ONE MORE RIVER TO CROSS (THANK GOODNESS IT'S NOT A BRIDGE)

So here I am in Minot, North Dakota. One final chance to hit the Target (so to speak) before crossing the border. It's been a naturey kind of day. I started out in Grand Forks this morning in a raging rain storm. The sky was black and there were streaks of lightening hurtling across the sky. But, as in Saskatchewan, just wait an hour and it could all be different – and it was. Within an hour I drove out of the storm and into clear blue prairie skies. The road from there to here is pretty flat, almost empty and an invitation to a wandering mind. Fortunately, North Dakota has some of the best rest stop areas I've come across. There seem to be an extraordinary number of very large dragonflies about. Itty bitty little helicopters flying in formation beside me as I roll down the road. The first part of the trip today was through vast – hundreds of miles of marshland teeming with waterfowl. Perky little ducks splashing away and having a great time. Later I drove through the most incredible fields of nodding, golden sunflowers. I wanted to stop and see if they all followed the sun across the sky. Finally I ran into a plague of little white butterflies. There were thousands of them over several miles, accompanied by Kamikaze barn swallows swooping down in front of me to catch them in mid air.

  

I drove through Rugby today, the geographical centre of North America and remembered that in Stewiake, Nova Scotia I had passed through the latitudinal centre of the continent.

 

Gas prices are all over the place in this state. From a high of $2.89 a gallon to the lovely little independent I bought gas from yesterday for $2.66 – I haven't seen better than that since.

 

Don't you just love cucumber sandwiches?

 

How do I know I'm getting close to home?

 

1. People have stopped saying “Boy you're a long way from home”.
2. People have actually heard of Saskatchewan.
3. I'm listening to CBC Regina on my computer in the evenings.
4. I saw my first flock of migrating Canada Geese this morning.
5. I'm almost out of American money.

 

 One nice thing about driving through North Dakota is that I don't have to argue with Miss Hathaway so much. She signs on in the morning with a “Drive 357 km” and then goes back to sleep for the rest of the trip.  Have you heard the song "Shut up and Drive"?

 

 

 

To be continued........