Good Morning...or is it?

3:45 am Sunday, June 3
Woke up bright and early--and had a light breakfast with coffee. We already packed the car the night before and created our overnight half-way hotel bags. Our destination is Glendive MO. by 5:30 pm. It's a 14 hour trip all day.

We left the house at 4:10 am, still dark. Not 10 miles from home, we hit a deer on the main highway heading south. The deer just braised the front turn signal on the van and knocked out the turn signal lamp and slightly dented the front driver quarter panel--everything else was fine--we didn't stop for a couple of exits to check the damage...it might of been worse and delayed our trip significantly--so we were lucky!

I was not sure that making that hotel reservation at this half-way point, was too ambitious. 14 hours is a long time. The roads and weather were good and traffic was perfect. We hit a bird on the way and wouldn't you know it? the bird hit the cavity of the missing turn signal lamp but we didn't stop to check out where it really ended up.We were hoping that anything else would happen along the way.
By 6:00am we made a stop in Mosinee, WI.

7:45 Menominee, WI.

8:30am we made Minneapolis MN.

Salad in a Jar!

1:00pm Fargo North Dakota was our lunch time and got to try
our Salad in Jar!

I saw this idea on the internet, What a great idea!! Stays cool in the cooler until ready to eat, ball jars with lids keep it very fresh and crisp! Dressing on the bottom, chopped veggies in the middle and lettuce on the top...When you pour it out of the jar on to your plate...dressing is on the top for a perfect salad...

Road trip was very smooth. We took 3-4hour shifts each, for driving and had our cooler for refreshment and snacks.

I just want to hear someone speak: 

Fargo Film: Marge Gunderson: Say Lou. Did ya hear the one about the guy who couldn't afford personalized plates, so he went and changed his name to J3L 2404?

Lou: Yah, that's a good one.

[on the phone] Oh my. Where? Yeah? Aw geez. Okay, there in a jif. Real good, then.

 

No one on the Hwy 90!! Very flat

Pictures are part of the land known as the "dust bowl" back in the 30s.

Beautiful skies and clouds

Very flat landscape compared to where we are heading...We did get great weather: traveling about 80mph...high 60s low 70s. some wind. Just beautiful! We talked about how the land must still try to survive this past history:

HISTORY:
In 1931 there was a record wheat harvest, which depressed the price of wheat. In order to make payments on land and machinery on time and to make up for the lower price of wheat, farmers had to plant more and more which meant tearing up the land further. Farmers were warned by Native American Indians and also old time cattle ranchers that had known that land for many years, not to tear up the native grasses. But the farmers had to by now and continued to plow under even more native grasslands and plant crops. Soil conservation practices had to be abandoned so that extra crops could be planted to meet payments as the price fell for wheat and other crops.

On May 9, 1934, a major dust storm started over the northern plains of Montana and the Dakotas and by night it had reached Chicago dumping an estimated 6,000 tons of dust. By the next morning the dust had reached Boston and New York where the streetlights came on at midday and cars had to use headlights. The dust cloud was 1,800 miles wide.
 
Sunday, April 14, 1935 was the worst dust storm, being called Black Sunday. The day after this storm, an AP reporter used the term “Dust Bowl” for the first time.

As we drove, we could see tiny little tractors and farmers working in HUGE acres of farm fields. What a job it must be to harvest all that land.

Salem Sue

3:30pm New Salem: Salem Sue (or The World's Largest Holstein Cow) is a large fiberglass Holstein cow sculpture located in New Salem, North Dakota. Salem Sue was built in 1974 for $40,000. The project was sponsored by the New Salem Lions Club in honor of the local dairy farming industry. The statue stands 38 feet high and is 50 feet long. It sits on School Hill near Interstate 94 off exit 127 S and can be viewed for several miles.

So there,  Oh my. Where? Yeah? Aw geez.


5:00pm We passed "Painted Canyon" also known as Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We will stop on our way back. From the highway we spotted wild horses and roaming buffalo near Medora, of North Dakota Badlands. We will stop for sure--A great overview to see the Badlands.

Medora looks like a old western town. Also known at the cattle town!

8:00pm Glendive, MO. The time changed made it seem forever to finally arrive in Glendive, Comfort Inn, AND it was a welcome site. Not terribly impressive hotel but clean and comfortable. We took a short walk just to stretch our legs and MOVE around. The evening was nice--we had prepared a meal and froze it knowing that it would be late getting to the hotel. Time for a glass of wine and relax! Tomorrow is another 14 hour driving day!

Tomorrow is another driving day!