Summer Travel Map

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Warmer, good!


September 17, 2011
Pierre, SD

Today's drive was almost due south.  "Almost" because we continued west on US-2 for a short distance before turning south on ND-3.  We stopped for breakfast at the "Corner Cafe" in Rugby, North Dakota.  They're located at the "geographical center of North America.  Don't believe me?  They have a monument out front and everything.  I'm not sure I agree with their calculations (Acapulco's probably close, but the Arctic Circle?), but we've actually been to the other two of the four compass points in our travels, so that's cool.




We followed ND-3 south to I-94.  This is an area that's home to numerous small lakes and ponds.  Since they wanted to make the road relatively straight, there are all sorts of causeways that run right through them.  Last spring's flooding did a number on these stretches of road, and construction resources are obviously stretched thin.  There's no way that they'll get all these fixed before winter.



After a quick jog west on I-94, we turned south again on US-83, except when we ran into a "little" detour due to more reconstruction.  In this case, we were sent 21 miles east then 22 miles south before heading back west on US-14 to US-83.  We were then able to make our way to Pierre, our South Dakota State Capitol.  We found a nice spot at the local Super-Wally and had a relaxing evening.

A few thoughts on North Dakota:  it's dirty and it's not likely to get better any time soon.  It's not the fact that only 40% of the roads are paved so everything gets covered in dust.  It's more that the people don't seem to care, in a "who cares if all the Walmart bags are blowing in the wind" or a "what do you mean I'm not supposed to throw the coffee cup/pop bottle/ashtray contents out on the road"  kind of way.  Many areas seem to have a boom-town or "wild west" attitude in places but it's borne of the tragedy of flooding as opposed to more permanent development opportunities.  All in all, we won't likely be back for a while...

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