10 routes. Four north-south. Four east-west. Two criss-crossing the state. As much as possible, staying on the same road. In a few areas, it'll take a few roads.

It's coming together.

There are a few areas that I'll be going through where I have never been. I few areas I have travelled extensively. All of the routes purely Minnesota.

I was talking to a few of my co-workers today about this idea, and they gave me that look -- you know the look -- the "it's a crazy, but very cool, idea." One person even said, "I'd like to come with for part of it!" Another said that it would be fun to have a contest for the employees of the school where they take a picture of the many routes between the campuses, and then, people have to guess where the pictures were taken! I like that idea, and I'm going to talk with her about doing that.

Right now, all I know for sure, is that I'm starting the trip in Oslo, MN, at 6 a.m. on whatever day I start the journey. I think that would just be an interesting place to start, and the time, well, ya gotta start sometime, right?

Day 1, Mile 1, Oslo, MN: It's 6 a.m. in Oslo, MN, and I'm the only one on the street. I know other people are awake, but, I'm the only one silly enough to be outside at this time. I've been on the streets of Oslo, Norway at 6 a.m., and they looked nothing like this; nobody was out then, either, but, it still didn't look anything like this!

I shared my modified idea with Brian today, after having shared the original idea with him and Laura last Thursday. After telling him of the modification to the idea, he laughed and said, "Okay, that sounds more reasonable. And, I bet there just might be a grant out there for a project like that."

I know about grants. I've tried to get them for research, but, never for an art project. I wonder how one goes about getting a grant for an art project. Hmmmmmmm...something else to investigate.

Yesterday, I was doing some calculations. In order to do the trip, I'd have to make at least 350 miles per day. Now, that's easily done, right? Well, if I stop every 10 miles, that's 35 stops per day. At least.

Now, that can easily be done, right? Yeah, but how long will it take before it goes from being fun to work?

Not only that, but quite a few roads (US 10, US 169, and whatever north-south route I take on the east side of the state) will lead me through the Metro area. Stopping every 10 miles in that area might not be the safest, so, I may route around those areas. For the east side trip going south, I may take MN 95 out of North Branch and then follow the St. Croix down to Stillwater until it hits US 61. I haven't checked the map yet, but I believe they run into one another. As for US 169 and US 10, that's going to take a bit more planning.

So, my new idea is to do my traveling over the course of two or three springs, along with a summer trip or two. Spring 2007; the northern and eastern routes, and possibly US 10. Summer 2007; US 71 south and US 169 north. Spring 2008; the western and southern routes and the other option for Highway 10.

I'm also thinking of including a few more varients to the goals of the trips. For example, I know on a number of the routes, I'll be passing by or near certain landmarks (Like, Paul and Babe in Bemidji or the giant Turkey in Frazee or St. Orho in Menaga. In those places, I'll stop and take pictures, as well as find out a bit about whatever it is from people that live in the area.

That's all in the fun, right?

Yeah, so, today, I'm feeling rather punky, and because of that I stayed home and between naps, did a little preliminary research. The first part of my trip, from Oslo to Illgen City is about 350 miles. That's roughly 35 stops, plus pictures at the beginning and end of the leg. The second long stretch is from Grand Portage, MN to the MN/IA border, jsut north of New Albin, Iowa. That run will be about 470 miles and would take me through the Duluth and the Twin Cities. Interesting run, that.

From there, it's turn back north and go cross country to Rushford, MN, about 30, many 40 miles, then Minnesota 30 west to the border, roughly 253 miles.

At this point, I have a number of options; I can either catch US 75 (408 miles) and head for Canada, or MN 23 (340 miles) and go back towards Duluth. If I go north on 75, I'd hop over to I-29 and run south to Fargo-Moorhead and take US 10 to the east. On the Highway 23 route, I'd head back to Duluth, then up to Ely and follow US 169 (334 miles) back south. I'd have to catch a bit of MN 169 as well (add 49 miles to the route). From there, I'd go west to US 71 and go north to International Falls (423 miles), then take MN 11 over to US 75 south.

Roughly speaking and approximating the extra travel I'll need to go from the end of one highway to another, it'll be about 3500 miles. In some areas, I wouldn't be taking pictures, but, it'll still end up being approximately 310 stops.

An interesting journey...

I was driving up to Thief River today, as I have been doing the past Tuesdays and Thursdays, and marveled again at just how different this corner of the state looks. As I turned on Minnesota Highway 1, I realized that this road stretches across the top tier of the state, and what can be a more different than the difference between Oslo, MN and Finland, MN in topography and attitude?

As I drifted into Warren (high winds today, once again), I thought to myself that ten miles further down the road, the land around the highway starts to change.

So, I began to think about it...what would a trip across northern MN be like if I stopped every 10 miles and took pictures? What would I see? Then I thought...huh...why just northern Minnesota? I got my patented quirky grin, and I thought...hmmmmmmmm....

I bet there are roads that go border to border on all four sides of the state...And for the most part there are. The southeast corner is a tricky, but, it can be done...

Then, I thought...how 'bout the center of the state? Ya know, there are four highways that go from side to side and top to bottom.

I'm going to call it "Minnesota 10 Miles at a Time", and I'm going to plan on doing it during the spring of '07 between the time school is done and I get to Skogfjorden. I have no idea at the moment how long it'll take, but, I figuring two weeks should be plenty of time.

And...I might even get a motorcycle to make the trip with.