Texas to the Dakota's

What trip ever starts on time?  The plan was to be on the road by 9 a.m.; we made it at 10:45.  Expecting 26 hours overall to get from Tyler to just short of the Canadian border.

Friday night we had reservations in Wichita, Kansas.  Texas to Kansas in the first (short) day; that's not too bad.  After seven hours of driving our sweet ol' van had used just 1/2 tank of gas!   474 miles on 16 gallons - 29 mpg.  That'll work!  Especially for a vehicle with 211,000 miles on it!!

Before noon Saturday we were north of Salina, Kansas on Interstate 35.  We've never been here before, so we are in "uncharted territory" (for us.)  Waa-hoo! 

We passed Delphos, Kansas.  We all know that Abraham Lincoln didn't have a beard when he was elected president, but he grew one after receiving a letter from a little girl saying she thought he'd look better with one.  That little girl, back in 1860, lived in Delphos, Kansas.  It is also famous for the UFO crop circle that appeared there in 1971.

We also crossed the Nebraska state line before noon.  John thinks we've picked up a tailwind which bodes well for the gas mileage!

We stopped for Chinese for lunch.  My fortune cookie said:

Yuppers!!! 
Yea!  Paychecks are goooood!

About 3:30 we crossed the Missouri River:

into Iowa and will follow the river up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the night.

John really likes his Jazz music - and I lose patience with it pretty quickly - so I took a bit of a nap.  When I woke up, I said that I must have missed most of Iowa.  John said, no, because he hadn't seen any potatoes yet.  Silly, says I, you haven't seen any potatoes because they're all in IDAHO!  LOL!

We pass a long caravan of "chipper" trucks:

We wonder if they were on the way to the New York area to help with the cleanup of Superstorm  Sandy.

By 4:30 we had been driving 7 1/2 hours, covered 410 miles and used just a tad over half a tank of gas.  We cross into South Dakota.

Around 7 p.m. we pull into the hotel in Sioux Falls, S.D.; should make Great Falls, N.D. in about six hours tomorrow.

Filling the gas tank is number one for Sunday.  We pay $3.39 a gallon for 83% octane fuel with no ethanol.  I'm thinkin' we can't even BUY ethanol-free fuel in Texas.  With ethanol, the price was $3.19 and 87% octane.  Why the difference in octane?  I exchange text messages with our sons.

One says, "Everything here (Texas) has ethanol.  It's bad for engines, but government requires it."

Which government?  Federal?  If yes, North Dakota is breaking the law.  If it's the Texas government, why would oil-rich Texas demand ethanol be added?  The corn lobby of West Texas?

Do any of my blog readers have any light to shed on the subject?

Before noon on Sunday we cross over the lowest continental divide either of us ever saw:  1,106 foot elevation.  A divide designates where rain drops go.  No, really!  If it falls on the east side it goes to the Atlantic Ocean or down the Missouri and Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.  If it falls on the west side of the divide that rain drop finds it's way to the Pacific.  Most often the divide is at the top of a mountain 10,000 feet high.  Poor ol' North Dakota rain drops are not gonna have much help from gravity in finding it's way to the ocean...

I notice that ponds (in Texas we call them "tanks") are beginning to show icy patches on the surface and snow accumulation around the edges.

Woohoo!  Only 138 miles to "home."  Temperature at 1 p.m. is 44 degrees with a wind chill of 39.  Sunsets will be coming at 4:47; sunrises at about a quarter to 8.

We pull into the Sleep Inn at a few minutes to 2 p.m.  Plenty of time to get checked in, find the hospital so we know how to get there tomorrow morning, grab a bite to eat and get a good nights rest.  I'll spend Monday trying to find us a "permanent" home here in Grand Forks!