Onward and upward!

After spending an hour or so with my nephew Norman David and his family, I had to hit the road – had to put some more miles on the odometer before bedtime. My goal was to make it to Sioux City, but unfortunately the hour got late and I got a little drowsy before reaching there. I ended up spending the night in a little town called Albert Lea, Minnesota. It’s about an hour west of Rochester, so I felt pretty good about the distance I was able to travel. Found a hotel off the Interstate 90 exit called the American Inn, and rolled into there a little after midnight. The place was simple and clean – even had a swimming pool – and the staff was friendly. A good place to put down for the night.

Had an interesting experience about an hour before reaching Albert Lea, though. I saw a sign for a Holiday Inn Express, took the exit, and turned in the direction I thought I was supposed to turn in. 10 minutes later, I was on the one of the darkest, most desolate roads I had ever seen, with no sign of a hotel or anything else, and no cell coverage. That was a little spooky. Anyway, after traveling about 5 miles without seeing signs of civilization, I retraced my route, got back on the interstate, and headed for Albert Pea.

Next morning, I took care of some computing chores, including calling my web hosting service to figure out why I couldn’t upload blog posts from my phone. To my pleasant surprise, the techs there sorted it out! I’m making this post from my computer while I sit in a hotel room, but many future posts on this trip will come directly from my phone.

Best movie location of all time! Can't stop, though.
Best movie location of all time! Can’t stop, though.

Off to my destination on this leg of the trip – the Badlands and Mount Rushmore. Always wanted to see the latter, and the former sounds downright interesting. On the way, I saw an exit for Fargo and was tempted to take it (that was, after all, the location for one of the best movies of all time!), but I had no time for detours. Onward and upward.

Stopped for gas along the interstate and saw something I thought to be long extinct – a Sinclair gas station! Naturally I had to gas up there! I felt like it was 1966 all over again.

I thought these were extinct! Not the reptile, the gas station.
I thought these were extinct! Not the reptile, the gas station.

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