Day 9, Gooseberry to Fargo

Well, here we are in Fargo, in our last of the contiguous 48 states to visit.  We got off to an early start, heading toward Duluth.  Breakfast this time was at McDonald's in Two Harbors, but gas was a dime higher than reported on Gas Buddy.  We needed an oil change, but were in the wrong lane in heavy traffic going thru Duluth. After we cleared the metro, travel was clean until we hit a real downpour; never heard the thunder but it had to be there.

As we neared Leech Lake (still in the rain), we ran into a real traffic jam - hundreds of campers, mostly trailers of all sizes, filled parking spots and the road coming in.  It turns out there's a big rock festival called the Moondance Jam.  We were lucky to get thru w/o much delay.

Lunch was a Perkins at Detroit Lakes.  It took 1-1/4 hour to be served and eat. No return there!  Then in Moorhead we hit a detour that wasn't well-marked.  Finally got in a bit after 2 PM.  After off-loading, we headed for a Valvoline oil change place; so did everyone else.  After a good wait in the heat, it was back to the motel.

Just a block away, we saw the Space Alien Bar & Grille. How could we resist, especially w/ Sandra's cow-abduction socks and Bill's Roswell T-shirt.

Tidbits:

• What's with the pink trash cans on MN-194 west of Duluth?
• The Fond-du-Lac Indian Reservation sign, as well as all the lake and river signs are in English and Chippewa.
• The Upper Mississippi River in northern Minnesota is already a stream to be reckoned with.
• Akeley, MN, has a Paul Bunyan statue and a Blue Ox café (complete with mural).
• Want to visit the Bullwinkle bar? Try Nevis, MN, also home of the Firefly Event Barn.
• And then there's the pink bicycle about 20 miles east of Detroit Lakes.
• Detroit Rapids has a Spaceman Storage unit.

287.5 miles for the day, 2021.5 miles for the trip.  Tomorrow we take I-29 south into South Dakota, then cut over to Pipestone, MN for a visit to the National Monument there.  Then it's US-75 south into Iowa, with RON at Cherokee.