Grand Forks, SD

I left Duluth this morning at about 8:15 and only drove 260+ miles today. I took my time, made several rest stops, and stayed within the speed limit even though it was difficult because of the reduced speeds for towns and road work. Being Sunday there was virtually no traffic in the morning, and not much in early afternoon.

Thirty minutes before arriving in Grand Forks ND it began to rain, and waffled between light and heavy at times. I stopped at the first motel I came to, Select Inn, and paid $64 for a room which included a $10 charge for Lady. Unfortunately I had to make several trips from the car into the front entrance and through the lobby. I hate to bring the dog through a lobby, and now I'll have to do it again when I take her out later. Her morning walk is going to have to be after we leave G.F.

I'm not sure where I will aim for next. US 2 through MN was pretty good all the way, and when I did come to a town there were usually several gas stations and groceries. I should have stopped to get some groceries but figured I would do that in Grand Forks. Now I don't even want to go out of the room for any reason.

I haven't been able to find my MiFi for a while, and wonder if I left it somewhere along the way. This morning I also realized I didn't have my cell phone & charger with me. I thought I remember plugging the charger into the wall next to the TV, and thought I triple checked the room before leaving, but I missed it. Of course this motel has only free local calls, so I emailed my son and asked him to call the motel for me. I received a reply from him within minutes, and I did indeed leave the phone & charger, and he asked them to mail it to my home address. Now I don't have a phone for the rest of the trip - not that I use one very often.

I am considering stopping by a Walmart and buying their cheapest Trac fone for the remainder of the trip, but I may not come to a Walmart any time soon if I keep to my plan to stay off the interstates. Five or six years ago I didn't carry a cell phone and drove to CA and NY every year from Asheville.

I meant to mention in yesterday's blog that I saw an animal right off the road while driving US 2 through the UP of Michigan. At first I thought it was a wolf, but now I'm not so sure. It didn't have a canine face, and the snout was shorter than I would expect for a wolf. I've been looking up pictures of juvenile wolves but didn't see anything close. This animal was all grey from what I could see of his head and front quarters, and the fur seemed to be short and not shaggy. I wonder if it could be a large cat, so I've looked up cougars and think it's possible, although I haven't found any pictures to match that beautiful face. A few miles down the road a deer bounded across the highway, and again today the car in front of me came to nearly a total stop to let a deer across. I've been keeping my eyes open for animals, mainly because I sure wouldn't want to hit one of them. Unfortunately I don't see them until it's too late to reach for the camera, and they have all been to the right of me. What I need is a passenger who can click a camera, and that leaves Lady excepted.

It has turned much cooler today and will be even more so tomorrow, so I've dug out jeans again. It's raining and there is sporadic thunder, and so far Lady isn't interested in going out. She doesn't like to be out in the rain, but she loves to swim in the river. Go figure.