July 15th , Saturday Minot to Devils Lake. 

Dan joined us for the first day and we got him rolling pretty good for his first outing.  We left on the south edge of Minot and ended up 160 miles later at Devils Lake, North Dakota

As the photos show, most of the roads were good gravel and we made excellent time for a good part of the day.  However, (there’s always a however it seems) many of the roads indicated on our DeLORME Gazetteer and our GPS were just not there anymore.  Some of them have just been eliminated.  The good news is that even though some roads were not there, we ALWAYS knew where we were and could pick some other county roads to zip around on.

Our photos today show some roads that have actual street and avenue numbers, but there was nothing more than a faint sign of a steel wagon train wheel that had once passed over them .  We did follow a few of these that eventually ended up at a small lake and we had to turn around.  Finally I decided to just bypass some of those and stay on roads that at least had some gravel on them.  

We met a few friendly folks today.  A guy named Larry stopped us and we chatted in the middle of the road for about 15 minutes without any other vehicle coming along.  We discussed the economy, kids moving away and then argued a bit about the best brand of snowmobiles and atvs.  We also met Jerry and Jerome who were fishing for Walleye on Devils Lake.  Jerry is a Marine Vet and just moved back to North Dakota from California.  

If anyone is in to refinishing old vehicles, North Dakota and Montana is the place to start.  There are a zillion old trucks, cars, suburbans, etc. that are just begging to be pulled out from behind a barn and have new life pumped into them.  I passed a great looking 1949 or 1950 Hudson two days ago and it looked like it had no rust on it.  I had all I could do to keep from walking to the house and making an offer.  My grandpa Carl had one of these and I’m amazed at how quickly I went back to my childhood, remembering riding in the massive back seat.  

Finally we arrived at highway 281 about 4:00 and decided to call it a day.  We were going to Devils Lake for the night, but we passed a sign that said West Bay Resort so we down shifted, turned the trailer around and stopped by.  And we were glad we did.  Jim and Diane Yri who own the place had one cabin left on the lake and we decided to stay.  We went into Minnewaukan to Millers Pub for supper and a few brew.  Kenny the bartender told us his daughter is an engineer with Arctic Cat and helps design snowmobiles a year or two before they are released to the public. Tell me we’re not going to look her up when we get to Thief River Falls.

We headed back to the cabin for a much needed shower.  We visited with there kids Erin and DJ and learned a few things about the area.  DJ has a great pair of cowboy boots and hat.  We finished the night sitting on the deck, telling each other lies and flipping quarters to see who gets the top bunk.  Damn, I got the pull out couch, but it is in the room with the tv and they have a dish network.  I think Rod has a two headed coin!
 
 

Click Here Photos from Today!!!