- Day 1 -1 Week
- Day 1 -12 Hours
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
- Day 5
- Day 6
- Day 7
- Day 8
- Day 9
- Day 10
- Day 11
- Day 12
- Day 13
- Day 14
- Day 15
- Day 16
- Day 17
- Day 18
- Day 19
- Day 20
- Day 21
- Day 22
- Day 23
- Day 24
- Day 25
- Day 26
- Day 27
- Day 28
- Day 29
- Day 30
- Day 31
- Day 32
- Day 33
- Day 34
- Day 35
- Day 36
- Day 37
- Day 38
- Day 39
- Day 40
- Day 41
- Day 42
- Day 43
- Day 44
- Day 45
- Day 46
- Day 47
- Day 48
- Day 49
- Day 50
- Day 51
- Day 52
- Day 53
- Day 54
- Day 55
- The End
- Retrospective
Our dinner from last night was pretty good. It was an order at the counter and get a number to put on your table kind of place. They had pizza, burgers and fried everything, and of course breakfast for us on Day 29.
Dinner had two interesting things though, our order taker brought us our food and chatted with us both times. She basically gave us her life story. I was taken a back by how freely she told us about her personal details. Also the woman we had met on the side of the road that afternoon had mentioned how fat she thought everyone was, at dinner I took more notice. The thing that struck me wasn’t anyone’s size, but their disposition. They lumbered about in they’re sorrow more then were over weight.
Same table for breakfast, but at 7 AM it was just us and the flies. I don’t understand… no one in the last three states seam to care at all about bugs. No one wants to look at a fly strip while they eat, but I’m sure most would prefer that over being under attack.
After breakfast we got back on to Route 52. The road got slightly hillier and much much emptier, and oil rigs dotted the land scape. And the wind came back. Not quite our first days in North Dakota but it was a nice bookend as we left to get hit again.
I got a call for work, that I had to turn down knowing I would not be able to make it to New York in time. (Thanks anyway MF) But as I just fished spending money on a new wheel, sewing my shorts and today I have to find super glue to fix my sunglasses. All of my stuff is falling apart as I go and I’m turning down the opportunity to earn money! Even typing this is giving me anxiety. But they say no one ever regrets missing that meeting on their death bed… But I’m sure there’s some saying about no one wants to go to the poor house either.
We carried on toward the border. We rode past the border town without much fan fair. At the border commercial traffic to the right, personal vehicles to the left. We headed toward the left lane. There were stop signs and a booth window. We paused, and pulled up to the window. There was no one there, we stood for a few minutes. I don’t know how many people are trying to sneak into Canada at the North Dakota border but I really wondered if we could just walk into the country. A border agent came to the window, a few questions (including, “Are you carrying over $10,000. I wish, got a chuckle) and checks of passports and we’re on our way.
After border control the road was kind of rough but soothed out fairly quickly as we headed north west. This road looked best to me as it headed in both directions we wanted to go, north and west. The Canada route was the original idea, the road decided that we should go around but heading back feels like we’re still going to do the original idea.
The area looked significantly different, considering we were just 30 miles north, though the wind felt the same. The road had the same kind of gentle hills with a few winding curves here and there. The off the road was the real difference. More oil rigs and large pills of dug up earth. It felt more like Texas or something. Sandy earth piled up as they scratch away for black gold. There was something beautiful about the stark nature and stark differences between the natural and the human manipulated.
There were small ponds, with steep hills falling into them. It was really kind of beautiful. I wondered if this was what the landscape was like or were these the remains of past digs.
As we headed on our way we past giant cranes on either side of the road. Each had huge shovels lifting huge amounts of earth. To what end I really don’t know. There was no real tell tail signs of what they could taking. Jerry believed it was sand tar oil digging. I wondered if they would rip these massive holes across the landscape to bring the sand some where to have oil deposits processed out.
The wind blew and the hills got a bit bigger. Nothing crazy but there was nothing as far as amenities. The wind really dries you out so we got closer and closer to running out of water. Out of water in out bottles, I still have the two bottles the guy on the side of the road gave me as an emergency supply. To be honest I’m mildly sick of carrying them. I mean it would be so stupid to drink it or jettison, when someone went out of their way to make sure I had it just incase. I hope I can drink it at security just before I fly home but till then I’ll carry these bottles.
As we approached the next town, industry got bigger and bigger. Huge buildings lined the highway. Each building was larger then the last, huge driveways for trailers and god knows what other kind of machinery coming and going from these places. I saw a rocket sales and rentals place! It was a huge building, too big for hobby, but were they really selling actual rockets!?!
We passed all the industry and soon found ourselves on a “main street”. Actually it was 4th Ave, two over from Main Street. We got a water and headed on our way to find a hotel. As we made our way through town it looked like most down towns in the industrial side of town. We pulled up to the hotel… It did not look good. Empty parking lot, weeds and a sign on the door. As we got closer we could read the sign saying, “Sorry we’re closed. Sorry for the inconvenience.” I called another hotel. No rooms by the night. I called a third, no answer but it’s just up the road. We go to check it out. When we pull up we decide to call a fourth place. As soon as the woman answered I knew this was the place for us. Not only was it a very pleasant check in with chit chat between us and the woman at the desk, but also a man who I assumed was the maintenance guy. After check in we went to our room to settle in. After our showers we saw the clocks were wrong… or rather our thought on what time it “should be”. As we looked through the local menus to figure where to eat the room phone rang.? It was the woman from the front desk, just checking in onus, making sure we had everything we needed. This was the right hotel for us.
With an extra hour under our belts we headed out for dinner. The local spot had pizza and pasta highlighted on the menu but it looked more like the coolest dinner in town. I imagined Saturday night packed crowds all hanging out and talking about all things this small town. Our waitress was very excited to talk to us about our travels. She said she really wants to travel. As most wait staff conversations go, we spoke, she left, we’d speak a bit more, she’d leave as so forth. At one point Jerry and I guessed she wanted to travel just to get far away from this town. Was life here that bad? Later, on another trip to our table she told us Pakistan was her #1 choice to travel to. We asked why Pakistan. She told us, because she heard it sucked there. This was proof, in my mind, that life here sucks… at least for our waitress. She wants to go to a country she heard life sucks, just so she can come home and feel better.
Back to the hotel for a surprisingly early night. Quick stop at the 7-11 to get some crazy glue to fix my glasses. I hope we can make it the rest of this tour with out me needing to fix any more of my gear.
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