Twin Cities...

From my night in a church I made my way towards the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul. Since arriving in amongst it all here in the cities, is has been an experience. As I arrived to the north of Minneapolis it was approaching dark and I was in the outer suburbs of the city. I got talking to a shop keeper about if there were any motels or the like around if I continued on the same street I was on, he was to laugh at me and tell me it is best if I do not continue at all. I was in a bad neighbourhood and it only got worse the closer I got to the city. He was good enough to go over my GPS with me and plan a safe route around the "Hood" as he liked to call it. I continued on till around 9pm, without any problems. I found a place to crash in an old abandoned warehouse and actually slept as well as I have for days.

The next day I was up nice and early as I was only 90% sure that the warehouse was abandoned and was not real keen to wake up with an angry foreman standing over my sleeping bag asking questions with a big wrench in his hand! I arrived in downtown Minneapolis at roughly 10am and from here my story saddens... we lost a crucial member of the trek... my wheelie bag, I was at Mcdonalds trying to find some internet when I took a look at the wheels, as lately it had felt like the bag was getting a lot heavier, turned out it was not the bag but the fact that one of the wheels had started to take the shape of a rectangle and was not rolling so well at all. After accessing the damage and realizing the damage done was unfix-able and unrecoverable, we came to the decision it was best to turn off the machine... and part ways with my little wheelie friend. It turned out ok as when I was transferring all my gear back to the backpack an old homeless guy was wandering past, I said gday to him and got talking, as we chatted he was checking out my wheelie bag which I asked if he would like it, "really" he exclaimed, with that, a problem was solved and I was on my way again.

I headed to St Paul which is around 12km from Minneapolis. I took a street which cut through a bunch of Latino and Asian neibourhoods and arrived in St Paul at 4pm. I met a couple of young girls who I asked if they knew where I could find a phone to call a friend of mine who I had met in Colombia but lived in St Paul, and they were kind enough to lend me their mobile phone. I called Christina and explained where I was. After  some good directions I was off to her university on bus 63 for the night.

Waiting for Christina out the front of her Uni, I was approached by a young fella who asked me "are you an Australian"? I was to find out he was a friend of Christina and he was on "retrieve homeless Aussie" duty. I was to find out that Christina lives in a "girl" house on campus and that Ryan (the guy who came to my rescue) lived in the counter "guy" house on the campus and I was to be staying there. It turned out to be a really good night with a bunch of really good people again!

That night they were having a movie night in the boys house, so with around 20 people packing the lounge room and all the pop corn and home made cookies one could eat, we all sat back to enjoy a movie together. As I said it proved to be a great night with after the movie everyone sitting back and chatting and eating more food till after midnight. It was really nice to be able to sit back with a good bunch of young people and just have a conversation and relax.

After sleeping on the sofa and sleeping like a log mind you, I am now waiting for Christina (have also just enjoyed a great plate of bacon & eggs cooked for me by one of the guys from the house, cheers Steve) and it is 9:30am. We are going to check out her homecoming parade for an hour or so at her university then I will be heading south again in the direction of the town Hastings, which I will not get to by tonight, but at least if I reach the outskirts of Hastings I will be out of the cities which will be nice.