Day 4 continued

Doug is not tolerant of temperature in the 50s and was amused at how hearty Mn folks are as in playing basketball in shorts and tshirts with snow in the ground.  Once the sun went down he was ready to get his winter coat and ear muff mat on.

Both of these guys have been re-located for work and rather than live in motels they drove their big a-- RVs and will remain where they are until they are again moved.  A delightful evening.

This morning, they were off to work (poor guys) before we disengaged and drained.  Is was a cool morning and the weather only got worse.  We were going to stay in Bimidgi (?sp) but it was a short trip and with the foul weather decided to continue to Devil's Lake in ND.  There was little sense in trying to set up in pouring  rain.  I have named ND "The flat lands". Those of you who don't know me well will assume I misspoke.  Nope.

So here we are.  All I can say is it is very flat.  There are HUGE acres of farmland that extend to the horizon, very few trees, massive silos and farms that have manufactured homes in site that we assume house the ?migrant workers.  The Rooster at one point commented that he hadn't used his steering in miles and miles.  Truth.  They grow nearly half the nation's hard spring wheat and 2/3 of the durum.  They are the leading producers of sunflower, barley, dry edible beans,navy and pinto beans, canola, flax, oats, honey, lentils and dry less (thank you google).  They also farm barley and soybeans.  Not to mention hogs. Nearly 90% of the land is farmed.  There are 81,00 farms as of 2007.

We would occasionally see a tree.  We did see a Border Patrol SUV and since ND is bordered by Saskatchewan and Manitoba, I guess there must  be a threat of those Canadians coming across illegally. I did read that there is a problem with human trafficking, a couple from Canada recently having been detained after a four month investigation by The US Border Enforcement and RCMP of Saskatchewan.

When we got to Devil's Lake, I was struck by how large it was.  Almost everything seemed available.  I made the poor suggestion of stopping to replace some essentials, but that fell upon deaf ears.  We decided on Grahams Island State Park which is a bit out of the way,  it well worth it.  You travel 9 miles across waterways where a number of cars and trucks pull off and fish, then you go another 7 mikes across more water ways to get to the entrance.  Once in the park it is about a 5" drive to get to Ranger Rick.  The drive into the park is beautiful, green and luscious and winding.  As you approach the Ranger Station you can see Devils Lake which we crossed over to get here.  The park has a huge number of big RVs out in the open (not our cups tea), but hidden away is a lovely area where we were assigned.  Large wooded pull through with water and electricity.  Most of the campers have massive RVs and boats.  They are here to fish which is apparently the Lake's reputation.  The Ranger Station is new and modern, having opened Memorial Day.  It is stocked with live bait and everything I could imagine a fisher person could need, but not 1/2 and 1/2.