The Dakotas

From Moose Jaw, we headed to Weyburn, where we picked up paperwork, and then set off toward Estevan. The fields along the highway were dotted with small oil wells, and as the daylight faded, flames from natural gas wells became beacons across the landscape. We crossed the border into North Dakota late Wednesday evening, after being questioned by a tired border guard who asked us everything twice because he'd forgotten that he'd already been through his list of questions. He declared Cody to be not very viscous looking, and sent us on our way. Mike drove for about another hour, and we parked for the night at a tiny truckstop in Kenmare.

Thursday morning, we were on our way to Fargo. Mike is quite good natured about finding me restroom stops, only rolling his eyes slightly with each request. We arrived in Fargo around 2 pm, and had to go to the Volvo dealer for an oil change and routine service. Our stay there dragged into over three hours, and because we had Cody with us, one of us had to be outside all the time because no pets were allowed in the lounge. It was very, very windy all day. I found a lovely discarded truck seat tucked behind a dumpster and sat and sulked there until the truck was ready. Soon we were on a major Interstate Highway, with frequent rest areas. My GPS lets me know when we're getting near the next rest area.

By 5:30 we were back on the road, destination Sioux Fall, South Dakota. (All times are Pacific. Truckers keep their log books in their home time zone to avoid confusion). Mike tuned the radio to NOAH, which provides local weather updates, and we were slightly horrified to learn that that tornado watch #243 had been issued for a county we were heading straight towards. As it got dark, an enormous thunder storm got underway. We drove through torrential rain and were treated to some very dramatic forked lightning. The lightning continued every few seconds for over an hour. Eventually we passed through the storm, and heard shortly after we went through Hamlin County that the tornado watch was cancelled. (We saw on the morning news in the truck stop that tornadoes touched down in Missouri and Oklahoma during the night.) We arrived in Sioux City around 8:45 pm and went into the restaurant at the truck stop for dinner. The happenings at the next table are worthy of their own post. Stay tuned.