Playing in traffic is the classic “don’t do it” as a kid. But as a photographer, especially a self-photographer, it’s kind of warranted. On my way to Jamestown for the evening, I stopped to enjoy the sun set and think a bit. This would make one bad ass emergency runway…if you ever had an emergency over North Dakota and needed to land ASAP. The sunset was beautiful, and I found further beauty in it with the silhouette of my car in front of it.
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Quick aside, do you know what “open 24 hours” means? If you guessed, “open all day every day” you may be technically right, but you’re not Walmart-in-a-small-town-on-a-Sunday right. As their 24 hours of open doesn’t start till noon…and promptly ends at 9pm. My bladder was none too pleased to wake up and learn this fun fact.
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| It...still exists?! |
Waking up, my one destination for the day was about 5 minutes away: a Giant Buffalo statue, and if I was lucky, two albino buffalo as well. Exciting, I know. The giant buffalo is found by going through a mockup of an old west town, complete with jail, saloon, and restrooms. The giant buffalo was…well…giant. A few pictures and I scanned the hillside for the albino buffalo, as they piqued my interest slightly more. But even with my telephoto lens, the closest one looked like a rock at best. Content, I headed for the other attraction of the day, a scenic drive from Valley City to Fort Ransom.
Upon rolling into Valley City, the local visitor center sent me straight to the best bit to eat in the one stop light town: Viking Café. A quick jaunt over, and it was a small place with only a dozen or so booths, and a bar. It felt like a diner + 0.5 on the fancy scale. The best part: free wifi. Yeah, I’m a sucker for good food and free wifi. A section of the menu was kept for sizzling staff senasions, and with a name like Voltron, I couldn’t resist. A burger patty, with bacon, surrounded by two over hard eggs, cheese, all set between two pieces of Texas toast. My mouth was happy.
Relaxing to finish up a few conversations, I headed off to the scenic drive. Though nothing too fantastic, it was just more beautiful farms that were kept a bit nicer. Fort Ransom, a small town of 105 was dead, as it was a Sunday afternoon. The scenic drive fun and past, I set my sights on Fargo, the last city of North Dakota, my home for the evening, and a fun homage to the cult classic movie.
Relaxing, writing, and enjoying the sunset with a movie, I enjoyed a close to my mellow day from my car. The rear doors open to let in a gentle cross wind and every single flying insect in a 100 ft radius. It was nice to finally have full blown cell signal and not have to hunt around for wifi. Being able to check in on things from my phone was a luxury I had yet to have, and it was welcomed greatly.
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I awoke, to the recall that my car needed an oil change, and I some work. The local Sears made the oil change happen as I did work in their lobby. The morning gone, I found the public library and went in to wrap up work as well as do some personal projects that had be on my mind. A fine final day in Fargo, with air conditioning, internet a plenty, and catching up with friends and family. Tomorrow would begin Minnesota, and with it, a whole wealth of fresh adventures.
