The Highways Traveled

Purpose of this trip, mostly a weekend trip: 1. Photograph signs on six college campuses (despite Guinness rejecting my proposal for a second time) 2. Visit Bemidji MN and see the big statue of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Ox 3. Visit the Voyaguers National Park in Minnesota which is at the border with Canada 4. Another attempt to photograph the Iowa state capitol building (first one had too much of a shadow) 5. Spend a night in a North Dakota town other than Grand Forks (see below for North Dakota for more about this)

NEBRASKA: Been to Omaha many times. I need to visit the panhandle of Nebraska sometime to complete my needed visits to this state.
SOUTH DAKOTA: I needed to photograph South Dakota State University since I had decided to skip it a couple years ago to get home sooner. Should be the last time I need to visit this state.
NORTH DAKOTA: I needed to photograph North Dakota State University since I had decided to skip it a couple years ago to get home sooner. What was important for this trip was to spend a night in a North Dakota town other than Grand Forks. This goes towards my goal of spending a night in at least two towns in every state. This should be the last time I need to visit this state.
MINNESOTA: I have long wanted to visit the Voyaguers National Park. I had heard from several people over the years how beautiful this remote area is. It is a very pretty area. And like the park ranger told me, a person really wants to visit the park to get there in such a remote place (15 miles off the nearest small highway). The park, established in 1975, is forever free to all visitors which have yet to hit 250,000 in any one year. He said the park land used to belong to several individuals and the Ash River visitor center was a fishing lodge that the Finnish originally built. I was close to International Falls MN, a town often mentioned in weather forecast segments as having the "coldest temperature in the nation today". So decided to make quick visit. The falls, at least according to Google Satellite view, are rather unimpressive and really can only be seen from the Canadian side. With the possible exception of going to Grand Portage MN, this should be the last visit I need to make to this state. And good riddance after their unexpected construction that delayed me for just under an hour on I-35 north of Minneapolis.
IOWA: I needed to once more photograph the state capitol building since I was less than entirely pleased with the original photograph I took a few years ago that had early morning shadows on it. I likely will return to Iowa, mostly because I have deep roots in the state because so many ancestors lived here.




MISSED VISITING:
--Nothing

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

  1. From a bit north of St. Joseph on I-29 until just north of Sioux City Iowa I got continuous rain, sometimes hard enough that I had to slow to 55 MPH (down from 70). Then, mostly just large magnificent looking white puffy clouds.
  2. Drivers along I-29 in Iowa and South Dakota maybe have an aversion to using their turn signals to change lanes. Almost no one does.
  3. The farms along I-29 in South Dakota look very nice. Well kept. Picturesque. Was surprised to see few fields planted in crops, especially in the northern part of the state.
  4. There were thousands of those large cylinder-shaped bales of hay all along I-29. Despite being over 30 years since she (my Ex) first mentioned her definition of them, I still chuckle when seeing those hay bales.
  5. Over a period of three hours along I-29 I saw heading southbound seven "oversized load" trucks carrying which look like a very large wing. They might go to wind turbines but were shaped more like wings for a special type aircraft. Seven is an odd number, maybe I missed one.
  6. While heading north on I-29, on the west side I saw an airplane in the distance doing what appeared to be acrobatic maneuvers. When I got close enough, I saw him doing crop dusting. I believe that is the first time I have seen one in action. He was too fast to get a photo.
  7. Of the nearly 600 miles I drove on I-29, 43 were down to a single lane. Twice in South Dakota they ran a 15-mile stretch of one-lane. I remember years ago I thought it was riduculous that Idaho had a 10-mile stretch of one-lane. Highway departments are getting more adventurous. North Dakota had one 13-mile stretch of one-lane.
  8. Moorhead MN and Fargo ND (adjacent neighbor towns) had numerous of their streets closed for maintenance. I kept having to tell my Garmin GPS to "Detour".
  9. I did get to briefly see one stunt plane flying over the North Dakota State University campus when I was there to photograph campus signs.
  10. Along the Minnesota two-lane highways, most every street and driveway exiting the highway gets its own turn lane and a sign denoting it is a turn lane.

The Bests:


The Worsts:

The Totals: