First I posted that I was in Edmonton, but leaving BioWare. Then I was posting about stuff going on in Indiana and Illinois. What happened in between? A really long ride. Since everyone has asked me about it, I figured it only made sense to post about it here. Of course, I can’t fully express how the drive started without going back a few days.
Friday night, before leaving Edmonton, my BioWare co-workers took me out for a night of drinking. Thanks, mostly, to Billy and Michael L for the ordering and Phil/BioWare for the paying, I had more than a lot to drink. I don’t remember what-all exactly I had to drink, but I think it was something like: three White Russians, two Tequila Sunrises, two Prairie Fire shots (these alone should have made me vomit), two shots of Sambuca, two shots of Vodka, a shot of Tequila, a shot of Jack Daniels, two shots of Jack mixed with something, and two shots of Rum mixed with Banana Liqueur (I think). There may have been other drinks. It’s been so long I can’t remember; though I did remember the morning after. Definitely drunk (but not sick), I went home and went to bed but woke up early the next morning. I knew I hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but I felt fine so who was I to worry.
Saturday night, I stayed out late to catch the White Stripes, but I again woke up early the next morning – this time because I was worried about all the packing I had to do to get ready for the trip. Of course, I didn’t do much packing on Sunday. Instead, I ran a few errands and then went out with Pam and Dan. We went out for dinner at the Olive Garden, did some drinking, then on the way home picked up a couple of bottles of wine and finished them off. We watched the Canada Day fireworks, listened to some music and did some talking, and then said our farewells.
Later that night, I met up with Julian, Mike, Kim, Vanessa, Brian, Jason, Grant, Graham, Tayce, and Crystal. Is that everyone? I think so. We did a bit more drinking, a bit more talking, and then Julian, Mike, Grant and I slipped out to go to Denny’s. We hung out there until the wee hours (the four of us split two disgusting hamburgers – disgusting because they had an entire breakfast-plus on top), then walked to Julian’s. At Julian’s, we hopped into his car, drove back to my place, and said our farewells. I think it was almost 7am by this point.
I got a few hours sleep and then looked at the daunting task in front of me: pack the car and start the long ride. Packing definitely took a lot longer than expected. Mike stopped by to pick up Feyna, and helped me with some packing/cleaning along the way. We finally finished around 5pm or 6pm, then drove over to my friend Sean’s house. I said my goodbyes at his place, the effort of which about knocked me out; I was so sleepy by this point. Sean and his dad offered to let me nap or stay over, but I was determined to – finally – begin the adventure.
At 7pm I finally got out on my way, and drove until I hit Regina, Saskatchewan around 2 in the morning. Fully exhausted, I crashed at the hotel and slept very well for about 8 hours.
Still tired, but definitely feeling better than the day before, I hit the road again from 11am until around 1 in the morning. That was a long drive. There really wasn’t much to see in between my stop and start except plains. It didn’t matter. I felt so happy to be on the road. My BobPod went non-stop, and I could listen to all my favorites as loudly as I wanted. I also had time to reflect and appreciate everything I’d been to as well as the future ahead of me. A lot of time. And I got the chance to discover the Southwest salad at McDonald’s. Yum! Also of note on this leg of the trip was my border crossing – Sammy Milson strikes again! – getting to watch a truck plow through a deer 
and watching the city of Fargo launch fireworks to celebrate my arrival; that is why they were firing them off, right?
The next day, I was again up and on the road at 11am. 21 hours into my road trip, I was kind of thinking I was just about done – but it turned out I had about 11 more hours until I’d arrive at Candice’s house. As with the day before, there really wasn’t much to see but plains. Until I got to the Chicago area. Then everything got crazy. Fireworks were launching from every building in the city, seemingly, and the gridlocked traffic was flying along at 70+ mph. As tired I was, I didn’t quite think I’d be able to handle it – but it was all so exciting that it sort of energized me and helped me get through.
Around 10 or 11pm, with celebratory fireworks still firing up from every direction, I pulled onto Candice’s street. Talk about surreal: I had just driven to Candice’s house from 2800 kilometers away. Edmonton, BioWare, and all my friends, my way of life… everything I knew… it was all so far away now. I was in a new world. Just seeing the places I had seen when I had first visited her – again… I don’t even know what to say, but it was definitely a bit overwhelming, especially in my exhausted state. So I parked my car, walked into the house, told everyone hello… and then fell asleep with Candice. And I was very, very happy.
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Update: I got my Xbox back. And I used it last night to finish Crackdown. Yay! I stomped the final boss, and I stomped him good!
Update: Chase (my bank) sucks. They make me sad. I get to go to Europe on Monday with no money.
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