Sunday – Williston, North Dakota
Well, after my R&R in Miles City, it was time to leave. I was a bit confused as I thought it was Monday for some reason, doh, so when I found out it was Sunday, I was not expecting the earthship crew to be getting up any time soon. I was hoping to go and see what they were building, but although I strung out the packing for as long as possible, no one showed their heads. Never mind, these things happen! This is where I have been staying for the past three days, an older motel, cheap with crap water, but in the end, not a bad location.
I was on the way around 9am or so and heading north east towards Sidney. I kept the pace down because I forgot to get fuel and with the headwind I needed to keep the revs down, I could have turned back, but that is not in my nature 🙂 In the end I knew there was a small town up north of me and eventually I stopped in Terry and fuelled up, I was pushing the limit of the tank mind you, I may not do that again anytime soon.
There was not all that much to look at out here, the road followed and crossed the river a few times, but mainly it was hay country. I have found out that the reason they grow so much hay, is because the land is covered in snow for over 8 months of the year, so they need to feed the cattle.
I got into Sidney about midday and decided to have some lunch and hopefully find some internet to check on emails. Strange, but when you don’t have it, you realise how much you rely on the web, because when it is not there you feel disconnected.
After a nice lunch of chicken strips and chips(fries) and just barely finding a signal to check email, I headed off again. Just outside of town was a historic info spot, but despite running around some dirt roads, I could not find the one they mention at the bottom, maybe they could do with a sign post or two!
Not long after this is the reason I came in this direction, to pick up the North Dakota state sign. 🙂
After this is was a straight run east then north until I chose the town of Williston as a place to stay. I had lost an hour crossing the state border, so it was later than I thought and I was dog tired, it was very hard to keep my eyes open for some reason, so eventually I found a motel and settled in.
I followed up on some details for my trip north in the morning and also did some more research on my GPS, because I decided I would buy the Canada maps, I was going to be there for a month or more, so it would be useful. When I tried to buy the maps (only available online via TomTom website and installed software) it said I already had it????? True, my computer software of TomTom Home said I already had Canadian maps, here is the screen shots to prove it!! The first map is the basic page, then after I have clicked on ‘more details’ it shows more.
Despite what it says, I do not have Canada maps even though it says these are on my device, I do have USA, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the rest it mentions but even if I look at the map on the device, when I zoom out and look north of the US border, it is blank!! So, the timing was right, it was about 11am in Oz, so I phoned TomTom support about the two issues I have. He checked out my account and I sent him the above screen shots, he then advised to delete my USA maps off my computer and download again, the latest version would have the Canadian provinces etc. That sounded good, so I did so, that was when I found the connection to the TomTom server was so slow, to download the 1.6GB maps would take over 10 hours or more! I did not have enough power in my laptop nor GPS to run that long while asleep, I only had one power plug adaptor. The other issue with my broken GPS bike mount, he said I would have to send it back, how &@%^#&#* stupid is that, I need it to hold the damm GPS to my dashboard! It looks like I will have to try and find another mounting bracket and buy it, then get this one replaced when I return home. He did mention Walmart as a place in the US to buy TomTom devices and I just happened to be in a motel right next to one. I went over late at night, it was after 9pm, but, they only have car ones and it would be hard to find a TTR2 bracket I think. This is a view of my motel from Walmart, the sun is still up and it is late at night, this could get hard to get used to methinks.
Anyway, I gave up on the map download, maybe tomorrow morning I could find a direct LAN connection and see if that was faster.
Thanks once again to Jim and Lesley, without the use of their phone account, the above phone call would not have been possible.
Day 199 miles and 320 km
Trip – 24,330 miles and 39,155 km
Cheers
TravellingStrom
TravellingStrom 