Drove to Devil’s Tower, didn’t have any close encounters of any kind.
Devil’s Tower
Today’s Plan: a LOT of stops
Todays Destinations:
1. My hotel in Gillette, Wyoming
2. Devil’s Tower in Wyoming
3. Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota
4. Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota
6. State Capitol in Pierre, South Dakota
7. State Capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota
8. Theoretical Arrival at Konomi and Nataku’s place. I will not make this, the map shows me getting there at 11 pm not including any times I stop today, and does not include the hour I loose due to timezone change.
Map for Tonight
Wall Drug sighted!
Wall drug is exaclty 400.4 miles away from where I took this picture. Goddamn!
My computer is crashing every few minutes now, but in a different way. Something is wrong with the video card, it causes video corruption not only in Windows, but also in BIOS, startup, and the Dell Diagnostic Utility. Hell of a time for this to happen. 🙁
Montana State Capitol
Helena, Montana is the state capitol. I’m headed for Mount Rushmore next. By the time I get there, it will be dark, so I’m gonna have to stop somewhere for a motel.
Crazy Cropduster Plane!
This crazy guy was doing loops, hard wing-over turns, and divebombing cars on the Interstate. He came within a few yards of me! He also touched the road on one pass with his wheels. CRAZY!
On the road to Montana
I am in Idaho right now, on my way to Helena, Montana to get the state capitol. I don’t have anybody to stay with tonight, I think it’s a motel for me.
Utah!
Visited Ben and his wife (RoccoRacer on VWVortex) for Lunch/Dinner at Maddox.
Then did the capitol with Daniel (PrimarchBentley on VWVortex) who I am staying with tonight.
Boise, Idaho
Got to Boise late last night, and did the capitol this morning. On to Salt Lake City, Utah next.
Special thanks to BoiseMk1GTI who let me stay at his place.
Visiting Microsoft Streets & Trips team
Today I visited Microsoft for the Streets and Trips team. They bought me lunch, and gave me the new version of Streets and Trips – the 2009 version. They also made me some “Powered by Streets and Trips 2009” magnets for the sides of my car.
Cool!! The new version of Streets and Trips is really cool. It now reads the names of the streets you are on. It can trace the route you have been, so I’ll have a map of every place I drive from Redmond for the rest of the trip.
Breakfast in Seattle
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier as seen from Tacoma, WA
Driving around Tacoma
I’m staying with Jeff in Tacoma (lagomorph on VWVortex). He has a very cool 77 Rabbit with a TDI – turbo diesel engine from a newer VW. It is VERY fast and in VERY good shape.
Boeing Factory Tour
I took Boeing’s factory Tour. Craig (OorsciroccO on Vortex) tagged along. He works for a Boeing contractor that specializes in the production tooling.
Unfortunately, Boeing does not allow cameras or any sort of electronics on the tour – so my camera was in a locker the entire time.
The Map
Here is the map so far:
West Coast, yo!
And Craig (OorsciroccO on VWVortex) signing the hood…
Seattle Skyline
I drove to Kerry Park, just northwest of the Seattle. The skyline is pretty dang cool.
Shooting Trip part 2
Part two was a much greater success. The Forrest service officer even checked up on us.
