I meet my goal!

Colossal thunderstorm

I woke in the night to flashing lights and the distant growl of thunder.  Laying awake in my tent, I enjoyed the show.  It was distant, so it was nice to watch.  It wasn’t long though, before the first drops of rain started to fall.  Now was the time to worry.  Was this tent really waterproof?  I was about to find out.  The drops soon became a torrent.  I turned on the solar light to watch for the water coming in the tent.  The lightening and thunder intensified and soon, it was a fierce storm!  I kept the sleeping bag out, but got the dry bag ready.  I just laid there watching the show.  There was nothing else to do and I was too worried to fall asleep with the deluge hitting the tent.

Firefly

Of course, because it was pouring, I had to pee.  Luckily, the bathrooms weren’t far from my site, so I ran out, took care of business, and came back to the tent.  There was a flashing green light by the door of the tent, but I couldn’t see what was causing it.  I got into the tent, but noticed the light was still flashing outside the tent, but under the fly.  I turned on my headtorch to look around and to my surprise, it was a FIREFLY!!!!  Being a California girl, I had never seen a firefly.  I tried to take videos and this was the best I could get.  Turns out fireflies don’t really cooperate much.

If you turn up the sound, you can hear the rain!

After about an hour, the rain let up.  The tent suffered no leaks!  I was safe and warm and dry!  This was amazing.  I was thrilled.  I fell back asleep with a smile on my face. All too soon though, the sun was up and it was time for me to get up and get going.  I crawled out of the tent, where everything was warm and dry, and found the outside of the tent and Lucille’s cover soaked.  The new tent had done its job!

Hitting the road

I had a short ride today because I’d gone so far into Minnesota yesterday.  There was only about 200 miles between me and Grand Forks, ND.  Why Grand Forks?  My BFB and BFG had lived there before, during, and a bit after the flood of 1996-1997 and they really liked it there.  It was only on their recommendation I was staying there.  I tried to find something really cool there, but the internet was no help, so I was hoping for the best.

I took my time getting ready and kept hoping for everything to dry out, but it wasn’t happening.  Hopefully when I got to Grand Forks I’d be able to dry everything.  The ride through Minnesota was beautiful.  The rain threatened all day, but it didn’t fall.  Minnesota had a lot of road construction but not as much or as much stopping as in Wisconsin.

Mississippi River

I crossed the tiny Mississippi “creek”!  I couldn’t believe how small it was!  This near the headwaters, of course it would be small, but I’ve only seen it a few times in the south where it is huge.  I was so grateful I had the opportunity to see that giant river look like this.

I made it to the 49th state!!!

Grand Forks

I arrived in Grand Forks around noon.  My host had told me her driveway was flat and I would have no trouble getting Lucille in her garage.  When I got there though, I turned Lucille to go down the driveway and realized it was a slope and I would never be able to back Lucille back UP the driveway.  There was no room to turn her around either.  My host, Karla, told me to just park it on her grass.  This was good, because I couldn’t back Lucille up back into the street!  I got Lucille settled onto the lawn and then Karla offered to show me around the town.

One of the “Grand Forks” of Grand Forks.  There are apparently several of these around the town.

Karla took me places and took photos of me there so I would have something interesting to show for coming to Grand Forks.  She wasn’t a big fan of the place and told me there were a lot more interesting places I could have gone.  And she was from here!

The bear is apparently famous, but I’m not sure why.  But, he was cool to hang out with!

These moose were outside the Grand Forks Cabela’s.

Another cheat!  I didn’t get this when I went into Minnesota, so I got it when Karla drove me right out of North Dakota.  Better late than never!

The Welcome to North Dakota sign.

As a hockey fan, this was exciting to see.  The University of North Dakota hockey arena.

Grand Forks has their own Welcome sign.

I was the first biker my host had ever had and she’s had her pin up for a couple of years.  I think she was both excited and nervous to be hosting me.  We had a lot in common, and she was a fantastic host.  She ran me all over the town, took my photo everywhere, offered me food, shared stories with me, and was just really sweet.  Although I find strangers terrifying, I’ve met some really wonderful people on this trip.  I’m so grateful I’ve had this opportunity.