22 June: Rugby to Grand Forks

When I awoke on Sunday morning, I decided to get up, so that when people began stirring in the RV park they wouldn't discover me. After a quick tear-down, I went across the highway to the gas station, where I got a pumpking muffin for breakfast. I nearly didn't eat it, because the inside was a strange green color all the way through that surely indicated some sort of artificial color -- why was that necessary? I was hungry though, and figured they probably wouldn't give me my money back because I didn't like the color of the muffin, so I ate it. There was absolutely no traffic on the highway yet, so I sat for a while, reading, and made a sign for Grand Forks. I decided to try retiring the Devils Lake sign and just get all the way to Grand Forks.

At about 8:00, I headed out onto the highway. The man working at the gas station counter told me that I might as well wait a couple hours because traffic didn't really get going until later, but I was sick of sitting there so I went out to start working anyway. He was right, it was slow going. I talked with some bikers who were stopping for coffee, but other than that there was very little of interest for about an hour and a half. Finally, around 9:30, Tim and his nephew, Jeremy, stopped for me. They were going all the way go Grand Forks. I was thrilled, I'd cover all 148 miles in one shot.

Tim & Jeremy were fun to talk to, there were a lot of jokes and funny stories. They dropped me off in downtown Grand Forks (right at a coffee house that had been recommended to me, thanks to their GPS), where I had some sorely needed caffeine and called Linnea. She came to pick me up, and I spent the afternoon relaxing at the apartment and recovering from my marathon hitchhiking days.