O Pioneers!!

Saturday was transition day. It was time (sadly and with great reluctance) to put Monica on the plane back to Washington. Frank helped ease my sorrow by meeting me for breakfast at the Highland Grill, one of his favorite haunts. I can see why.

Funky vibe, everyone knows Frank, and yummy food.

He gave me a quick tour of St. Paul’s varied neighborhoods, then it was off to the airport to pick up Debra at Terminal 2 . Having the pleasure of her company was the only compensation for losing Monica's. It was time to say goodbye to the lush Midwest and venture out onto the Plains.

Setting off at noon, we skirted the city through surprisingly heavy traffic and eventually found open road outside Minneapolis. Once we did, it was beautiful. Here’s a little video to show you what it’s like.

We stopped in St. Cloud, Debra having ferreted out a spot in the somewhat revitalized downtown area. We had yummy walleye sandwiches and Debra enjoyed a Guinness, which she thought would get her a nap to compensate for having gotten up at 5:30 (now 4:30) to catch her flight.

It worked. Here’s a shot I made (while Debra snoozed) so you can get a sense of the sky and space.

Next stop, North Dakota, just to say we’ve been there. Here’s the three of us crossing the line.

And here Debra is buying freshly picked and fried green beans to snack on.

 The idea was that Debra would buy the beans while I went across the street and filled up the car. There was just one problem: the station didn’t sell premium gas. For real. So that was that for North Dakota except for a lovely shot of Debra’s favorite – bales of hay – and what I think are the prettiest state road signs I’ve ever seen.

Back on the road, we headed straight south then straight west. We tried another gas station -- no premium -- before finding a gold mine in Watertown. Not only did we fill the car with premium (yay!) but we filled ourselves at iHop (oh my, not at all yay!). 

We debated whether to push all the way to Mitchell or just call it a day in Sioux Falls. Knowing we had a big day again today, we decided to check out places to stay in Mitchell. This was great foresight on Debra’s part because it turned into our first brush with the Sturgis factor. No room at the Hampton Inn (our first choice), one last room at the Ramada (our second choice) that the reservation taker assured us would be gone by the time we arrived. We booked it and started booking it to Mitchell. This was made a bit easier by the fact that the posted speed limit was now 75. Ah, civilization at last!!!

It’s breathtaking driving through this country. Fields of sunflowers wave in the sun, breaking up the corn and soybean fields. The color of the land varies from rich green to blue to yellow, creating a quality of light I’ve never seen anywhere else. The clouds create a visual tableau of their own.

And then night began to fall (at 9:47PM there was still afterglow from the sunset) and one lone star twinkled against the deepening blue of the sky. We were thrilled to pull into Mitchell right around 10PM, less thrilled that the Ramada was not quite as presented in the AAA write-up (“oh the free breakfast was what the old owners did”).

Yes, this is the door to our room, replete with a plague of tiny crickets (the insect I’m most phobic about for some reason). Clean beds, decent bathroom, and nothing an Ambien couldn’t tackle.