SevenX - The Secret Ingredient for .NET success

For those who haven't heard, I accepted a new position with EDS. It is based in Seattle servicing the Microsoft account. I'll leave out the juicy parts of the story (e.g. the whole wicked witch encounter) and just leave it that after Top Gun, Seattle had a pretty strong draw on me. After I told people I was moving, I got asked some questions. Okay, the same questions over and over. Here's the summary:

Are you moving? (Yes)
Will you be selling your house? (yes)
Is your family going with you? (Yes)
How are you getting out there? (Driving)
Will you be driving your car? (Yes)
Are you going to get a place to live out there? (yes)

That pretty much summarizes the questions. Since I've already been asked each of them at least 500 times, please see above. If you have a new question, please ask!

Anyway, my last day at the old account was March 24. I had agreed with the new boss that I could take Monday and Tuesday as travel days with Wednesday as my first day in the office. So I planned on driving 2800+ miles in 4 days or about 700 miles a day. Being unfamiliar with the whole US geography, I thought I'd push myself the 1st 2 days soI could take it nice and slow through the Montana, Idaho and Washington mountains. It turns out Montana has decent roads and a speed limit of 75 (aka 80-82).

Saturday march 25 I set out from Clarksburg MD with a planned destination of Janesville WI. Avoiding the tolls meant a slightly longer route, more gas and time, but overall, less expense. I270, I70, I68, I79, I70 (again), I74, I55, I39 and finally I94. Along the way, Camp David, Wheeling WV, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, almost Peoria, skipping Chicago and a break.

The first cool milestone was one we had passed a few times before. On the way to the Hagerstown outlet mall, there's a bridge across the road marked "Appalachian trail." Some day I'd like to hike it. A couple from our church are doing just that, embarking on their journey this week as well.

Western Maryland and west Virginia were snow covered. The pine trees looked like life-size snow village decorations. The perfect combination of frost and snow coating with deep green peeking through, and hillsides full of them. Luckily the road was clear and I kept moving. The Appalachian mountains start to take some rolls up and down. A sign proclaiming the eastern continental divide somewhere. Funny thing though, the next two peaks westward had higher elevations. I guess I was into the Gulf of Mexico basin.

Avoiding the tolls gives you a jagged path. I bit off the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, ironically by taking the Washington exit, then crossed back into west Virginia. Traveling across country you find out how good your cell phone coverage is. National coverage apparently means anywhere there's metro area of 200K or more people. Out in the woods, you get to visit Rome (roam) a lot.

I've never had much desire to visit Columbus. A quick trip through will probably last me the rest of my life. Didn't realize how close it was to Dayton. I used to have fairly regular contact with some coworkers in Dayton. From there, Indianapolis was the next major milestone. I could see storm clouds building as I approached. My GPS system routed me south around the edge of the city allowing me to avoid most of the storm. When you travel hundreds of miles, the GPS thingey doesn't bug you too much. It's nice to get the interchanges for you and warn you about upcoming changes. More on "Maggie" later.

Driving through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois make me think of Oklahoma and Kansas. The great plains (or upper Midwest to some) are farm country. Flat land. Few trees. Straight roads laid out on regular mile markers. Except for lines on a map, you would be hard pressed to tell one from another if you were dropped into a deserted area anywhere.

It started to get dark as I was approaching my first destination. This is also where my first GPS adventure occurred. "Maggie" is the moniker I gave my Magellan Roadmate 700 navigator. "Naggie Maggie" when I was less than pleased with what she was telling me. Maggie is good companion. Lot's of info always there: distance to next maneuver, estimated time to destination, compass, realtime map, direction of next turn (left/right) and lots more if you press a few button. As with all things computerized, it has a glitch or two. Nearing Janesville Maggie suggested I exit the freeway just north of the WI stateline. Still quite a ways from my destination, I ignored her. (Ignoring her almost always pisses her off one way or another.) Anyway, her next instruction was "free way entrance on the left." Stupid thing wanted me to get off only to get back on. Just like any trip on 270 in Rockville. She can't make up her mind if the local or express lanes are best for you so she asks you to keep swapping.

The first day's drive covered a lot of ground, most of it barren except for fence posts and telephone poles. I continually wonder what makes one place a metropolitan center of life and another just a place where the interstate interferes with pasture and farm land?

Early Sunday I got on the Wisconsin road. It is impossible to avoid the stereotype of Wisconsin and cheese when you see a sign that reads "Cheese Sandwiches." I didn't stop for one. Maybe next time. There are lots cheeses, even Amish cheese. California has nothing on Wisconsin when it comes to cows too. I saw the postcard picture perfect scene of rolling hills, each dotted with a single cow.

Crossing into Minnesota, there's a picturesque roadside park along the Mississippi. There was some kind of fishing tournament going on below the dam. About 50 boats of apparently serious fishermen were daring the morning chill to keep them from the gilled prize. I didn't stay long. Just a quick call to check in. Minnesota looks a lot like Wisconsin, only flatter. It reminded me of Illinois. And Indiana. And Oklahoma.

To prove itself different, South Dakota rolled the interstate just a little before settling into some nice flat country. A lot like Illinois. And … well you get the idea. One of SD's finest was unable to make his patrol computer cough up my registration. So he pulled in behind me, flashed his lights and asked for hardcopy. Guess they're not all the way into the computer age yet.

There are 3 things in South Dakota that are touristy: The corn palace in Mitchell, Wall Drug in Wall and Mount Rushmore. Wall Drug starts touting itself in Minnesota. It's first sign exhorts that you have only 355 miles to Wall Drug. Then every 5 miles or so you get another reminder as you count down the miles. Along the way, the corn palace gets in the on the act. I didn’t stop at either one as I was trying to make Belle Fourche by night. By the time I flew by each of them, I almost felt I had dropped off a passenger that had been keeping my company. Wall Drug made one last, valiant effort to draw me in with a temptation to take the next exit and go back.

After that, 1880's town, flintstone's park, reptile village and Mount Rushmore seem almost a let down. The signs claim that kids love 'em all! Did I mention that South Dakota looks like Illinois? Only flatter mostly. You do take a dive across the Missouri river. A sudden wide ancient river valley interrupts the flatness with its depression. As I crawled westward (ok, not exactly crawling) winter reasserted its grip on the land. I hadn't seen much snow since Western Maryland and the Indy teapot tempest. It started slowly. A little here and there. Gradually snow encroached to fill the ditches and medians. Winter was not giving up despite spring's arrival.

I was making good time so I went ahead and pushed into Gillette Wyoming. Wyoming looks a lot like South Dakota except there are fewer telephone poles. The high line wires don't follow the road. Wyoming starts to roll and the poles would rather run straight. Various types: wooden 2-tiered T's dangling ceramic insulators, iron Y's, the giant towers and event single pole/double wired jobs. Again, getting late, rain and snow. Gillette had snow on the ground and was calling for overnight accumulations of an inch. I had made good time so called it a day.

Surprisingly, Gillette is a hotbed of hotspots. From the motel I could see 3 networks, all free, all open to surf. Pretty cool so I whipped out my laptop and got updates to mail and weather. My other square-headed girlfriend to waste some time. The plan from here was to push to Spokane and then take a break. However, Monday morning shone bright and clear. There was a bit of ice on the road early. I stopped at the Rock Station in Sheridan for gas. Wyoming has CHEAP gas compared to the rest of the route. The hills taunt you from afar and you can see Montana.

Montana looks a lot like … wait, no it doesn't. You can actually see the mountains. I'm not sure if these are the Tetons or the upper Rockies. The sign were going by pretty quickly. One thing I forgot, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana all have cross arms they can drop across the freeway to close sections off. Weird to think they just close the road rather than struggle to keep it open when conditions get severe enough. Anyway, the mountains are a constant companion. However, the road is surprising drivable. I maintained the speedlimit as an average on I90 through Montana. Never having been there before, I was expecting more mountainous conditions where the road would slow you down. Think driving into Asheville NC from Tennessee. But the road followed a relatively flat but scenic path.

For the most part I traveled below the snowline. Gradually the road rose. Somewhere it took a deep breath and assaulted the remaining mountains. The continental divide (the real one this time) was obtained at 6900+ feet and then snow came back. It wasn't snowing but had the previous day or two. Where the snow in South Dakota gradually overtook the road boundaries, the western side of the mountains suddenly turned to white. But not so much so that I had to slow down. There was a place or two where I had the twisty roads I was expecting.

I stopped for gas and a Whopper in Butte. I was just about to saddle up and get going west again when I noted a funny rock in one of my rear tires. As you might guess, I wasn't a rock but a screw. I really had no idea when I picked it up and may even have had it before leaving. But I was unsettled. Fortune smiled on me as there was a tire place directly across the road. They guy took $15 and 45 minutes to patch it. Drat. I had been making such good time.

Anyway, I kicked it in high gear and kept at it. To show Idaho it wasn't just a plains state in disguise, Montana started rocking the mountains. I think the Idaho panhandle would be 3-4 times wider if it were flat. Think about folding up a piece of notebook paper like an accordion. Its width is only a fraction of the space of a flat piece but you still have to go the whole distance. Again, picturesque but a little hickish. Wallace Idaho, small town stereotype in spades. It could be coldwater, KS.

Lake Cour D'Alene was scenic. Cour D'Alene … also scenic. But somehow Spokane missed out. It just seems like big city on the prairie. Nothing special that I could see. Eastern Washington looks a lot like ….

Losing 45 minutes with the tire trouble put me in a quandary. Stop or push on through to Seattle. Having already pushed the day before, it seemed like wimping out to stop short. And Snoqualmie pass was forecast to have snow overnight. I didn't want to have to detour several miles so I opted to drive the last leg. So cannonball run finished in the dark and I missed a likely very scenic drive. I'm sure I'll make it again.

Here now. Car: dirty. Driver: in need of a wash too. Lots to do still (see the questions at the top) but all for later.