two thousand and sixty nine kilometers

In the same amount of time/distance you could theoretically drive from Ottawa to Dallas, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Orlando, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana ... or Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Google estimates the drive from Ottawa to Winnipeg to be 25 hours. Our GPS gives a more realistic suggestion of 32 hours (I think it accounts for sleeping, road side assistance and pee breaks), and if you decide to stick to the Northern side of the border, you're looking at an additional four or five hours of road time - this is all assuming that you don't hit a moose, get lost or get left on the side of the road during a particularly heated spousal disagreement.

We've made the drive several times now, under varying conditions. We've taken friends along for the ride and we've subjected our dog to it. We've camped along the way and we've stayed in seedy motels. We've been pulled over at the border. We've had our vehicle searched. We've narrowly missed speeding tickets ... and we haven't always been so lucky. We've killed ourselves and made the drive in record time, and we've also taken our time and done it at a more enjoyable pace, but every time we make the drive home (and we're driving "home" either way you look at it), a few things stay the same...

1. I'm always grumpy when we leave.

2. Steve's in charge of music, but I burn a few CD's just incase.

3. Britt eat's out of the cooler full of tasty veggies, yogurt and fruit. Steve eats out of every Harvey's, McDonalds and Burger
King that we pass.

4. We get pulled over at the Sault Ste Marie crossing. Always.

5. We stop for Subway in Duluth. Always.

6. Once we're in the good'old USA, it's every man for him/herself. We're in a cup-to-cup coffee consumption race to see who
can injest the most carcinogenic creamer substitutes in a 24-hour period without getting sick. We alternate stopping to pee and stopping for coffee until 1pm, then we switch the soda.

7. There will always be an unaccounted for roadblock/accident/detour.

8. There's a great bakery just outside of Marquette. Stopping there is as mandatory as stopping for gas.

9. The last three hours of the drive and always, always, always the longest three hours of our lives.

In a weeks time we'll be homeward bound one more time, which means that in about a week and a half we'll actually be home - insane when you acknowledge the fact that we could just fly and be home in two hours. I bitched when I had to travel through Toronto, adding on a few extra hours, but even then I was in Winnipeg for lunch. I'll try to keep that in mind the next time Air Canada pisses me off (I already know that I'll forget).

When I leave next week I'm going to have a difficult time remembering why I'm driving West to Winnipeg, when I could just keep on heading South and be in Orlando by Saturday. But, then again, it's hurricane season down there and I would miss out on driving through cool places like Ashland, Wisconsin and Ispeming Michigan.

Winnipeg it is... yay.