O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

The Drive For 5-0 is officially a multinational blog this evening, as tonight I am sleeping in Vancouver, British Columbia, conveniently located in our docile neighbor to the north - Canada. Special thanks to the Canadian member of the International Brotherhood of UNC Sports Information Personnel, David Tinson, for tonight's accommodations (even though he's off in Whistler like a big shot).

But I'm getting ahead of myself. This morning I walked down to the Lake Coeur D'Alene to take some pictures and enjoy the weather. The view along the shore is, well, see for yourself...

After lunch, I hit the road once again, this time headed for Washington, state No. 49. Not much to report from the Evergreen State (I'm saving Seattle for Monday), though there was a great scenic overlook of the Columbia River off I-90 near Vintage. I could definitely picture someone trying to float a covered wagon down that baby.

So another long day of driving is in the books. Tomorrow I'll sink my teeth into Vancouver before heading back to the United States for Seattle on Monday, with the completion of my task on Tuesday in Oregon.

Oh, one last note about today. Crossing the border into Canada is an intimidating process. I have nothing illicit in my car, a perfectly legitimate reason for being here and a passport and I still got nervous when I pulled up to the customs agent. He asked a bunch of rapid fire questions (Where are you going? Why? Who are you going to see? What is his name? How do you know him?) that I had answers to, but it still is an intense experience. I can't imagine what it must be like trying to do something illegal as you cross.

Ok, that's all for now.

Hail! South Dakota, a great state of the land.

Tuesday was a day I'd been looking forward to for a long time - South Dakota. To get to the part of the state worth seeing (the people here in Rapid City confirmed that was the case), I had to drive south on US-83 from Bismarck to I-90 in South Dakota. Once I got to the interstate, it was just a hop, skip and a jump to Badlands National Park. I did make one bathroom stop on the way from Bismarck, in Mount City, S.D. (pop. 89). The only public bathroom I could find was in the city park, which seemed like a fitting stop as I head toward some of the nation's largest parks.

So I arrived at the Badlands around 3 and it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far. You can read about it on your own, but basically it's an area that was under water a few hundred million years ago and is now one of the most unique landscapes in the world. I'll upload an entire gallery later (as promised:)

South Dakota

Last, but certainly not least, was a trip to Mount Rushmore. It was as cool as I'd hoped, with a surprise. As I walked up toward the monument, I noticed that the main viewing area was blocked off. I feared that it was under construction or closed, but it turns out they were filming National Treasure: Book of Secrets. So I stuck around a little long than planned to get a glimpse of Jon Voight, Nicolas Cage and Helen Mirren. I thought this picture was a neat contrast of the movie lights, the lights that illuminate the monument and, of course, the sunset.

Today I'm off to get an oil change here in Rapid City then west to Yellowstone!

Why don't you purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka?

Good question Prince. And so it was on to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota, State No. 44 on this journey. I should mention that I spent a good bit of time in Madison this afternoon, mostly walking State Street and taking pictures of the Capitol. I also had to make a stop at Camp Randall (again with the football) before heading west.

I put my driving shoes on today and made great time from Madison to Minneapolis without really speeding to speak of (I rarely if ever speed much on the highway). Wisconsin is the first state since Tennessee to have any real scenic land to drive across, and the rolling plains dotted with dairy farms were very cool. One interesting landmark on the way was a place called Wisconsin Dells, which can best be described as Myrtle Beach on steroids. It was the ultimate in touristy kitsch, as evidenced by the vast number of amusement parks and other such silliness. Case in point, this Trojan Horse at the entrance to the Mt. Olympus park.

Upon arriving in Minneapolis, I parked near the Mississippi River at a place called Saint Anthony Falls. This is almost the extreme north end of the river and once featured the only waterfall on the Upper Mississippi. The falls have since been covered by a concrete apron and dams installed. Here's the view from just down river on the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail.

I finished the walk around the trail, had a quick dinner of fish and chips at Tuggs before heading to my home base for the night at Casey's friend Anne's house. Special thanks to Anne for the fine (and free) accommodations.

Tomorrow we start to get serious. Mall of America, lunch, then on to North Dakota.

Oh, and I know it's been the weekend and all, but don't you love me? No comments? I'm not blogging for my health here.

Schlemiel! Schlemazl! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

(Ed. note: Sorry for the late post today, I had some Internet issues at the hotel.)

So the plan for Friday was to spend the afternoon walking around Chicago, which I have been told is one of the great cities in the country. Well, the weather decided not to cooperate, as a heavy cloud cover and the wind made for very unpleasant walking around conditions.

After a quick lunch in Wrigleyville, I called my first audible of the trip, closing out Chicago early and heading north to Milwaukee (I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't make an Alice Cooper joke, and I'm sticking to my guns).

Naturally I'm going with a "when in Rome" approach for this trip, so I figured what better to do in Milwaukee than tour a brewery. The lateness of my arrival in town left me with but one option, the Lakefront Brewery. While I'm sure the big breweries are great, the Lakefront tour was awesome. It's a small place (they claim to brew as much beer in a year as Miller spills in a shift) but has two awesome features - three fermenting tanks painted to look like the Three Stooges and this...

That, friends, is the original chalet that housed Bernie Brewer at old County Stadium. Needless to say, I am now a lifelong fan of the Lakefront Brewery.

I met some locals (Tim, Ryan and Jennie if memory serves) on the tour, and they let me tag along with them for the rest of the night. We went to their friend Thor's (!) house before hanging out in downtown Milwaukee. It really tells you something about a city when you can meet strangers and go meet their friend Thor.

But now I must continue on, traveling to Madison (perhaps back through Chicago, we'll see how it goes) for the night before getting to the Twin Cities on Sunday. Thanks to anyone who is reading this and for all well-wishes being sent my way.

And special thanks to my new friends for a night in Milwaukee, your hospitality will be remembered fondly.