Lovely Daughter and Lars loaded up the Harley and the entourage on Monday morning and headed back home. Ole and I weren't quite ready to deal with reality yet so we decided to prolong the issue just a bit and went north from Medora to Tioga, ND.
I'm sure you've never heard of that town - it's just a wide spot in the road but it's in the middle of the oil fields of North Dakota. Bet you didn't know that North Dakota had oil, did you? Right now they're sitting on one of the largest oil reserves in the world - the Bakken Formation. Ole has a cousin that lives in the area that he hadn't seen for a number of years so we decided to detour a bit on our way home (about 300 mile detour) and stop for coffee. We had a great visit along with the most delicious berry pie that she had made and then headed for Minot (Mind Rot as it's known around here.) The area I live in isn't the edge of the world, but you can see it from here. Minot IS on the edge of the world.
I guess I shouldn't be so hard on the area as it's beautiful in its own way. Here's one of the scenes along the highway - now who cannot smile when you see a field full of sunflowers in full bloom.
Our goal was to head for the International Peace Gardens, located on the Canadian/North Dakota border. Ole and I have lived here all our lives and have never been to the Peace Gardens. We had originally intended to spend a day or two, camping in the Gardens themselves, but I'm sure glad we didn't follow through on that plan. I was SO disappointed and we both decided it just wasn't worth the time and effort that it took to get there. So after our tour, which took less than an hour, we were on the road again headed back to reality - home.
I wasn't feeling very well anyway, so the thought of home was comforting. The night we spent in Minot I had stopped at the Walmart deli to pick up something quick for supper. I purchased honey barbecue chicken and macaroni salad. Now my first clue should have been how dirty that store was. I don't think I have ever been in a dirtier Walmart. But - duh - it didn't register - and by 3 a.m. I was up spewing macaroni salad in several forms (sorry if that was too graphic!) I still had a rolly stomach the next morning with a total lack of energy, so riding in the RV, rolling along the highway and flying over the bumps didn't do a lot for how I felt.
By late afternoon I was feeling better and we were getting closer to home so we decided to stop in the famous/infamous Local Watering Hole for a burger instead of going home to cook. Everyone was surprised to see us home, so we had a good old gab session and compared Sturgis notes with several people who had been there also.
I think Lucy and Simon were both happy to be home - and somehow I think they could smell they were home. They sat in the open windows with their noses wiggling and whiskers moving and started meowing and begging to get out. For the entire month that we traveled neither of them showed any interest in getting out. Guess they enjoyed the safety of their moving house.
So, anyway, we're home and now we have to deal with unpacking and cleaning. And if I don't get busy - that won't happen either. :-(
Love Lena
