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Far from Fargo:
Fargo Latitude: 46 dg, 52'
Fargo Longitude: 96 dg, 48'
T.Bay Latitude: 48 dg, 13'
T.Bay Longitude: 89 dg, 12'
Distance: 834 km
Claim to Fame: The movie "Fargo" allowed most of the country to understand the hardships
of living this far north, including people with annoying accents and the constant threat of maniacs with woodchippers.
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A Clear Path Home |
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Signs of Home:
Shitty Weather
Birch Trees
Salted Roads
Bag Milk
High Gas Prices
Old Dutch Chips
Robin's Donuts
Safeway
Toronto Dominion Bank
La Place Rendezvous
Centre Spelled Correctly
Nice Border Guard
Dangerous Highway Rocks
Shitty Weather
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Bemidji on Day 51
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Bemidji on Day 118
This is not progress.
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Homeward Bound
Dec 22 -
If you haven't figured it out by now, we're heading back to Thunder Bay for the holidays.
When we started the trip, we had it in our minds that we had to do it all at once, all 48 states, zip zap zoom,
without leaving the country. Of course, we also had it in our minds that it wouldn't take any longer than
three months. Anyway, that's why when we came up to Minnesota, we only went within three hours of home
without actually going home. We told our friends to come down and meet us, and their reaction was:
"If you've already gone a zillion kilometers, what's 300 more?" and only Kev's parents and Dean made it down. Mind
you, as you may recall from Day 50, a trip to Duluth is
a major undertaking for a Thunder Bayan. We should have known there'd be a low turnout.
But, they were right. What's another 300 kilometers? Besides, can you think of a better place to spend
the holidays that with your family? Well, maybe if you don't like your family you can, but we like our
families. So it seemed the best choice.
There's always room for Jello!
Can Pile of Casselton
North America's Tallest Structure
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It was nice to pass through Bemidji again. We stopped to say hi to Cindy, a lady from the Bemidji Chamber
of Commerce who'd been following our site, but she was off on Saturday. Oh well, maybe another time.
The snow was falling pretty heavily by the time we reached the Canadian border. It was nice to go through
Canadian customs and to be greeted by a big smiling border guard rather than the nasty wack ass bitches the
American INS seems to have a talent for employing. He asked us where we were, where we were going and what
we bought, wished us a merry Christmas and we were on our way.
It should have been smooth sailing from there to home. It certainly wasn't.
It took us eight freaking hours to do a four hour drive from Fort Frances. Any other Canadian would have
boarded up his front door and pulled out the Monopoly board on a day like today, because the roads were in
no condition to accept traffic. I swear, they must have closed the highway moments after we started our travel,
because we didn't encounter more than a dozen cars going the other way. Did I say cars? I meant 4x4 F350 trucks
with chains on the tires. Them, and good old dependable Mel.
Mel cut through the thick snow like nobody's business. It didn't matter that the visibility wasn't any better
than ten feet. It didn't matter that was no cell phone signal for the entire 378 kilometer stretch. It
didn't matter that the first car we saw after getting onto the highway was a Jeep Cherokee, turned over in a
ditch. Mel knew he was going back to the homeland, and by gum, he was going to get us there.
To top off the trip, a transport had jackknifed on the highway less than 100 kilometers from home. To top off
that, it was jackknifed in the middle of the intersection which let to the Trans Canada Alternate
Route to Thunder Bay. Essentially, this truck cut off anything going in any direction. I guess that's what
you get for being a country with only one major road from one end to the other.
But we made it. It's nice to be home.
Merry Christmas!
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We've got mail...
Thanks so much for stopping in Bemidji (Burmidji today!)
I passed your web site on to our membership for them to enjoy. Keep up
the great work, have fun, and we will be with you the rest of your trip!
- Lori, Executive Director
Chamber of Commerce, Bemidji MN
do they have an Unoffical Fargo movie tour up there, or have people never heard of the movie?
- Jon, Chicago IL
from Day 55
Drop us a note!
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 Today's Weather:
Couldn't Be Worse
| Sleeping Quarters |
Dean's House!
 
Shhh! It's a big secret! Our families aren't supposed to know we're here until later. Luckily, nobody calls
Dean to ask if we we're around.
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Lunch:
  | Hardee's
Bemidji, MN |
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| K's Order: | 2 DBL Cheeseburgers for $2 |
| A's Order: | 2 Spicy Chicken for $2 |
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| Cost: | $4.26 |
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Dinner:
  | In the Jeep
Between Ft. Frances and Thunder Bay |
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| Both: | Leftover Pork Chops, Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Gum Drops, Mints, Atomic Fireballs |
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