Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Have gone about 1500 miles  in about 30 days.  So seem to be on schedule.

No more squashed porcupines.  Yesterday saw quite a few lizards.  None of them squashed.  They seem to flit away and stay safe.

Missed running over two snakes.  Seems like distinguishing  between road tar squiggles and snake squiggles is getting easier.

Still looking for Giants in the Earth kind of flat.  There have been glimpses, but for the most part, North Dakota is full of hills.

Stayed in a campground in Steele last night.  It was hot, hot, hot.  The campground owner saw me melting into  puddle like the wicked witch of the west and took pity on me.  He invited me into his air conditioned shop.  Turns out he collects and repairs old American and French clocks ( as in 1700's/1800's).  We got on e-bay and he showed me some interesting clocks that tell time in fascinating ways.  One was a clock that indicated the passing of time by how fast it burned whale oil.
I got a good education and stayed cool at the same time.

Big storms last night.  We were under a tornado watch.  A little spooky in a tent.  So we got rained on and the wind put up some good gusts.  The tent held up well.  People who have been through tornado's often describe the sound as that of a train.  That made it interesting.  As usual, the campground was next to train tracks.  So, we had several trains going by during the storm.  Usually I hate it when the trains use loud warning signals going through towns. This time it was comforting.  I knew it was a train.

Today, there were hundreds of dead frogs on he road.  There were quite a few ponds/ small bodies of water next to the road for most of the day.  It was just strange to have so many frog road kill.

Expecting more storms tonight.  We have a pattern going of hot, hot, hot.  Followed by storms.  We will see what happens.

Will be in Minnesota in a few days.  North Dakota has been great.  Minnesota will feel familiar as I spent  lot of time as a kid coming up north to Minnesota from Iowa to go fishing with my parents and grandparents.  Good memories.

Til next time