North Dakota

I have increased the number of states I've been to; I now have a total of 26 (including two states because of flight layovers -- Minnesota and Tennessee). I took a long weekend and my dad and I went to Montana and North Dakota. I went over into Montana once before, just to say I had been. North Dakota is beautiful. Everything is so nicely kept. The highway medians are mown (not just in the towns but all over the state), the rest stops are clean, the people are friendly. I'd consider moving to Bismarck if I didn't have to go to work in the winter. Um, the average low temperature for January is -1. Although, the average where I am now is 23 and when it got to -26 a few years ago, it wasn't that bad. I do like my summers though and a few more weeks of winter isn't something I'd like.

We went to Montana to pick up a streetrod body he bought and then took it to his body man who now lives in a small town in eastern North Dakota. I've met the guy several times before, but this time he just pissed me off, making comments about being a girl. He was complaining about the color of one of his cars that he had just painted and I said I liked it and he said of course, because it was a girly color. He has baby ducks and I said "ahhh" and then said that was a girly response. He pointed out a frog and told me to pick it up and when I said no he said "oh, yeah, you're a girl." Bastard. Hello, I grew up catching frogs and pollywogs in the creek, I don't mind frogs (just mice, obviously). Idiot. After we got home, he e-mailed my dad and mentioned something about making good time on the way home or did he have to make "girly stops." What the hell are girly stops? I asked my dad what he meant by that and my dad's response was that he clarified that any extra stops were more than likely old man stops.

Anyway, other than that, it was a pretty good trip. We stayed in Miles City, MT the first night, Jamestown, ND the second, and just west of Butte MT the third. I was home by 11:00am on Saturday.

I saw a moose cow and calf about 30 minutes after our start on the first day and a moose cow about an hour from home on the last day. Other than that and a few deer, didn't see much wildlife at all. I thought for sure we'd see some bison in North Dakota. Especially since Jamestown is called the Buffalo City.