North Dakota

A bit of a confession: we didn’t spend much time in North Dakota. I’d like to say it’s because we needed to get to Minnesota so we could canoe the Boundary Waters so that we could then have time to stop at Mall of America before we got to Maddison to visit Kate’s friend Sam for her baby shower. So, I will say that.

After the busy Black Hills it was a nice break to put some miles on the van. First I visited the Motorcycle Museum in Sturgis while Kate did laundry (which sounded better to her anyway). The museum was small but had a ton of iconic bikes, and some special ones donated by patrons of the famous town’s rally.  They even had a 1967 Honda Cb77 Super Hawk, which is a bit of a special bike for me. Not only did I cut my mechanical teeth rebuilding a much newer 1998 Honda Superhawk, but it’s the bike that the author, Pirsig, rode in his book, ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’.

Afterwards, we camped by a desolate lake.

The next day we traveled to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The park was incredibly crowded and the day was a little hot, but we traveled to the north end to get away from most of the crowds and hike to some stunning petrified forest landscapes. Tree stumps galore.

Afterwards, we camped by another desolate lake.

We drove through a few oil towns with loads of unoccupied apartments and had to stop by the crown jewel of North Dakota: Fargo. The town has fully embodied it’s association with the Coen Brothers’ movie to the point where they have the wood chipper at their visitor center. They also have a replica outside that you can play on. Bit smudgy on the iphone lens (we’ll call it special effects):