# Portland, OR --> Milwaukee, WI



## veggieguy12 (Jul 24, 2008)

The quick(er) version:

Met NickCofphee in Portland, went to catch-out Thursday @ midnight. Waited overnight, left to get more water & food at about 6pm Friday, then returned about 10pm. I boarded IM to Seattle at about 12:30, into Seattle about 9am; he caught-out at 8:30am, arrived about 1:30pm.
Spent Saturday in Seattle, opened locked compost dumpster (again).
Left Sunday night, at yard ~1:30am, caught-out north at ~3am, arrived Everett about 6am, slept in Canadian grainer 'til 8am Monday.
Walked to catch-out near Amtrak, but tried for hitching a ride WBD at nearby on-ramp; caught-out 5:30pm, arrived Spokane 6am Tuesday. Cleaned-up at Flying J truckstop, hitched ride into lil' city (first notable place) in Idaho ~9:30am, got on on-ramp 10:30 and hassled by police @ 10:50. We walked off the on-ramp and up to the police station to complain about the cop unnecessarily being an absolute prick in enforcing the no-HH'ing laws, and then walked to the next county, getting a 25-mile ride en route.
From there, we tried hitching, and got bothered by a Sheriff's deputy, who told us not to walk the highway, nor to solicit a ride from the on-ramp: "Get off the highway."
I asked, "So what do we do, go up to the on-ramp and just live & die there?"
"That's not my problem. Shoulda thought of that before you started hitchhiking." cops says.
I was fuming. We walked up to the on-ramp, and I thought I'd give it 30 min. before returning to the hwy. for a ride, making a new sign in the meantime.
I made a giant sign (it was like a TV box deconstructed, 30"x66") and attached it to the lamppost at the on-ramp ("Can't ask for a lift or walk to the border; guess I'll die here.") where my pal lay beneath, and then I went back to I-90 with "HELP" and "WWJD?" signs - a true indication that I was pretty desperate, adamant atheist that I am.
I see a car stopped opposite my sign for a minute, then it drives over to NickCofphee. He goes up to it, then it departs.
About ten minutes later, it returns, and when it leaves he comes running down the on-ramp. The situation, as he explained it to me, was that the driver read the sign, inquired about our dilemma, then gave him $20. When she returned, it was to say "My friend manages a motel about 10 miles E in Kellogg, and I talked to her already, she's willing to give y'all a room for the night. My husband'll come by in 15 min. to take you guys over there."
So, we're driven to the motel, and we spend the $20 on some fruit and veg at the grocery store across the street; 11am Wednesday we check-out and go to the nearby on-ramp, then move up onto the highway. Within an hour we get a ride into Missoula, MT, and not too long after that a trucker stops. He's going to Wisconsin, we're going to Wisconsin, but all is not well in his head, I think; he stops in Butte and basically tells us ride's over.
We wait there from about 5pm-9:30, when it's just about the last sliver of light - and some guy going to Belgrade stops! I call my buddy in Bozeman, and the driver says he can make a 14-mile roundtrip to drop us in Bozeman, so we crash at my buddy's place for the night. This is cool because I haven't seen him since late October in Portland, but by chance he just had called me when I was in Seattle on Saturday.
About 12:30pm we get on the highway, picked up in decent time by some former Navy SEAL nutcase (actually he was basically okay), who takes us in to Billings. After an hour or so, we just barely catch a ride (the dude passed us up with some 'sorry, can't help signal' but we kinda flagged him down anyway) going into Rapid City, SD for a weekend wedding. He came from Bozeman, so we could have just as well caught him in the first place, but y'know, that's fate...
On the way, Montana Mike gets a call to go to a party in Deadwood, SD, so he's gonna drop us in Spearfish, SD. I delicately ask if he could carpool from Rapid City instead, and he says no, but we could hang in Deadwood 'til he leaves hours later for Rapid City. At 12 midnight, this sounds like the best bet, and while we're waiting in the casino, I notice a guy with a Minnesota t-shirt.
I ask this guy if he's from Minnesota, and will he "be going back soon? Yeah?, well it sure would be great" if he could cram us into his ride.
"Well when do you wanna leave?" he asks. Whenever he's ready, I say, which he says will be sooner than later if we can drive. Then he continues, "Guess the only thing is, how do I know I can trust ya?" I don't really know that, but he says he'll find some cop who'll take his and our names, "in case anything happens" (like: we murder him?).
End up giving our three IDs to the casino's head of security, who photocopies them, and I'm hoping nobody notices my license expired months ago.
We explain this turn of events to Montana Mike, and meet Minnesota Mike, who drives from 1-230am, and then I take over, flooring it at 85-90mph N through SD on I-85 and then E through ND on I-94 for next three and a half hours.
We get to Fargo, MN well into Friday's sunlight, and Mike (driving again) passes his exit while talking on the phone, so we get a bit further on; five minutes walking down the on-ramp from our drop-off spot, a Canadian trucker stops, taking us all the way into Roseville, MN (near Minneapolis). A bus ride later, we find I-94 again, and it's about 4:45pm, so the traffic is crawling and there's shoulder enough to get a lift.
That takes about 25-35 minutes, and this rich old executive in a Lexus SUV takes us past his stop, across the border to Hudson, WI. In pretty short order we get a lift from one guy for about 25 miles, then another guy for 100 miles.
I dunno where we are, we're not even waiting long enough for it to matter. From there, we are at the on-ramp and some douchey law enforcer tells us no hitching on-hwy or at on-ramps, but then he rolls away. We stay at the on-ramp, and two college boys who're drinking beers and smoking pot stop to take us into Madison by 11pm, where we sleep.
At 7am Saturday we're on the hwy, and about 30min. later a state trooper stops to cite us for being on the interstate, but then she drives us about 10 miles to the closest decent spot, where it doesn't take but about 15 min. to get a lift with a bridgebuilder going into Milwaukee.
Then we get directions, board a bus and plead for a no-fare lift into downtown.
This bus happened to be the perfect bus to go where we wanted, but when we get to Gordon Park (which the CrimethInc. site mentions for the convergence) at noon, we search around then make some calls and a couple hours later discover that it's 45min/miles N on I-43 to the actual site, in Waldo.
Since we're on record with that citation earlier, we decide we'd be risking a ticket, maybe even arrest if we're caught on-hwy again, so after 15 min. of wasted time at an on-ramp, we call it quits and decide to explore Milwaukee.
We camp that Saturday night, NickCofphee discreetly tucked under the bridge, me in a hammock between some trees; at some point, police come around shining a light and waking me to ask about a guy in a maroon sweatshirt or t-shirt running through. Groggy, I say "No, No, it's all been quiet here." Then I think about whether I should have misdirected them or something. Then I think, "Damn, good thing they didn't notice I'm wearing a red t-shirt, that could have been a pain in the ass." Then I wonder, should I be worried about a homicidal maniac in a blood-soaked sweatshirt running through here?
On Sunday I found a bar with online computers and wrote to some people on CouchSurfing.com to get put-up for a week of checking out Milwaukee.
Went out and re-supplied, restocked food. Met some Minneapolis hopper kids, hung with them at the catch-out. Plan on leaving tomorrow night, maybe Saturday.
Some pretty good luck in there, and some shit got in the way. Missed what we came for, made the best of it. Not the craziest story, but there ya go.

Idaho's panhandle is about 70 miles; that took us one day.
Also one day of travel: Bozeman, MT --> E. of Fargo, MN (750 mi), or Fargo, MN --> Madison, WI (500 mi).


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## dirtbag (Jul 24, 2008)

I'm guessing that law douche you ran into in WI prior to Madison was somewhere around the Portage area. The absolute worst part of the country to deal with the pigs in.


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## NickCofphee (Jul 26, 2008)

You forgot to mention the part where you sucked that guy Mike off for the ride to Minnesota.


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## macks (Jul 26, 2008)

good story, glad to hear you guys made it out there. that's the best part about veggieguy, he'll take one for the team for a ride. im jealous but when you guys get back out west we'll have some fun times.


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## veggieguy12 (Jul 28, 2008)

well when i met the dude in the bathroom stall - with his shirt off and his pants around his ankles - i didn't even know he was driving back to MN, so getting that lift was just kinda coincidental. but it does verify that i don't use too much teeth in the suck-off, right? (_just_ enough!)
but yeah, *WHATEVER* IT TAKES to get there!

macks: of whom are you jealous, me or Minnesota Mike?


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