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I (Exploding PopTart) had never been through western North Dakota before. Whenever we'd traveled to the family homestead in ND, we were always traveling from the East. The Badlands in Western North Dakota are quite lovely, but because we were eager to get to Great Uncle's house in Glenfield, we didn't stop for photos nearly as often as I wanted. I, ever insatiable, stuck my camera out the window to see what I could get. I think it was while taking this picture that something flew by in the wind and scraped the film on my camera lens. Aargh. Anyone have any advice?

I hadn't been go Glenfield since I was 5 years old. I remembered the warm welcome I receieved then and each time I've gone to visit my family. They are extreemly gracous, generous and kind. Wuggy Norple met more cousins than he'd ever seen in one place in his life. Papercup Mixmaster and I were persuaded to join the family jam for the first time, which must be one of the most fun things a family can do together. We were having so much fun we didn't realize how late we were partying with the folks, because it turns out sun set is a full hour later this far north. Weird but true.

The town has about 100 people and is currently without a general store or cell phone coverage. Everyone feels safe letting the children run around the front yard when the gravel roads are traveled only by neighbors. [Pictured here are the streets of Suburban Glenfield, and the grain silo of the downtown. They were taken within a block from one another.]

One of Papa Saxaphone (aka my dad)'s cousins (I think I've got that right... I made up a family tree to make sure I had it all straight) had recently moved out of Glenfield, and generously offered his house for our stay. It felt so good to just settle in to a place for 72 hours. We slept in every morning, and this visit felt like the first real rest I'd had since before I started packing.

I went for my morning runs down rt. 200 and rt 20, and either way I went, I turned around before I hit the next cross road. There have been abundant rains this year, hence the beautiful green, the little ponds of water on every field, the mosquitoes, in turn, the birds. I heard a family of orange-headed oriols expressing their annouyance at my presence before I saw them sitting on the tops of cat-tails between road and field. There is an amazing sense of spaciousness in North Dakota. The road to the nearest town is straight and long, and the passing flow of fields changes slowly and subtly.

We made it to Walker, MN today. Minnesota is hillier, and the roads are curvier. You can't see nearly so far into the distance here. Papercup Mixmaster pupped in "Wasted in the Afterglow" and I almost cried when I heard AstralForce's voice. Then it was a HATFYR greatest hits CD while Wuggy Norple read his new book "The Adventures of Captain Underpants." We found a cute hotel that has our favorite things (even an input on the TV so we can play Wuggy Norple's new favorite game "Lego Star Wars", plus it looks like there is a path down to the lake to explore tomorrow morning. Onward to Lake Superior...

Total miles traveled: 2498