Brookings, SD to St. Paul, MN

Day 40: Sat 30 Aug: Twirling, twirling, and twirling.

When I initially left Glacier National Park three days ago, my plan was to take US 2 across the northern plains to Sault Ste. Marie, cross into Canada and come down into upstate New York to go to a Labor Day faerie gathering near Gouverneur. When I looked at that route, I realized I was going to be passing through Bemidji, Minnesota, a friend's home town. I called Chris and told him that and he said to be sure to get a picture of me in front of the statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe, The Blue Ox. Sounded like a plan.

The near accident in Alberta made me leery of driving long distances on two-lane highways (US 2 across all of Montana). The oil change for the Rabbit made stopping in Rapid City a requirement, but also let me see all the parks around there. But I was still planning on going to Sault Ste. Marie via Bemidji. I was going to miss the faerie gathering, and maybe get home on Tuesday instead of Monday, but so be it.

So I drove north to Fargo, where I stopped at another nice local coffee shop, wrote blog entries, and had a great conversation with the staff guy there who will for me be the image of a Fargonian. Then I headed to Bemidji, via Itasca State Park (headwaters of the Mississippi). Northern Minnesota is a lot like Vermont -- the hills are smaller, and there are more lakes and swamps, but there's a lot of greenery.

Just five miles before I got to Bemidji, the GPS odometer (which is the only mileage continuity between the two cars I've used on this trip) rolled over ten thousand. Ten thousand miles I've traveled! More, actually, since I didn't reset the trip meter on the GPS until I had been driving in Vermont about an hour. At the time, my OCD self felt it was a big letdown that it wasn't going to be perfect, but the miles I missed account for less than 1% of the total miles of the trip, so I got over it.

I got the picture I wanted. In the process I learned that Bemidji is another big BNSF railway town, since I saw and heard (mostly heard) the freight trains constantly in the brief time I was there.

I need to mention something else -- apparently Bemidji is the curling capital of the USA. I bet you didn't know that. Don't know what curling is? Think shuffleboard on ice. It seems to be a sport invented for ... insane purposes.

I then drove to Duluth, which is about a day's drive away from Sault Ste. Marie. I got there around 10pm and started looking for hotel rooms. Damn, it's Labor Day Weekend! I wasn't going to be traveling now! I was going to be camping in upstate New York! Indeed, very few hotel rooms were to be found. I found one online, booked it, and headed to the AmericInn (in Proctor, just south of Duluth).

When I got there, the front desk guy panicked. They were full. The reservation system had messed up. But wait, he had a duplicate reservation where someone had canceled one of the rooms, but not the other. He called the potential guests to see if they were coming; they weren't. I got a room!

But ... now I was wondering what the trip through Canada was going to be like -- would I be able to find places to stay? I wasn't going to be on major highways with rest areas to crash at. I'm also getting really tired of non-Interstate highway driving (Fargo to Bemidji, and parts all the way to Duluth, for example). It was going to take me three more days to get home. Maybe I should just give up and go the Chicago route that I had been avoiding because I didn't want to be in non-stop city for days. I don't know.

I turned my computer on and went online and made some friends in St. Paul, two hours away. I could stay there as long as I wanted. I headed to St. Paul, hotel room wasted (sorry), and met David and Josh. Chicago is six hours away. I can be home in two days, Monday night or Tuesday morning. I really want to be home. I mean, when I left Glacier, I thought about how close San Francisco or Vancouver were, and entertained the idea of driving back. But now I was so far east that home really is the only option. I think I may even be missing it some, actually. (How's that for an indefinite admission?).