1982 Crossing America (8/1-3/1982)

America including Canada and the United States!

Sunday, August 1, 1982

Kathy C arrived early at 10:00. I needed to get some things out of the dryer to finish packing. Lunch of hot Buffalo chicken wings, and got gas before hitting the road at 13:00 for our cross country vacation.

Kathy drove out New York State Route 33 to the New York Thruway/Interstate 90 West towards Erie, PA. Into Pennsylvania and then Ohio. After a pit stop (no toilet paper!) and filling up on gas on the west side of Cleveland, I took over driving about 16:30 through Ohio into Indiana and eventually to Chicago, Illinois. Managed all right through the city, but then in a sudden downpour I missed a turn and got headed towards the airport. Got off the freeway and went to a gas station to check the oil, clean the windows, as well as get gas. Drove to a Denny’s to use the restroom and get chocolate ice cream sodas.

Kathy got us back on I-90 and continued driving.

We have been eating egg salad sandwiches Kathy prepared before the trip and drinking water. Also snacking on Oreos, potato chips, pretzels, and apples, and I had some leftover chicken wings.

Monday, August 2, 1982

I switched with Kathy at about 1:30, driving through Illinois into Wisconsin, merging with Interstate 94, then sticking with I-94 when it split form I-90. After a couple hours I had trouble staying awake and stopped to use a restroom. It was getting foggy. Kathy took over driving, taking a tour through a sleeping town to find an open gas station. She stopped at a rest stop at 5:30 and we slept until 7:30. Kathy drove into Minnesota, and after a gas and oil fill up in Freeport, MN, I took over driving at 9:30 or so. I took us to Fargo, ND and we switched driving at 13:00 in the parking lot of the Bonanzaville Pioneer Village.

Kathy took us past Jamestown, ND, with the world’s largest Buffalo monument. The scenery was basically flat farmland. We turned north on the two-lane North Dakota State Route 3, and the land became slightly undulating with marsh ponds. In the ponds we saw piles of wood like beaver lodges and Fulica americana/American Coots. We saw lots of birds and chipmunk-size Cynomys ludovicianus/Black-tailed Prairie Dogs. Also hawks sitting on the numerous bales of hay; some in big mounds, some in huge rolls, and less often in square bales.

Hay mounds

Field and row of hay bales

Some hills ahead

It was windy, but when we got out of the car, we could feel the tremendous heat in the wind. We saw a field that seemed to have self-combusted from the heat, with small smoldering fires. We have seen irrigation systems with a maze of pipes and sprinklers spraying water over entire fields. Occasional giant sections were left, looking like some kind of space creature had landed in the wheat field.

Once in Minnesota, and then again past Jamestown, we saw signs indicating the “Continental Divide” with elevations of about 1400-1600 feet. One tends to think of the Great Divide, the Continental Divide that separates the watersheds of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This was the Laurentian Divide, where to the north was the watershed of Hudson Bay, and to the south were the watersheds of the St Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Fulica americana/American Coots

Marsh

We stopped often to observe nature, and got into Rugby, ND about 18:00 after unsuccessfully looking for the Balta Dam camping grounds. It had started to rain, so we decided not to camp tonight.

In Rugby, we saw the stone cairn monument of the Geographical Center of North America.

Geographical Center of North America

We stopped at tourist information for a list of hotels and restaurants. We went to the C&R Motel which appeared to be the cheapest. For $22.60 we got a room with two double beds, a television and phone, air conditioner, and a bath with a shower. Next we went to the Pioneer Village which was closed even though the sign indicated they were open until 19:00. We drove through the small town of Rugby, where Pete Voeller, a Peace Corps colleague of Kathy’s, grew up.

We had dinner at the Hub Restaurant; a club sandwich for Kathy and BLT sandwich for me. We returned to the motel to re-organize our things, and write postcards we had purchased in the motel office.

Tuesday, August 3, 1982

We left at 8:30, with Kathy driving, following ND Rte 3 north, stopping to take photos of sunflower fields and taking a detour too see a marsh pond.

Sunflower field

Saw a Tyrannus tyrannus/Eastern Kingbird, Actitis macularius/Spotted Sandpiper, and Oxyura jamaicensis/Ruddy Duck.

We arrived at the Canadian border, and between the U.S. and Canadian customs was the entrance to the International Peace Garden, dedicated to the undefended border between the United States and Canada.

We drove around the U.S. side with its picnic areas and camps. It was mostly woods. We circled around to the Canadian side where we parked and went to take a look at the formal gardens along the actual borderline.

International Peace Garden

It appeared that water was supposed to flow in a rock-lined channel to a central sunken garden pond, but it was dry. We passed the Peace Panel and the Terrace Panel with a small fountain at the top.

Flowering was not extensive. Although dedicated in 1932, it seemed the gardens were only now developing. The sunken garden had marsh reeds in the center, and on the other side, the Cascade Panel had the symbols for the U.S. and Canada planted out in colorful pansies. Otherwise, the areas were just grassy.

We pulled into the Canadian customs and were asked about our names and citizenship, residence, and travel plans. We were asked if we had liquor or tobacco, and firearms or weapons such as mace. Kathy said she had something like mace, and showed her CamShield (an engine oil additive?). It had to be confiscated and Kathy went to the office for a receipt.

Continued north on Manitoba Provincial Highway 10. We left the agricultural fields and were in woodsy hills. We saw many prairie dogs who sat up and posed when we stopped to take photos.

In Brandon we stopped at a bank where I changed $200 into Canadian currency and we bought groceries. After a lunch of cheese and crackers we headed west on the Trans Canadian Highway/Manitoba PH 1, where we were back to flat fields with occasional cattle ranches. We occasionally would see a sign stating “Orbit - 10 seconds” and in 10 seconds we would see a spherical garbage can with a box of free plastic trash bags. We stopped at one to get a handful of bags.

Continued into Saskatchewan, and I took over driving after Regina. At first there was flat farmland, but then it became rippling hills covered with brush.

We entered Alberta, and when Kathy was driving, I spotted movement on a far hill. A look through binoculars and consultation of Kathy’s mammal book confirmed a sighting of three Antilocapra americana/Pronghorns.

I ended up driving into the sunset and into Calgary. We found a strip of motels and chose the cheapest-looking place. We rang the office doorbell, and a window opened in an adjoining building. They only had one room with one big bed for $32, but we took it anyway.

Next: Canadian National Parks.