traffic islands, no-left-turns, and general chaos of everything being white.

Back on the freeway we continued along at a snail's pace. At one point the GPS was giving decimal read outs, 7.2 mph etc. Once we left the city and all the slower and faster drivers had fallen off the road (only half kidding) the speed picked up and when we returned from getting getting gas found that the road had just been plowed. Finally! We made good time now and what should've been an hour 45 journey only took us double that.

I was a bit nervous about leaving the relative safety of the I35 and heading into the great unknown of downtown nowhere, but it actually proved a pretty simple drive and we were soon parking in the garage at Casa del Payne, about 7 miles out from the bustling metropolis of Hartland, MN (population: 288, main attraction: grain elevator).

Anna's mum greeted us and gave us the standard "I can't believe you drove here in this weather!" scolding, but she she was very happy to see us. I was also greeted by about 13,000 cats and dogs which was a pleasant surprise and for some reason some of them tried to adopt me. Anna went straight for the bowl of cookie dough sitting in the fridge; she seems to have a sixth sense for these things.

Later on we went out to feed the horses and the rest of the petting zoo. Wow! Three big horses, 5 miniature horses, about a dozen goats, 3 llamas, several million chickens, barn cats, geese even. Did I see a sheep too? The bigger critters live in a wonderful big old barn, with stabling downstairs and hay upstairs. It wasn't especially warm inside, but it felt very cozy with all the animals, farm smells, hay and wood, looking outside at the swirling snow in the last dim light of the evening. Brrr! The smaller critters live in a second barn, and the geese live in an old grain silo.

The news that night reported that there had been 200 accidents that day due to the snow. Again we got that look. Anna upgraded her rating of the blizzard from "pfft" to "ok this is fairly good even by Minnesota standards" which pleased me. Forecast was predicting anything up to 2 feet of snow!

Anna cooked us a lovely dinner and Emma, Anna's sister, immediately started complaining about the mess Anna had made, to which Anna chased her round the house threatening bear hugs! We watched Coraline that evening, with about 2.5 dogs each. One dog discovered that if it lay between my lap and my laptop, it got toasted from both sides. I had a lovely bed on a cozy little room looking out into the pitch black night that only a blizzard in the middle of nowhere can give you. Beyond what the house lights illuminated ceased to exist.

I went to bed and had an absolutely amazing sleep. My eastward journey was complete and I could relax now.