A New Old Frontier: Flatland MN

Today we traveled from Bismark, ND to St. Paul, MN. The morning drive was fairly uneventful. We reached the Fargo area around noon and planned on stopping there for lunch. Apparently in ND it is typical and acceptable to not post what food, gas or lodging is available at the exits near these towns as they are so very metropolitan. Sadly we sailed through Fargo with no food. Suddenly we were in MN and the nearest town was Fergus Falls--oh yes, 47 miles away. So on we drove.

The drive that extra hour wad kind of hard actually. The long awaited journey to MN had finally arrived and it seemed to have happened all too soon. The reality of what I was doing sank in and I tried to keep the tears in my eyes. The end was fixed and certain now.

We actually had a nice lunch at Burger King in Fergus Falls. I stretched and walked around the parking lot while people from the drive thru stared at me strangely. Karen sat in the car and soaked up the sun. It was rather chilly in the car due to the sun keeping our top halves warm and the AC freezing our feet. Naturally the body responds by sweating. The sun was a welcomed relief from the odd climate of the car.

From there it was a quick couple hours into town despite some light early rush hour traffic. Before we realized it we were pulling into the seminary parking lot around 5pm and off to the housing office to pick up my apartment keys.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a young woman appeared at the curbside. Her name was Beth and she lives in Apt. 109 (right below me). She offered to help me move my things into my apartment. I was surprised. No one at Luther does this. Not unless you ask them to help you or you already know them. Apparently at PLTS "everyone" comes out to help you move in when you arrive. This is facilitated by the U shape the apt. building is in, but nonetheless, there she stood waiting to help me out. Within a half hour the car and the roof top bag were emptied, in my apt. and Karen and I had made a new friend.

Amidst unpacking we wound up emptying out my storage bin searching for the bolts to put the futon base together. We didn't find them, but we did move a lot of stuff into my apt. Including my dresser which was quite challenging considering that we were using a cart on the roughest black top ever. If the dresser wasn't rumbling off the cart then a drawer was flying out or the other side chest was flying off the cart. One of the drawers did fall onto the ground and got knicked up pretty good. It's on the bottom of the dresser now. Oh well. It adds character and tells a great story!

When we couldn't move anything more, we finally sat and rested. Or more appropriately, passed out from all the driving, traveling and moving. All I could think when I was falling to sleep was: Where am I?