Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Driving to San Francisco - Day 3
We were up and early on Monday morning and we hit the road at 6:00 AM. I80 was still snowy but it was much better so we were able to make good time. Once we got out of the mountains it clear sailing again.
We were stoked to finally cross the Wyoming-Utah border! We made it into Salt Lake City at around 9:00 AM. We had a great breakfast and hit the road again.
Our goal was to drive like crazy and make it into San Francisco late Monday night. We were making great time. Utah is a beautiful state!
We crossed into Nevada and all was well. We made it into Reno, Nevada about 5:00 PM. We thought of stopping there for the night but decided to press onto San Francisco. We crossed the California border and all seemed well... until we hit those damn mountains again!
I80 came to a complete stop again near Truckee, CA. We were there again for about 30 minutes until we decided to exit off and got into Truckee, CA.
At a gas station there we learned trucks again were causing havoc and that it would be hours before we could get out so we decided to spend the night in Truckee, CA.
I had never heard of Truckee but I guess it's a well-known resort town near Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful but it was a bit stressed out as we looked for a pet friendly hotel.
We found the Best Western in Truckee and Jennifer, myself, and our 3 dogs hunkered down for the night.
It was a great place and the Mexican restaurant inside the Best Western was delicious. I had a much needed beer while I waited for dinner to bring up to the room. :-)
The next day the snow was coming down hard and I80 was closed. I talked to some of the truckers who stayed at the hotel and one of them spent 10 hours on I80 until all trucks were ordered off I80 so we were glad we spent the night in Truckee.
The snow was coming down hard in the morning...
I thought I was still in Minnesota not California! But at 6,000 ft. elevation this happens in the mountains.
We had to wait until I80 opened up again. Luckily the Best Western let us stay for a late check out of 1:00 PM.
I80 west bound finally opened but you needed tire chains. What?? In all my years living in Minnesota I've never used tire chains but without them they wouldn't let make the drive up to 7,000 ft then the decent down to 75 ft near Sacramento!
So off to find tire chains. The local 76 Gas Station in Truckee had them so I had to pay $99 and they installed them for me. The rental had big tired so the regular $60 chains were a no-go.
But finally the chains were installed and off we went! It took us 3+ hours driving 30-35 MPH to get out of the mountains.
Getting the tire chains off was a pain but we won't go there! I was glad to be out of 7,000 feet of elevation.
We were finally back on track as we made our way down to San Francisco. We stopped in Roseville, California for gas and to change clothes (yea getting the tire chains off was a bit of a challenge) and we finally where home free through Sacramento heading west to Oakland to the bridge into San Francisco.
We finally made it to our new place at around 10:00 PM on Tuesday. We were tired but happy the trip was over!
We were stoked to finally cross the Wyoming-Utah border! We made it into Salt Lake City at around 9:00 AM. We had a great breakfast and hit the road again.
Our goal was to drive like crazy and make it into San Francisco late Monday night. We were making great time. Utah is a beautiful state!
We crossed into Nevada and all was well. We made it into Reno, Nevada about 5:00 PM. We thought of stopping there for the night but decided to press onto San Francisco. We crossed the California border and all seemed well... until we hit those damn mountains again!
I80 came to a complete stop again near Truckee, CA. We were there again for about 30 minutes until we decided to exit off and got into Truckee, CA.
At a gas station there we learned trucks again were causing havoc and that it would be hours before we could get out so we decided to spend the night in Truckee, CA.
I had never heard of Truckee but I guess it's a well-known resort town near Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful but it was a bit stressed out as we looked for a pet friendly hotel.
We found the Best Western in Truckee and Jennifer, myself, and our 3 dogs hunkered down for the night.
It was a great place and the Mexican restaurant inside the Best Western was delicious. I had a much needed beer while I waited for dinner to bring up to the room. :-)
The snow was coming down hard in the morning...
We had to wait until I80 opened up again. Luckily the Best Western let us stay for a late check out of 1:00 PM.
I80 west bound finally opened but you needed tire chains. What?? In all my years living in Minnesota I've never used tire chains but without them they wouldn't let make the drive up to 7,000 ft then the decent down to 75 ft near Sacramento!
So off to find tire chains. The local 76 Gas Station in Truckee had them so I had to pay $99 and they installed them for me. The rental had big tired so the regular $60 chains were a no-go.
But finally the chains were installed and off we went! It took us 3+ hours driving 30-35 MPH to get out of the mountains.
Getting the tire chains off was a pain but we won't go there! I was glad to be out of 7,000 feet of elevation.
We were finally back on track as we made our way down to San Francisco. We stopped in Roseville, California for gas and to change clothes (yea getting the tire chains off was a bit of a challenge) and we finally where home free through Sacramento heading west to Oakland to the bridge into San Francisco.
We finally made it to our new place at around 10:00 PM on Tuesday. We were tired but happy the trip was over!
Driving to San Francisco - Day 2
Day 2 started just peachy. We were worried about winter storms but seems like we had clear road from Gillette to Rock Springs, Wyoming. After that I was worried.
Our goal was to get into Salt Lake, Utah were we had a reservation at the beautiful Monaco Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.
This was going to be our "easy" day with only 9 hours of driving vs. the 13 hours we put in on day 1. We reserved a beautiful room at the Monaco which is pet-friendly!
The day went as planned. We were making great time driving through Wyoming. Such a beautiful state but boy is it desolate! It makes South Dakota look like downtown New York city.
After not seeing a single state trooper in South Dakota we encountered three of them in Wyoming. I kept the cruise control at 78 MPH (speed limit is 75) so I wasn't worried.
One trooper pulled behind us then he right next to us where he drove for about a minute side-by-side... then he pulled behind me again for about 2-3 minutes before taking off.
I suspect he was running the plates and checking us out and decided we were clean. :-)
Later on that day we had another trooper who was heading east on I80 (we were driving west). The then made a u-turn (not a good sign) he then sped past me and pulled over the car in front of me who had just passed me.
He was going maybe 80 MPH since I was going 75-77 MPH at that time. So the poor dude wasn't going that fast but got pulled over.
So note: Don't speed in Wyoming!
Everything was going just fine...
... until we hit the top of the mountain about 70 miles west of Rock Spring, WY. It had just turned dark around 5:30 PM when the snow started to fall.
It slowed us way down but were moving forward. We were about 2-3 hours from our goal for this days drive, Salt Lake City and the beautiful Monaco Hotel but mother nature had other plans.
All of a sudden traffic stopped on I80.
There was huge truck just feet from us that jack-knifed and slip onto the ditch. We were at a complete stop. We were there stuck on I80 for about 30 minutes not knowing what to do.
Finally ONE state trooper showed up. There were all over I80 before now just one trooper shows up. Then an ambulance trying to get by all us stopped cars.
Finally I got out and spoke to a trucker who got out of her truck. I asked her what was going on. She said there were at least 7 jack-knifed trucks and several accidents with injuries. She suggested we turn back.
Lucky for us we stopped right by one of the those "authorized vehicles only" u-turn areas so we decided to turn back.
The only decent hotels were back in Rock Springs but that 60-70 miles... we didn't want to back track that far.
The OnStar operator told us there was a motel in Lyman, Wyoming which was about 10-15 miles away so we headed there.
Lyman, WY is tiny! And the motel wasn't pretty. It reminded me of the Bates Motel from Psycho but we were in the position to be picky.
I checked and they did allow dogs so that was good. We paid $10 per dog fee and checked in. The motel old. The carpet needed to be replaced about 10 years ago! The chairs had stains which I didn't want to know what they were about. And the ceiling had mold spots. But the beds were fine. They had dish satellite TV so we were happy to be off the road.
Especially when we saw on the news that they closed I80 and the this little motel quickly got filled up. So we were happy to get a room when that "No Vacancy" light went on!
I called the Monaco Hotel in Salt Lake City to cancel my reservation. Even though they could have charged me since I wasn't giving them 24-hour notice they were super cool and didn't charge me or hassle me at all. Which was great since I was pretty stressed-out and didn't feel like arguing about it.
So the Monaco Hotel... you're mega cool in my book!
So instead of staying in the Monaco Hotel in beautiful Salt Lake City we were stuck in a motel in Lyman, WY but were grateful to have gotten a room!
Our goal was to get into Salt Lake, Utah were we had a reservation at the beautiful Monaco Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.
This was going to be our "easy" day with only 9 hours of driving vs. the 13 hours we put in on day 1. We reserved a beautiful room at the Monaco which is pet-friendly!
The day went as planned. We were making great time driving through Wyoming. Such a beautiful state but boy is it desolate! It makes South Dakota look like downtown New York city.
After not seeing a single state trooper in South Dakota we encountered three of them in Wyoming. I kept the cruise control at 78 MPH (speed limit is 75) so I wasn't worried.
One trooper pulled behind us then he right next to us where he drove for about a minute side-by-side... then he pulled behind me again for about 2-3 minutes before taking off.
I suspect he was running the plates and checking us out and decided we were clean. :-)
Later on that day we had another trooper who was heading east on I80 (we were driving west). The then made a u-turn (not a good sign) he then sped past me and pulled over the car in front of me who had just passed me.
He was going maybe 80 MPH since I was going 75-77 MPH at that time. So the poor dude wasn't going that fast but got pulled over.
So note: Don't speed in Wyoming!
Everything was going just fine...
... until we hit the top of the mountain about 70 miles west of Rock Spring, WY. It had just turned dark around 5:30 PM when the snow started to fall.
It slowed us way down but were moving forward. We were about 2-3 hours from our goal for this days drive, Salt Lake City and the beautiful Monaco Hotel but mother nature had other plans.
All of a sudden traffic stopped on I80.
Finally ONE state trooper showed up. There were all over I80 before now just one trooper shows up. Then an ambulance trying to get by all us stopped cars.
Finally I got out and spoke to a trucker who got out of her truck. I asked her what was going on. She said there were at least 7 jack-knifed trucks and several accidents with injuries. She suggested we turn back.
Lucky for us we stopped right by one of the those "authorized vehicles only" u-turn areas so we decided to turn back.
The only decent hotels were back in Rock Springs but that 60-70 miles... we didn't want to back track that far.
The OnStar operator told us there was a motel in Lyman, Wyoming which was about 10-15 miles away so we headed there.
Lyman, WY is tiny! And the motel wasn't pretty. It reminded me of the Bates Motel from Psycho but we were in the position to be picky.
I checked and they did allow dogs so that was good. We paid $10 per dog fee and checked in. The motel old. The carpet needed to be replaced about 10 years ago! The chairs had stains which I didn't want to know what they were about. And the ceiling had mold spots. But the beds were fine. They had dish satellite TV so we were happy to be off the road.
Especially when we saw on the news that they closed I80 and the this little motel quickly got filled up. So we were happy to get a room when that "No Vacancy" light went on!
I called the Monaco Hotel in Salt Lake City to cancel my reservation. Even though they could have charged me since I wasn't giving them 24-hour notice they were super cool and didn't charge me or hassle me at all. Which was great since I was pretty stressed-out and didn't feel like arguing about it.
So the Monaco Hotel... you're mega cool in my book!
So instead of staying in the Monaco Hotel in beautiful Salt Lake City we were stuck in a motel in Lyman, WY but were grateful to have gotten a room!
Driving to San Francisco- Day 1
Day 1 was long but it went very well! We left Minneapolis at 8:30 AM and headed west on I-90. Took us about 4-5 hours to get to the South Dakota border.
The drive was very familiar since my Dad grew up on a farm near Lakefield, Minnesota and I still have an aunt and cousins in Worthington, Minnesota.
We stopped at the rest area in Jackson, Minnesota so the dogs could stretch - as well as us :-)
Then we spent hours driving through South Dakota. There really isn't much there until you hit Rapid Falls, SD. We stopped in Murdo, South Dakota to stretch and gas up and because it's such a cool name, Murdo! I had to check it out. :-)
We hit Rapid City, SD around 5 PM. We had dinner and Wendy's since we wanted to make it quick to make our goal of our first overnight stop in Gillette, Wyoming.
The drive so far was un-eventful. An added bonus is that South Dakota speed limit is 75 MPH! Faster than Minnesota so good time.
Night fall came and we finally crossed the Wyoming border so we were excited. We were about 50 miles from Gillette, WY when the weather turned NASTY!
I had checked weather reports and all seemed well but things change fast up in the mountains! And the freezing fog started.
It was pretty scary since we're an desolate area. We had to stop twice to scrape the windshield. Then the snow started to come down hard but luckily we were able to make into Gillette, WY where I had a room reserved at the pet-friendly Holiday Inn Express.
We were so happy to hunker down for the night!
We watched the news and online for weather news and it looked like we would have clear-sailing from Gillette, WY to Rock Springs, WY. Then the mountain area from Wyoming to the Utah border might get ugly so we decided to make sure to leave early on Sunday morning.
The drive was very familiar since my Dad grew up on a farm near Lakefield, Minnesota and I still have an aunt and cousins in Worthington, Minnesota.
We stopped at the rest area in Jackson, Minnesota so the dogs could stretch - as well as us :-)
Then we spent hours driving through South Dakota. There really isn't much there until you hit Rapid Falls, SD. We stopped in Murdo, South Dakota to stretch and gas up and because it's such a cool name, Murdo! I had to check it out. :-)
We hit Rapid City, SD around 5 PM. We had dinner and Wendy's since we wanted to make it quick to make our goal of our first overnight stop in Gillette, Wyoming.
The drive so far was un-eventful. An added bonus is that South Dakota speed limit is 75 MPH! Faster than Minnesota so good time.
Night fall came and we finally crossed the Wyoming border so we were excited. We were about 50 miles from Gillette, WY when the weather turned NASTY!
I had checked weather reports and all seemed well but things change fast up in the mountains! And the freezing fog started.
It was pretty scary since we're an desolate area. We had to stop twice to scrape the windshield. Then the snow started to come down hard but luckily we were able to make into Gillette, WY where I had a room reserved at the pet-friendly Holiday Inn Express.
We were so happy to hunker down for the night!
We watched the news and online for weather news and it looked like we would have clear-sailing from Gillette, WY to Rock Springs, WY. Then the mountain area from Wyoming to the Utah border might get ugly so we decided to make sure to leave early on Sunday morning.
Hertz Car Rental
I'm very happy with vehicle we rented from Hertz. Mike from Hertz in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota was great. We got a GMC Acadia. Lots of room. All leather. Fully-equiped with OnStar, back view camera, and Sirius XM satellite radio.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Night Before Driving to San Francisco
It's the nigh before hitting the road for 1,900+ miles for the drive from Minneapolis to San Francisco. I'm excited and a little nervous.
I picked up the rental from Hertz this morning. It's a really nice GMC fully decked out with review back up camera, DVD, and On-Star so at least we're got some cool wheels for the long drive ahead.
I'm doing some last-minute laundry and I'm about ready to power down this iMac so I can pack it up. I'll still have my MacBook Pro laptop and today I just bought an iPad. My wife really wants one so I figured it will make for a great belated birthday gift which will come in handy to her during the long drive to San Francisco.
I'm running like a chicken with it's head cut off right now since I'm a procrastinator so I have a ton of stuff do yet tonight.
But I did enjoy a nice steak and beer with my good buddy tonight. It then dawned on me that I know NOBODY in San Francisco so it will be weird starting over from a friend point of few at 42.
Okay my next post will be of the rental car. It's a sweet ride. Then the next post will be somewhere between Minneapolis, Minnesota and my first planned stop in Gillette, Wyoming.
I picked up the rental from Hertz this morning. It's a really nice GMC fully decked out with review back up camera, DVD, and On-Star so at least we're got some cool wheels for the long drive ahead.
I'm doing some last-minute laundry and I'm about ready to power down this iMac so I can pack it up. I'll still have my MacBook Pro laptop and today I just bought an iPad. My wife really wants one so I figured it will make for a great belated birthday gift which will come in handy to her during the long drive to San Francisco.
I'm running like a chicken with it's head cut off right now since I'm a procrastinator so I have a ton of stuff do yet tonight.
But I did enjoy a nice steak and beer with my good buddy tonight. It then dawned on me that I know NOBODY in San Francisco so it will be weird starting over from a friend point of few at 42.
Okay my next post will be of the rental car. It's a sweet ride. Then the next post will be somewhere between Minneapolis, Minnesota and my first planned stop in Gillette, Wyoming.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The City of St. Louis Park Gives The All-Clear!
The city of St. Louis Park, Minnesota which is a "first ring" suburb of Minneapolis requires all homes up for sale to pass a city inspection. It's just a hand-full of cities in Minnesota that actually require an pre-sale inspection.
During these tough times when cities are strapped for cash I can see more of them moving in this direction. Although to be fair to St. Louis Park they've been doing this for years. Before the economy tanked.
Basically, in order to close on a sale of your house you need an official "Property Maintenance" certificate issued. Without it, you can't close ergo you can't sell your house.
So you have to cough up $210 to have a city housing inspector come to your house and check to make sure everything is kosher.
The city came up 15 things I needed to fix! It came as quite a shocker since we've been living here for 7 years without any issues.
Some of the stuff I could see, the other was way too nit-picky but we had to comply if we want to sell our house. We're not too keen on having a mortgage in Minnesota AND California.
For a "handyman-challenged" individual like me, the list wast a bit scary. Things like "support the gas line for the dryer" and a few electrical fixes had me wondering how much this was going to cost me!
Luckily my father in law is a retired electrical engineer and the most incredible handyman I've ever met. He can fix anything and his nickname around his neighborhood was "McGyver". :-)
It took 3 days but we were able to cross everything from the list. The only thing I had to hire out was for a mason to replace some missing mortor form the outside chimney. That cost $100 which I found pretty cheap for two masons to setup their cement machine and patch up the brick on the chimney.
I also had a very old (40+ year old) fence and 7 years worth of brush that I had to remove from the backyard. I removed the fence myself and cleared out the brush. That took a few more days but I got it all cleaned up.
I took the debris from the fence to the Hennepin county recycle center and for $19 I was able to dump all that stuff there.
I was finally ready for the re-inspection. I actually had a nightmare the nigh before where the inspector kept adding more stuff and yelling at me for having a "bad house". Yea, what can I say the inspection has been on my mind a lot since September since without the certificate we can't sell our house.
Finally today was the day. The inspector came by for the re-inspection and we passed with flying colors! He was very nice and checked everything off the list and at last he gave me the certificate...
Now we just need to find a damn buyer for the house! :-)
During these tough times when cities are strapped for cash I can see more of them moving in this direction. Although to be fair to St. Louis Park they've been doing this for years. Before the economy tanked.
Basically, in order to close on a sale of your house you need an official "Property Maintenance" certificate issued. Without it, you can't close ergo you can't sell your house.
So you have to cough up $210 to have a city housing inspector come to your house and check to make sure everything is kosher.
The city came up 15 things I needed to fix! It came as quite a shocker since we've been living here for 7 years without any issues.
Some of the stuff I could see, the other was way too nit-picky but we had to comply if we want to sell our house. We're not too keen on having a mortgage in Minnesota AND California.
For a "handyman-challenged" individual like me, the list wast a bit scary. Things like "support the gas line for the dryer" and a few electrical fixes had me wondering how much this was going to cost me!
Luckily my father in law is a retired electrical engineer and the most incredible handyman I've ever met. He can fix anything and his nickname around his neighborhood was "McGyver". :-)
It took 3 days but we were able to cross everything from the list. The only thing I had to hire out was for a mason to replace some missing mortor form the outside chimney. That cost $100 which I found pretty cheap for two masons to setup their cement machine and patch up the brick on the chimney.
I also had a very old (40+ year old) fence and 7 years worth of brush that I had to remove from the backyard. I removed the fence myself and cleared out the brush. That took a few more days but I got it all cleaned up.
I took the debris from the fence to the Hennepin county recycle center and for $19 I was able to dump all that stuff there.
I was finally ready for the re-inspection. I actually had a nightmare the nigh before where the inspector kept adding more stuff and yelling at me for having a "bad house". Yea, what can I say the inspection has been on my mind a lot since September since without the certificate we can't sell our house.
Finally today was the day. The inspector came by for the re-inspection and we passed with flying colors! He was very nice and checked everything off the list and at last he gave me the certificate...
Now we just need to find a damn buyer for the house! :-)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Driving to San Francisco in Less Than 6 Days
Today is Sunday night and I spent the day preparing my check-list and to-do list for all the stuff I need squared away before driving to San Francisco on Saturday.
After 20+ years living in Minnesota there is a lot of stuff to do!
This weekend I also mapped out the route we're taking. I hope to make into Gillette, Wyoming on Saturday night. Than drive into Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday night than arriving to our rented condo in San Francisco on Monday night.
Day 1 we'll be driving 11+ hours. Day 2 about 9-10 hours. And finally another 11 hour day driving to make it into San Francisco by Monday night.
With 3 dogs in on board we'll be stopping every 2-3 hours so it's going to be an interesting drive. :-)
After 20+ years living in Minnesota there is a lot of stuff to do!
This weekend I also mapped out the route we're taking. I hope to make into Gillette, Wyoming on Saturday night. Than drive into Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday night than arriving to our rented condo in San Francisco on Monday night.
Day 1 we'll be driving 11+ hours. Day 2 about 9-10 hours. And finally another 11 hour day driving to make it into San Francisco by Monday night.
With 3 dogs in on board we'll be stopping every 2-3 hours so it's going to be an interesting drive. :-)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Didn't Leave Fast Enough to Miss First Snow Fall!
Looks like my move to San Francisco is a week too late to miss the first big snow fall of the winter here in Minneapolis... D'OH!
In the video I mentioned I prematurely donated my car's snow brush and ice scraper to ARC. Just wanted to give them a shout out. They're a great charitable organization so if you're looking to donate household items they'll even pick them up at your place so check them out and donate if you can.
In the video I mentioned I prematurely donated my car's snow brush and ice scraper to ARC. Just wanted to give them a shout out. They're a great charitable organization so if you're looking to donate household items they'll even pick them up at your place so check them out and donate if you can.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Moving to San Francisco
We're moving from Minneapolis, Minnesota to San Francisco, California so I thought I would create a separate blog dedicated to my move and drive to San Francisco vs. my regular Internet marketing blog.
I'm going to be vlogging the whole drive down to the west coast. Here is the first video where I explain why we're moving to San Francisco and why we decided to drive with the dogs.
I'm going to be vlogging the whole drive down to the west coast. Here is the first video where I explain why we're moving to San Francisco and why we decided to drive with the dogs.
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