Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Monday/Tuesday: March 30/31

Because of the flood conditions in areas and the possibility of detours, we decided to leave a day early to try to get passed the worst of it. Here we are just before leaving. No, the truck wasn't clean ... $6 saved because it wouldn't have lasted.
The drive through Manitoba and the first part of North Dakato were uneventful. At Grafton we did encounter water on I29, though not bad enough for a detour.


We did have to detour around part of I29 at Hillsboro. That added 28 miles to the trip and we got into the start of the snow. Rivers were running deep in the Fargo area. This one was looking south from I94 just west of Fargo.

By the time we got to Fargo is was snowing heavy. This is what the car looked like at our gas stop in Fargo.

I29 South of Fargo.

Someone had a bit of a misfortune along the way. :o(


The snow stopped before we reached the South Dakota border and travel conditions were very good. That changed by the time morning arrived as this was the view from the hotel Tuesday morning.



Undeterred, we filled up with gas and made our way back to I29. That didn't work ........ so off to Hwy 81 to see if we could get out of Watertown that way. That worked. While conditions weren't great, it was "winter driving" as we know it. Blowing in the open areas .....
.....packed snow in the sheltered stretches.
We got back onto I29 at Brookings. From here on, we had rain, heavy at times, but no more snow or flooding.
By the time we got to Council Bluff we were amazed by the amount of green we were seeing. Golf courses were open.
As we neared Topeka temperatures were on the rise and the sky was clear. We stopped for Marion's belated birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse and we greeted by a sure sign of spring.
Not ones to waste a nice evening, "Annie" got pulled off the trailer and we went for a nice after dinner cruise.
Tomorrow our target is Dallas where we're meeting our friend Millie for dinner.

3 comments:

Kirk said...

Hey guys, I got to hand it to you. You guys are troopers. I think you deserve to be rewarded.(or committed) Looks like clear sailing now. Your pictures are great. Don't worry about us up here in the frozen north. What's another snowstorm or 2. Maybe we'll just skip summer and have another flippin winter. Your're not detecting any frustration are you? I'm not sick of winter. I am not sick of winter. Any guys have a great time and pedal to the metal or what ever it is car racers say to each other. Bye for now. Princess

jonpaul said...

I think that Princess wishes he was in the truck with you Arturo :-) Kirk, step aside because the real princess is there. Looks like quite an adventurous trip.....what awful weather. And your poor little car looked covered in slush!! Oh well....about 10 dollars at a car wash and she'll be race worthy in no time. Have a great trip Art & Marion. I'll be following along!

Jessica said...

mmmm. texas roadhouse. snow? what snow? i am distracted by the house salad with italian dressing.