Day 51-- North Dakota

Today was SO much better than yesterday. I got more sleep. The weather was nicer. I was able to talk to a few friends while driving. Even though we did 320 miles and 6 hours of driving- it went pretty well.

We stopped really quick to take a few pictures in a town called Terry, Montana and when we got back on the interstate, I saw a charter bus stopped on the side of the road. There were about 5 or 6 men in their 60's and 70's standing by the back. I pulled over and got out.

I walked up to the bus and said, "I'm not a mechanic, but is there anything I can do to help?". The bus had blown a hose. Luckily, the driver lived close by and called a friend who was going to come with a new hose. They were a group from North Dakota and thanked us for stopping. It's all about karma. When I see situations like that, I try to help whenever it's safe, because I know at some point it's going to be me who needs help. Plus, how could you pass a bus load of senior citizens on the side of the road?


Anyway, Eastern Montana was very different than Western Montana. It was a combination of rolling hills, plains, plateaus, rocks, valleys--- it was weird. Some parts reminded me of New Mexico. Again, pretty dry- like most of the west. I took some pictures. Not a lot. I wanted to get to Bismarck before dinner time. Michael wanted to go to Applebees.

We got to the "city" around 6pm. The time changed so we lost an hour. As soon as we got to the restaurant, I went to the bathroom. While I was gone Michael gave the waitress his order. Can you believe it? He's never done that before.

Right now I'm sitting by the hotel pool and Michael is playing with another boy his age. It's amazing how far he has come. We've been on the road for over 50 days! He's doing better now than he was the first week. Tomorrow we'll be visiting Michael grandparents in Minnesota (Bob, Joanne, Gail & Stu). MIchael's great-grandmother Frances also lives there. We'll be there for about 4-5 days. I love going fishing with Stu in the mornings and before sunset. I've been to MN twice before and every trip I find time to be out on the boat.

It will be interesting to see the difference in Michael this year. I have a lot of video footage of Michael in MN when he was 2 and before he was dx with autism. Most of the time he spent eye stimming of the fence and deck. The second trip he kept walking up and down the stairs and switching the lights on and off. (see the pattern there?). I think he was about 5 that time. Now he's almost 9. Each year we went in August- so it's a good comparison. Now that I think about it, I can't believe it's been 4 years since we were here last.

Tomorrow will be about 300 mile day- but should be pretty easy- all flat land. It will be nice to stay in one place for more than a day. I don't think we've done that since we stayed with Carolyn in Buckley, Washington.

Btw- North Dakota was our last "first time" state. The rest of the trip will be through states we've visited in the past.


oh, one more thing... lol.... I saw many fields of sunflowers today and that just made my day. I stopped and took a few quick pictures- but couldn't get up close. North Dakota of all places. I did see one field in CA, but the flowers were drooping. This time they were standing up more. It was really beautiful and for some reason, on my unofficial list of things I wanted to see.