We woke to rain this morning. Sprinkles at first, just enough to zip shut the rain fly so that we could sleep a half an hour later. I awoke again to a full downpour and heavy gusts. We dressed, donned rain gear, and ate a quick breakfast of granola under a soggy tarp. We packed up a thoroughly tent and tarp, and hydroplaned across the state into North Dakota.I hadn’t really planned on any photo stops for North Dakota. I’ve driven across it a couple times before, but its long and flat and driving across it is mind numbing. This time was different. Eastern Montana and North Dakota have been getting lots of rain recently. Things are so dire that the National Weather Service bulletin warned of flash floods!
It rained for about two hours straight as we drove across US-2. At times I could barely see the centerline. Coming from a place that people associate with rain, I found that I had never encountered rain in this quantity or intensity before. The pinnacle was when the posted speed limit went down to 5 mph as a portion of US-2 lay under a few inches of water. I pulled of and tried to capture a photograph of the immensity of the flooding, but with no idea of where the river actually flowed it was difficult to gauge how much land was flooded. At one point looking north there was a flood field that reached to the horizon. It is a grim sight to see all the farmland underwater as July approaches.We arrived in Grand Forks on the border of North Dakota and Minnesota at about 8:00 exhausted. We stayed in another hotel as we watched huge dark clouds loom over the city. I cooked another motel parking lot feast. This time it was udon noodles, with tofu and almond ginger sauce that Becky made before we left home. Becky has been a champ on this journey as she has been trying to keep Jo happy as they both try and fight off colds.
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