June 9, 2009

View of the day-Pit stop along the Niobrara River in northern Nebraska.

We woke up to another day of rain and after grabbing a breakfast snack at McDonald's, started on the rest of the road home.

We had driven about 60 miles and were passing through Taylor, NE when we spied a large harvest crew parked on the side of the road. We slowed up to inspect and were surprised to see another Canadian harvester that we knew so we stopped for a visit to see how their border crossing had gone. They were having a bit of trouble with one of their big trucks so after chatting for a little bit, we left them to their business and continued on.

The traffic was a bit slower on the return trip and the wind was pushing us which helped us to make good time. We stopped in Bassett to fuel up and met up with another Canadian harvester, so we had another gab before parting ways.

The rest of the drive through South Dakota and North Dakota was rather uneventful...rain pretty much all the way. We figured we should make the border just about closing time, although we weren't sure what that was so we tried to call to find out...no one ever answered on the Canadian side. We knew we would be cutting it thin so Al dropped the hammer and was making good time until the sheriff pulled out in front of us. Wouldn't you know he stayed there until just past Kenmare which made our margin even thinner.

We hit the 8 mile corner with about 10 minutes to spare and after weighing the options...do we just go the extra miles to Portal or do we try to make Northgate. We chose the latter and after speeding to get there...we get to see them locking the gates 4 minutes early, so over to Portal we go adding on another 48 miles. Fortunately it was a two minute stop at the entry post there and we were on our way back home.

We stopped in Whitewood at the 24hr truck stop to actually have a meal without a steering wheel in the picture and then made the dash for home. When we left we took a swing through the parking lot to check out the other Canadian harvester that had parked in the lot for the night before making their journey to Oklahoma...they were long asleep, so we didn't knock.

It was a 940 mile/1512K day and we were home by 1:30am. In hindsight if we wouldn't have taken the time for the short visits, we would have gotten to the border in time and saved the extra drive.

And, if the bear hadn't stopped for a s***, he would have caught the rabbit...