Nature calls.
Our crazy adventure from Miami has ended.
We had to decide what to do next, to travel more but at an advanced expense of our funds or to try to find more work to maximize them.
A lot of friends went to Ocean City.
But everything on the coast was devastated by Irene.
So that was easy.
We got our answer from our agency exactly on the last day in Miami while we were dying of sun insolation.
Something about a job in Minnesota at a luxury hotel/cabins.
They needed a quick answer.
So the decision was fairly a ‘no brainer’, we accepted i mean the promise of a job right now or what we could find if we went on our own.
Again our timing was of supernatural forces because us being the first to call right away, they hired us on the spot and even gave us money to get there.
Wow.
When we looked on the map it made sense because we had to travel 30 hours by car or 5-6 hours by plane.
Over 3000 km / 2600 miles.
America, you are one big … space.
Started to look for some flights.
But of course it was to easy to be this way.
While we were booking our planes on the news they were stating that Irene has reached D.C (where we had our main bags) and they canceled everything towards that.
Sh*t.
We couldn’t book more days at our current hotel.
But we found one closer to the airport.
Then went to the airport to reschedule everything because on the phone we couldn’t get a hold of nobody, half of America was calling the airlines.
So we have this moment:
Before we went to the airport we tried the phone method.
After 40 minutes of elevator music we finally got a hold of a ..robot answering machine.
Was asking for our details.
Got to our names and had to spell them.
“What is your name ?”
Adrian went first.
“I didn’t catch that. Can you please repeat.”
He changes his accent.
Still nothing even after 3 more tries.
Then Adrian, he had enough he just went: You mot*#($ pieces of &*$*#
Then the robot, “Thank you, i will redirect you with an operator.”
But no luck they had put us on hold with even more elevator music.
We had enough and went to the airport to sort things out.
All was good and we were in DC again.
How long did we stay, we found dinosaurs.
And from there our next plane to Minneapolis, the state’s capital.
But we had to get in touch with our new employer because the distance was so long and of course so many delays, it was hard to give them an exact ETA when to come and pick us up.
Because after the plane we had to take a shuttle for 4 hours to the closest city to them and from there they will pick us up and that is another 2 hours.
Hoyle sh*t Batman !
“Where are we going, into Canada ?”
Yes, we almost were.
We were organizing with a fellow Romanian who worked there, he was our point man.
But because he was working double shifts those days, we couldn’t get him on the phone because we has a server/waiter.
This while we were boarding our last plane.
Our Cold War of logistics and planning.
The climax happened a few minutes before takeoff…
Adrian was on the phone talking, but until they redirected us to the restaurant, until he could find 5 minutes free (it was crazy at the restaurant that period) etc the plane was already ready to go and the stewardess were looking at us to hang up.
I tried to stall for time, went in the last seats, asked for a stomach pill.
But still not enough.
“Sir, please, can you close your phone we’re taking off.”
Tried to explain to emergency but the plane was in motion.
And then Adrian grabs me, SUCCESS !!!
Finally he got the last confirmation and told them when and were we will be to be picked up.
Alleluia.
Don’t forget, this is us from the fight with Irene and sun insolation.
Arrived and was looking for the shuttle.
Nobody at the agency.
We called and prayed that someone would answer.
They did.
Yes !
After 3-4 hours in the shuttle and a heavy rain, just to kick us in the moral, we arrived in Duluth.
At a hotel, were we had to wait for them to pick us up.
Waited almost an hour but nothing.
Looking at every car that was passing us.
For us, i mean we held of end, if the worst would happen we will book a night here and see from there in the morning.
Then one white minivan approaches.
He stops at us, rolls down the window and we were some very familiar words.
“Voi sunteti romanasii?” / You the fellow Romanians ? (he was also a Romanian)
Oh my God we hugged very happy that after so much stuff, we had a closure.
He was happy that we were now more of us because he was alone in his department and didn’t talk Romanian for months.
Happy moments.
2 hours later, we were barely holding on.
Arrived what looked to be the reception, he grabbed some keys and tells us.
You are lucky, tonight you sleep like a boss.
Unit 64 is yours.
Just went in and fell asleep in 5 seconds.
Then the next day, we realized where we were.
First the cabin was superb !
Then went outside.
We were near the biggest lake in the world !!!
Lake Superior.
82.000 square km.
The city, if you can call it that, had an official population of ..20 people.
It existed only for tourism and these luxury cabins and activities etc.
And behold.
Again, no picture is Photoshopped.
Then a new miracle, two worlds colliding.
Then this one, a painter aked me if we could make a painting out of it.
Purely extraordinary.
Everyday we witnessed a new miracle of colors.
Even the lightnings and thunders were of different colors.
We were working again and i think we did all most all departments, much need of personal because that period many left because school was starting etc.
Time was slower here because of the tranquility that surrounded us.
Totally different rhythm.
We stayed in cabins almost like the one for the guest.
We didn’t want to leave this place !
Nobody believed us in how many adventures we survived in such a small period of time.
And of course if those weren’t enough, we thought that we were in the woods, we would be safe.
No, in a few days they had the biggest wild fire since 1918 !
It rained with ash !
Ok, that’s it, we thought we were horsemen of the apocalypse.
Back to cars.
Here, 5 out of 10 people were gearheads.
Perfect for me.
Here we have a 1968 Dodge Coronet Super Bee, basically a version of a Dodge Charger.
But with a 4 speed manual transmission, 6.3 L V8 with 320 HP and 560 NM of torque.
Madness i tell you.
They were right, the sensation in a true old school muscle cars is phenomenal.
Pure straight line acceleration.
When he changed gears i felt them like shock waves to my lungs.
It was like sitting inside the engine room of a war machine !
Then the guests, when they came, they came in style, like 50 Porches at the same time (some annual meeting here), full of Corvettes, convertibles, exotics, Harleys etc.
Perfect example of size differences between Europe and US.
Literally, their trucks and pick-ups are so powerful and big that you can carry/pull your house !
For example in Europe a van with a 2.5 L 4 cylinder turbo charger engine is like God.
Here, everything started from 6 L V8s.
Easy.
With 150 L fuel tanks !
Then they had some V10 6.5 L vans.
Wtf.
No matter what load, speed or gear they pulled like trains.
Ah you want American diesel.
Ok.
6.7 L V8 diesel with a turbocharger bigger than my head !
400 HP but with over 1200 NM of torque.
I asked the owner, do you plan to move the Earth’s axis ?
Went to a local junkyard.
This is what i have found.
An original MOPAR engine, from Crysler’s racing division, a 7.2 L / 440 cui.
There are no limits of passion in America.
Traveled as much as we could in the surrounding areas.
Being a tourist area, you had a lot of options.
Split Rock Lighthouse
Autumn was upon us and we found out why this was such a popular area, among many other.
The colors !
Nature is on different level here.
These were some of the cabins.
The view makes it even worthwhile.
All of them had it.
Then the mist came, it had a supernatural allure.
In the end, after all of the students left and so many wild parties, it was just me and Adrian.
We got triple shifts since nobody was here.
We didn’t mind, extra money.
And our last party was ..again just me and him.
We had a champagne fight to celebrate our quest that was coming to an end.
I got overly exited because Adrian told me that he was gonna destroy …so i gave the first kill adn the last.
Time run out and began our trip to home, no rush anymore, no more apocalypse to run from.
For us these 4 months felt like 4 years, we had experienced and lived with such intensity and we could believe it.
When i got home i slept for like 2 weeks, had over 5000 pictures and videos totaling over 30 GB that not even to this day we din;t have a chance to go over them all.
Thus with this blog we can share them and relive them even better.
Thank you for watching
The last chapter will be the long awaited one, New York!
And no, our adventures and stories in America don’t end here.
