The Earth is Flat

No, I haven't been brainwashed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party!  The Earth really is FLAT, or it was today for nearly 500 miles to the Canadian border and back.  Flat to the point of insanity; apparently quite a few early pioneers to the 'big sky country' went mad from the endless nothingness on the horizon and had to head for the hills.  I've seen this before when I was in Canada, but it still hits you every time you crest the top of a small rise, and there it is, stretching before you so far that the eye gives up. Green and sky, sky and green.  Take some sky. No, take A LOT  of sky.  Then multiply it by endless.  Amazing stuff.

Geographic centre of North America,
Rugby, North Dakota

On our way today we passed the geographical centre of the North American continent, which warranted a photo stop (and it's in a place called 'Rugby'!).  We also saw the second-highest structure in the world, the KVLY-TV mast, off in the distance, but we didn't get to go see it up close. I hope to get a photo of that tomorrow.

Tony and I straddling the
border of  the US and Canada,
Peace Garden

Anyway, we drove up to the International Peace Garden to meet my great friend, Denisce from teaching in Japan days, up there. She lives in Manitoba in Canada and I hadn't seen her for two years, so she made the drive down and met up with us for an afternoon.  The Peace Garden straddles the border of the USA and Canada and was incorporated in 1932.  It's a bit like Panmunjom (between North and South Korea), except there are no mine fields and you won't get shot if you cross the stream running along the middle of the park. (!)  It's very civilized actually, taking great pains to equally represent both nations and doing a lovely job of it.  Lovely formal gardens, nice monuments, lots of places for picnics, wilderness and lake areas, small gift shop.  We had lunch there, walked and drove all over the park and then relaxed and shared photos until it was time to make the 4-hour drive back to our respective cities in our respective countries.

We are enjoying Fargo. It's a place to relax, full of extremely friendly people, and it sort of smells like New Zealand - farm smells, green grass, fresh air, sun-warmed concrete in small amounts. The gun shop full of assault rifles is a little different however...(!)  Yesterday after we'd arrived and picked up the car, we told our GPS to find us a place to eat lunch. It recommended a tiny cafe that we think was in a retirement village complex!  But they were THE friendliest people there. We had our first, certifiably delicious pieces of 'paah' (Pie).  And the elderly couple dining near us who we got chatting to, well. The woman's favourite place in New Zealand  (where she has been several times) is Invercargill!  It's about as surprising as finding two kiwis sitting in a retirement village cafe in Fargo I guess...Anyway, we have to leave Fargo tomorrow, which is a bit of a shame. We could almost do with a day of doing nothing before we start our big stint south, just to regroup, do some laundry and relax.  But we can do that later I guess.

Time to sleep!  Tomorrow will have to find a car wash to scrape off the bug populations of several counties that are embedded in the windshield before we leave, and find somewhere to buy a thermos and cups for coffee on the road.  Time is flying, but the memories are stacking up nicely :)

To see more photos from our visit, click here.