Day 1: Starting out

After a long day of packing and other preparations on Wednesday, August 22, Derek and I rounded up the cats and hit the road for the farm. Unlike Oscar, who typically goes into hiding when he sees the cat carrier, Olivia amazed us by simply walking into hers. She maybe thought her time was up with us and we were taking her back to the humane society.. But nope, a few minutes later we re surprised by how light her carrier was, and discovered that she is a bit of an escape artist. After tracking her down, she pulled a trick out of Oscar's book and ran to hide under the bed. Dragged her out of there, back to the carrier ...she waltzed in and then a quick 180 and she darted out of there just as we were starting to feel pretty awesome for outsmarting the cat. Hmm. Back to the bedroom, and crawling under the bed, again ... But this time she was precisely in the very center where neither of us could reach her from either side. She almost got left behind at his point!

We arrived at the farm late, can't even say it was wednesday evening anymore ...so it ties into today's post just perfectly. Unpacked the cats (and their luggage) and the perishables from our fridge, then made time for a quick drink. Derek was drawn to troubleshooting my mom's most recent computer issue (unfortunately it remains unresolved). Finally, to bed - for some much need Zzzzz's!

We left the farm today around 1pm - this year's experience crossing into the U.S. at Hannah, ND was less grueling than last year's. The border guy checked the car and asked us the expected questions, but we didn't have to go inside. The new port building is expected to be opening on tuesday apparently. Last year we saw the construction beginning, so interesting to see what it looks like now. There are lots of combines running around here on this side of the border, and lots of outfits with straight cutters and semis.

We stopped briefly in Langdon for a fuel up at the SuperPumper, and continued east. We realized around Cavalier that we seemed to be on a different path than other times (like last year) when we've started our trips heading toward Grand Forks. No big deal, just different. Made it to I-29 and cruised by Grand Forks from the north instead of from the west.

Note to selves: next time we are in Grand Forks, should check out "Deek's Pizza". How dare they steal this name before Derek could finish his 100 test-run pizzas and open his own pizza place?!

We switched up the driving for something different and continued to Fargo. it was about 5pm now, so we stopped at Taco John's to grab some quick grub, then ran into the SunMart Foods to pick up a couple pocket note pads and magazines. 

We left Fargo around 6pm and entered Minnesota!

Stopped at Big Chief near Fergus Falls for fuel and observed the rolling hills nearby at the tiny Continental Divide tourist spot. This was around 7pm.

 

The next 2 hours were uneventful and just driving to make it to the Minneapolis NW/Maple Grove KOA Campground for 9:20! Despite the big winds, lightning show and tornado warnings in nearby counties, we managed to get the tent set up in only maybe some spots of rain. We were please to be received by a note for us from the campground office that a spot had been reserved for us at site 90. We found it easily with the marked map, and were comfortably resting in our tent well within a half hour. The campground seems quite nice - with a shady tent site, wifi, and an outdoor pool.

 

 

 

Tomorrow we intend to jump back to Albertville Premium Outlets for a few hours, then make tracks toward Chicago.

 

The wind has gone down now and it's time to fall asleep listening to the crickets and nature around us! Goodnight!