Day 10: Travel Day
Welcome
Yesterday we made it out of Bismarck, all the way to Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
We tried to leave at around 1am. Rob got us a couple of miles down the road and found that I-94 was closed so we turned around and headed back to the hotel. There was a fresh snowfall when I got up in the morning but the highways were slowly beginning to reopen. At 12.30pm we finally left Bismarck and headed east on I-94 towards the Fargo. There were still snowploughs out working but the roadway was at least visible.
My daily photo of the bus.
I had a breakfast of my leftovers from our trip to Olive Garden. This comprised two thirds of a chicken and shrimp carbonara which I reheated and added hot sauce to. It was eaten with a backdrop of Drift Prairie, the rolling plain with glacial drift which covers most of the eastern part of North Dakota.
As soon as we entered Minnesota the roads got better. Apparently they have better ploughs with a hydraulic pusher to keep the blade down on the road in order to better scrape the surface. Robert seemed happy to leave North Dakota.
We headed southeast towards the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul. The weather cleared up later in the afternoon and we chased the storm clouds as they retreated to the east. We enjoyed several hours of a vivid blue sky before the sun began to set, a proper sunset made of gold and amber and peach that was all the more spectacular viewed across the snowy plains.
Chasing the storm clouds.
It was 9.30pm when we pulled into the carpark of the stunningly-lit Holiday Inn Eau Claire South I-94. Robert had done a brilliant job of getting us through the worst of the storm and we were on track to make it to our Chicago shows on time. For completing several long and challenging snow drives I am awarding him 9500 boints, although I won’t be informing him of the fact.
As soon as the bus stopped we were out the door trying to make it to the last restaurant that was open in the area. We had to traipse through some fairly deep snow to get there but it was only -15°C (5°F), so the walk was a lot more pleasant than our last excursion. I was lucky enough to earn 20 boints for clearing a path for everyone through a wall of snow.
Luckily the taphouse we headed to remained open just long enough for us to get a meal. This place had the most TVs I have ever seen in a single room. If you have VR goggles now is the time to put them on and enter this panorama.
See if you can spot all the TVs.
I am trying to diversify the media that I upload onto this website. Here is a sound recording of us walking back from the restaurant. It works well if you listen to it while watching the gif of us walking in the snow.
Before going to bed we all rotated through the shower. The nice thing about Holiday Inns is the consistent bathroom experience. They all have the same shower and they all have my favourite bodywash, Dove, Nourishing Milk. Made by divers, for divers.
