Setting Off for the Northern Edge

In just a few days I am setting off on a long road trip that will take me from my home here in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC to North Dakota and the the eastern fringe of the Great Plains. My trip will take me across the northern tier of Maryland and up through the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania before I cross the northern panhandle of West Virginia and the Ohio River at Wheeling. Then it is off across central Ohio and Indiana as far as Indianapolis before turning north and west toward Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and on to the Twin Cities and the Mississippi River. The last leg of the trip will take me across central Minnesota to Fargo, and eventually north to Grand Forks, on the Red River of the North just 75 miles below the Canadian border and 120 miles south of Winnipeg.

Although I have been to the Midwest many times in recent years, and in western North Dakota five years ago, I have not been to the northeastern part of the state in over forty years. In 1970 a good friend from Milwaukee and I set out from that city on a road trip that would take us on the same route I will follow through Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota.

So I am looking forward to this new adventure. I know it is a gamble with the weather this time of year. I'll just hope for the best. I will be checking in periodically with reports from the road.