My October 2012 Minneapolis trip (part 15 Getting to MN)

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• published: 21 Jun 2016
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Published on Oct 25, 2012 Yet again, the Minneapolis area was my vacation destination and this 5-part series shows it almost all. If only I could get to some other location without something messing it up.... This case was because of the Rain Taxi Book Festival on October 13. Unknown to me, the dates got shifted one day earlier because of an unexpected event I didn't know about. Thus, instead of October 12-21, it was 11-20. The first part of the trip was well documented and active. The rest was quite dull because no plans were made beyond the 14th. For in-depth details, refer to the individual segments after this first paragraph. From experimenting and experience from my 2012 fireworks case, I've learned to make use of manually controlling the exposure (rarely focus). To steady the vibrations from the car ride, I held onto the camcorder on a flat surface of the car. That really stabilizes the image! The LCD screen on my camcorder is a bit brighter than the actual output is causing a lot of scenes to be darker than they should be. The first segment is where I'm getting to the Minneapolis area. The usual first step is lots of packing. Clothing is a common item, though, for me, taking my video games with is a must. My carry-on items involve mints, my clock, the "super maps", papers, and pencils. My MP3 player, camcorder, and Bose QC15 headphones are also included (boy does Bouncing to Victory sound so awesome on those!). The actual road trip begins from there. This means about 550 miles of highway and freeway travel ("figuring out the freeway maze" as I often say). During this, I frequently got a lot of side view footage of scenery whizzing by. With the use of time stretching, I was able to do some simulations as to what it would be like to go 200 mph (and in one case, the speed of sound (or about 763 mph)). I can't seem to fully steady the camcorder to keep it pointing in the same direction on demand. One of the usual stops I make is Burger King for Cinniminis. I was very disappointed that you can't get those any more and the only cinnamon rolls present were already frosted. I absolutely hate the frosting (aka icing). I did try out the newer cinnamon rolls later on, after a 20-minute wait, but they were not as good as the originals. The only plus is that it's not a breakfast-only item any more, pointless if I'm not going to be getting them any more. This now means I'm no longer going to Burger King. Somewhere after Carrington and before Jamestown, I encountered a weird traffic scenario - a traffic light... in the middle of nowhere thanks to road construction making a 2-lane road a 1-lane road. I have never seen that happen before. Usually, you'd encounter a detour sign or something, not a random traffic light in the middle of nowhere. This is the first time I've seen such a thing so it's must be a very rare occurrence. In Fargo, when we got gas, I had to wait outside for 7 minutes because I couldn't get the pump to work. I actually gave up on it and was about to go to a different gas station for gas. Normally, I'm the one that fills up as my attention to detail helps minimize mistakes. Just as we were about to leave, the cause was found - the pump was prepay only, of which is extremely annoying and inconvenient. It makes you much less likely to go inside the convenience store and buy something, of which hurts business. A common sight encountered along the way is extreme tailgating, so extreme that those caught on film should get a reckless driving ticket. Come on, going 75 mph (70 in Minnesota) down the freeway means you should have a good 210 feet (after the 2-second rule) between you and the vehicle in front. 10 feet is just downright reckless. Some cars got to within 4 feet of us (less than the distance involved with parallel parking, much less). Those drivers caught on film should get a reckless driving ticket for such extreme tailgating. It's downright dangerous! What if we had to slam on the brakes because of an unforeseen accident or obstacle, or what if we get a tire blow out? They'll have no time to react and thus will inevitably crash into us making matters worse. If I was a cop, I'd be handing out reckless driving tickets to those drivers. How would you like to see the front of an 18-wheeler on the freeway in the lane you're traveling in? Sounds scary, huh? It wasn't because it was actually being hauled by a semi pointed in the right direction. Near the end of this segment, I have scenes of a very pretty sunset. If you look closely, you can see just how closely the gradient in Platform Masters' Barugan Reef and Sentus Mountains matches what you see here. PM has a higher saturation though, the only difference. Some night driving ends the segment.