Tuesday July 21st Rugby ND

After the better news about Dad yesterday, we heard this morning that he was failing. My brother left Atlanta today to fly home to see him. So it was with a heavy heart that we set off on our days travelling.

The drive south though was good for the soul….morning light making the rolling hills of the yellow Canola seed just glow, along with some huge fields of blue flax seeds. I see huge fields of sunflower plants, but not a sign of flowers yet, they will look amazing in a few weeks time. It is interesting that after the excitement of seeing the first fields of canola in the south east of Manitoba, I am starting to take them for granted.

We stopped on the side of the road to get some photos, and as I walked along the edge in the short grass, got a huge fright as 3 grass snakes slithered off down the hill…they say they are not poisonous but I am not sure, kept to the seal after that.

Passed through the towns of Minnendosa and Brandon, but didn’t spend much time in them.

A late lunch in the town of Boissevain was interesting, they have an outdoor art display….murals on many of the towns buildings.

Continued down to the border and the International Peace gardens that straddle the two countries. These were started in the 40’s and cover more than a thousand acres, mostly in trees and lakes, but the central area of gardens is paved and we walked to the end and back. The 4 columns of the Peace Tower is a focus, straddling the border between Canada and USA. We passed more recent memorials to the 9/11 disaster. It was a great place and not too busy.

Crossed back into the states, and apart from a few questions we were waived straight through. North Dakota is big country, not dead flat, but gently rolling.

Stopped tonight at a town called Rugby of all things. It is the geographical centre of North America, will check the town out tomorrow but it appears to be quite an old settlement.

Tonights campsite is an RV park near the main highway, with the narrowest sites we have ever struck. Little Ruakiwi is snuggled in between big RV’S with their slideouts.