Day Six: Down, Up, Then Down Again

Waking up in Fargo this morning things were a little off. For starters, the damn hotel blow dryer blew up right in front of me so I had bad hair all day. And, as if I haven't already given my cousin Barbara fits for not carrying cash on my road trip; heaven forbid she finds out I have no hotel booked for tonight.

I want to go to Devils Lake today and get back to HWY 2. It is a big enough town with several hotel options so I figure I will just wing it. We load up and head out. It is in the 30's, I am dressed for the 60's. The time is different and my phone says one thing and my car says another. I don't know if I should have breakfast or lunch. So I get a bottled water and eat a peach I had already packed.

As I am leaving Fargo, I see this:

So that is what I plan to be today.

I remember I came in late last night and missed seeing a welcome to North Dakota sign to I head off the freeway to try to find Minnesota again so I can find North Dakota again. I am alone on the road with lots of big trucks hauling things that look like over sized potatoes but I think it has something to do with coal. Though, I really have no idea. I start to think I am not supposed to be on these roads because I don't have any potatoes or coal.

When I am about an hour out of Devils Lake I call the place I set my heart on for my night's stay. "No, rooms tonight" is what I hear. So I pull over at a grassy side of the road and let Louie run for awhile while I fire up the laptop. I sit on the hood of my car and look up hotels in Devils Lake while my dog frolics on the side of HWY 2. I am pretty sure that is pretty cool.

I start calling hotel after motel until the list of 14 is complete and all booked. You have got to be kidding me. It is Devils Lake, ND in the middle of October for crying out loud.

I look on my map for the next town I have heard of, Rugby. I start to make more calls; booked. I stretch all the way to Minot; booked. I have a slight moment of panic. Pull the map out again and opt to find an interstate for a better chance at an un-booked hotel. I finally find a bed in Jamestown; then take out the map and re-figure the route in my head. I see a road that looks to travel right over Devils Lake so of course that is the one I want to take.

Once I make the turn the road sort of disappears and I am traveling in a construction zone unlike any I have ever been through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw4VvSCwgxI

There isn't even really a road any more and the there are trucks carrying dirt everywhere. But to be that close to the water is spectacular, even though it is cold we roll the windows down and listen to the lake talk to the wind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyKqDyFmMI0

Before I started on this road I saw so many cars covered in dirt and wondered what was up. I now understand they must live on the other end of this road and have to travel it every day. The big trucks drive in the opposite direction blowing earth right on us. I am a tourist so I think it is cool; but I am sure it gets on the locals nerves.

I think this is the longest lake I have ever driven around until I remember the speed limit is 25 so I probably haven't gone far. Eventually the lake comes to an end and that off road adventure is over.

I turn onto HWY 281 in route to Jamestown and think about things that are important.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ry7DwT1tgo

Recipes: Sometimes you don't have to know all the ingredients. Sometimes you just mix things up and a good day comes out of it.

Roadtrip: Prairie Puddles, wheat fields and big trucks = Eastern ND

Renovations: Try everyday to