Well, this continent is certainly large! This morning we started out at 9 AM (MT), traveled south through Saskatchewan. Stopped in Rouleau, SK, which is the town where they filmed Corner Gas. Saw the station, the Dog River grain elevator, the hotel, the water tower, the arena, and my mother and father's house (I tease my parents that they remind me of Oscar and Emma). There really wasn't much going on in this hamlet. We stopped at the convenience store and spent $9.00 on two batteries, a soda and a coffee. Tourist town. After all that excitement, we hunkered down over the plains to the border town of 'Regway, SK' (hey, Reg and Reg should consider moving there) and into Montana (after consulting with the US customs officer on our 'citrus' fruit, and eating as much as we could before crossing into the state). We have now been in 11 states since we started our trip a month ago. We've been taking U.S. Route 2 and it's a great road. We loved Montana, with its wide open spaces and rolling hills and coulees. Saw a sign for "Range Cattle," warning drivers that cattle could pop out in front of you at any moment. We turned the country music on the radio station and motored. Saw lots of cattle, but none directly in front of us. After Montana came North Dakota, and finally Minnesota, where we are now.
It is 10:45 pm, and we are in Bemidji, Minnesota, population 12,000. The Comfort Inn on Paul Bunyan Highway. This is the mythical home of the mythical Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. We didn't see the mythical creatures. I think we got the last hotel room in this city. At least that's what they told us. We don't plan very well, since we always drive until we can't drive anymore, and then see if we can find a place for two nomadic travelers. We've always been this way. It is kind of fun, though. Bemidji, from a Chippewa word meaning, 'lake with river flowing through,' began as a trading post and later was a logging boomtown. It's quite a vacation hotspot with its lakes and forests. Thanks, Don and Ann for the CAA/AAA travel guides. I've been reading and referring to them all day long. I think I should become a travel tour guide. A new career for me. That way I get to continue to travel the world.
Earlier this evening, we traveled through the sister cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and crossed the river into East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Two interesting facts: in 1893, Frank Amidon, a chief miller (of wheat), invented 'Cream of Wheat.' How many of us more mature people ate that growing up? The other tidbit is that they have the finest hockey facilities in the world (that's for you, Don).
Well, Mum & Dad and friends, we're on our way home. Not sure which route to take yet, but our plan for tomorrow is to continue on to Duluth, Minnesota, across Wisconsin, down to Flint Michigan, and cross over into Canada at Sarnia, Ontario. Not sure yet whether we'll take the northern or the southern routes through Ontario, for we may cross over again into upper New York, New Hampshire or Vermont states, depending on where we cross. We're just flibbertygibbets" (play that in your Lexulous games, you wordsmiths!).
The comfortable beds at this comfort inn are calling. We couldn't find anything to eat anywhere, so I brought my toaster in the room and cooked up some toast (of course). Camping out at $107.00/night. And they gave us an AAA rate, just because I said I was using the AAA books Don & Ann loaned us. Louise, another bonus, eh? Oh, the guy at the service station in Dog River told me that we must be Americans because we had a 'twang.' "No," I replied, "We're Maritimers." I should have added, "And proud of it." King Cole tea anyone?
When you think you have forgotten,
And have lived the feelings down,
And have shoved the best that's in you out of sight,
Just get a horse and saddle,
And drift out from the town,
to the thoughts that steal upon you in the night.
(From "They Keep A Stealin' Upon You in the Night" by Rhoda Sivell, in VOICES FROM THE RANGE, 1912)
No comments:
Post a Comment