The Lowmans Visit their Final Preexisting Friend of the Trip
(July 13)
Dear Folks,
We are in Bismarck now.
Before we left Eau Claire, we took a photo of the sculpture near our hotel there. It is a giant crustacean. When we went walking the first night, we didn’t know what it was.
Today was our longest drive so far: 530 miles. North Dakota does have some cities. It also has LOTS of farmland with little villages with no services. The last rest area in MN said that the next rest area would be 90 miles away in ND. OK. And it seemed too soon to get gas in Fargo. But then we drove and drove and saw no signs of gas stations. There was an indication that Buffalo, ND, had gas. It is a small village, yet we managed to turn the wrong way. We found ourselves on dirt roads in corn fields. So we asked Google about gas. She took us back out to route 94. In 22 miles, we came to Valley City and a Love’s travel plaza. We went to the bathroom there, as well, which was good. The rest area we had intended to use had been torn down, but they never removed the signs.
The Home2 Suites in Bismarck is quite nice. The odd thing is that the bathroom door has been bolted open because someone had been locked inside. 😇
(July 14)
Today was our last day visiting friends as we drive west across the northern US. Jill came over from MN and spent the day with us. It was so wonderful to have a chance to visit and catch up.
Our hotel in Bismarck, the Home2 Suites by Hilton, is really nice. It has a sitting room, a kitchen, a separate bedroom. So we did some visiting in our sitting room. Then we went to the Shogun Japanese restaurant for lunch. That was delightful. We were the only ones in the room, so had some more great visiting. Jill is our “writing coach,” and so we talked about how to tackle our book. We had a nice chat with the waitress. We are continually impressed by the acts of kindness by so many of the people we meet.
Then we got gasoline. ND gas must have more ethanol or something. Our mileage always goes down when we are here. So we gave Miracle a treat: Premium grade!
We went back to the hotel and Jill got a tour of how decked out Miracle is. And we parted.
We always hate to see our friends go. But that’s probably a good thing. It would be way worse if that made us happy.
We feel so loved and supported by all of you. That makes us know that we can go BEYOND LIMITS! 🧑🎓
Tomorrow, it is on to MT.
Hugs and wags.
The Lowman Family
