It was a perfect late afternoon / early evening on the US 2 Eastbound from Minot (Pronounced over here as My Note) to Devils Lake where I am spending the night.
One of those evenings out of the book of Perfect Evenings. The temperature had dropped from 88 F to around 72 F, a cool but not cold air surrounding us. The storm clouds that had formed earlier on, were moving off but allowing the sun to sparkle through them. The light was an unbelievable hue and the scenery surrounding us magnificent.
This area is the wildfowl paradise of the USA and it is not difficult to see why.
Firstly: it is the acknowledged geographic center of the Continental USA and therefore lies directly in the flight path of the migrating birds.
Secondly: there is an unlimited amount of fresh water in the form of lakes and wetland areas. Wildfowl love the cover it provides them in their living areas.
Thirdly: the entire area is under cultivation to Wheat, Corn, Eragrostis (Or a similar grass) and other food sources for them. This means they can sleep in the cover at the edge of the water and then only fly a short distance to collect their food.
The net result is a picture of incredible beauty. This is also a very good farming area, this part of North Dakota. You can see it in the standard of the farms, the houses and buildings on the farms and the way the machinery is kept and worked. It is Hay Harvest season and the entire area is littered with the huge round bales waiting to be picked up and stored for use in the winter. In a few areas the wheat is also in the process of being taken off and the smells are fantastic as I ride along.
This area was obviously selected by the early British settlers. As with Nottingham Road, Balgowan, The Dargyl, Westminster and Douglas in South Africa, they certainly knew how to stake out the best areas while the Boers were rushing off to fight another holy war. The same applies in Southern Canada and this area. Any place that has a French name, is generally not as good an agricultural area.
Here, the names are Surrey, Rugby, Norwich, Granville, Denbigh, Berwick, Knox, York and Leeds. It is my view that the UK battles so much today because the best and brightest have been leaving its shores for the past three hundred and fifty years and many of the rest were killed in the wars of 1914 and 1939.
South Africa is rapidly loosing its best and brightest and our talent pool was marginal to begin with. Our second and third tiers are hardly comparable to those in the UK.
For the first time in what has turned out to be a very long, hot and tiring day Bonnie and I are enjoying the ride. We have a smooth surfaced double carriage way all to ourselves with perfect riding condition. We also have a tail wind for the first and only time today. Bonnie wants her head and I let the reins out. We shoot along at 85 mph and we need to. It is getting dark and we still have too many miles to go and the time is almost 20h00. We were meant to be in bed by no later than this time for tomorrow is a long day. The last long day of the trip.
What had gone astray? As Mike Tyson said: Every plan goes out of the door as soon as you get hit! We were hit by a combination of poor roads, heat, a very strong head and quartering crosswind so hated by Bonnie and myself and then inordinate delays at the US border. Here they made me offload a bunch of my stuff so that they could look in my one Pannier. (For animal heads I was told!).
So you will remember that I was having an easy day, or so the plan said. I got to the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Academy and Museum on time as it opened. It turned out to be on the wrong side of town for my later departure from Regina.
The RCMP Museum Building. More impressive on the outside than what is to show inside
Surge, A bench at the museum sponsored by your Russian Friends
Canada split into the territories policed by the RCMP
The museum building and the academy facilities are superb, but that is all! A bit like the rest of Canada actually, the scenery is magnificent but the people and attitudes are very average! The staff is hopeless and not really interested. Some of them are mutilated with rings and other odd things sticking out of everywhere they can make a hole. This is in the Mounties Museum, I ask you. The exhibits are very one-dimensional and make little of this force’s exceptional past and history. Frankly it is a waste of time. The only winners are my Grand Children who will have to wait and see what is coming their way.
I stopped for lunch in Weyburn. It was so hot and dusty and miserable I needed a rest and Bonnie needed a break as well. I could not even find any shade for her so she received a quick face wash and cool down. As surprisingly good as my Schnitzel was a few days previously in a dive, so bad was the meal today. Hungry as I was, I could not even get halfway through it.
A short stop along the way is made to take photo’s of the dinosaur oil pumps. There are thousands of them in the Southern part of Saskatchewan and northern North Dakota as opposed to Alberta where all the pumps were of the newer variety. Every time I pass an oil pumps and the wind is blowing on to me, I get a strong blast of the smell which is not unlike creosote.
Bonnie faces off T Rex
It is a simple but effective design. The small blue motor drives a huge pump using the lever effect of the fly wheels
Now the good and very interesting news is that Dinah Taute now Dinah Hitchcock has been traced and has made contact with me, see the comments at the bottom of yesterday’s blog. She is almost 80 years old and seems to be on top of things. She is promising to bare her “little black book” of old airline “Skandaal” as she puts it. Lets see what comes out.
I also owe you the full list of “strike outs” but this will have to wait until I am back in Michigan, which in turn looks like being on Monday. I will be taking this day off to wash Bonnie, myself and my clothes etc. and probably Tuesday as well before I hit the keyboard again.
Two days ago I took a huge plunge and decided to take the lining of my helmet out and launder this as the rancid smell was becoming intolerable. Why had I waited so long? Because, once before I did this and then I could never get it all back together again properly. It is a BMW helmet and anyone who knows my German friends, will know they make the best, but not the simplest.
So I carefully took it apart, making mental notes of which strap went where. Of course when it was all back again it no longer fitted comfortably. So now it smells great and hurts my right ear all the time. So today, at my wits end, I finally pulled off the road and dismantled it, found the problem and voila, my ear is whole again. So much better this way. I will wash it all again on Monday in Northville. This is going to be a huge undertaking over a few days so please do not all hang around, tongues drooping waiting for the Strike outs.
Bonnie has company for the night. They are all clean. she has been down and dirty.
The riders are not in the best of shape. Trying to find out where they can get Ice Cream Sundays! They need them.
I am hoping to wrap up the blogs with a summary by the end of the following weekend.
Tomorrow I am in Minneapolis or there about.
Till then, from Devils Lake North Dakota
Good Night and Good Luck.
Copyright 2012
bigplatcool 
Hey Richie,
This gets better and better. I have been laughing every day when I think about all this stuff.
You know the funniest thing about pilots is that all they talk about in the cockpit is girls and when they are with the girls, all they talk about is flying.
What are you going to do when this is all over. Not back to business I hope. I never understood how you transitioned so effortlessly from the Airline to being a businessman. No way you can talk about pussy in the boardroom! I can’t see you enjoying all those committee meetings and all that rubbish about “Corporate Governance” and dealing with auditors all the time.
I had a bit of it on the SAAPA committee and one term was enough for me. Much better being in the cockpit or trying to get into something else. Like hunting but I better not go down that road. Wife no 2 hated it and the Ballerina is worried about the souls of the animals. She is such a bird brain herself, but I did not marry her for her brain.
No 2 was enough had enough brains for four wives. An academic at Natal University. Her idea of foreplay was a crossword puzzle or Sudoku in bed. Not sure if you have ever tried to give your answer to a crossword clue while you are trying muzzle the muff. They say women can multi task. I can tell you this is true.
Did you know that I kept contact with Lesley while I was living in Natal. Bumped into her in the La Lucia Mall one day and we had coffee together. I knew who she was immediately I saw her. Still the great long legs and a face to do somersaults for. We had a huge chuckle and in particular about the first flight she did with you in the cockpit, when you announced to the passengers that she had won the Lamberts Bay beauty competition and had been crowned Miss Kreef! Every so often, when I was cruising the Mall or Gateway, I would see her and we would always have a coffee or lunch and shoot the breeze.
She always loved a bit of gossip and in particular any stories about you. She kept up to date with your business career and had lots of info about you. You know that she was seeing one of your contemporaries at the same time she was seeing you in the airline. He also kept contact with her and I think this is where the information came from. I have to say that he kept himself in great shape and she was always impressed with this. I see that you have put on a few pounds around the middle. I suppose it is an occupational hazard of being a businessman.
I am going to start telling a few ” Wonderboy” stories as there are some epics. One thing Scully and I are in agreement about is that you are a “big” character and were when you were in the airline. The only problem with this is that coupled with having opinions and not being afraid to air them can land you in the Poo. Fortunately you could handle yourself in the cockpit and elsewhere by all accounts, but it did not make you universally liked.
So the first one is as follows.
You were sitting in the cockpit at JNB waiting for the passengers. The Captain was Chris C ( I have kept the names out so you do not have to worry about censoring this). The engineer was that little Swiss guy JJ, he made sure the story did the rounds. Apparently one of the hosties came into the cockpit and crapped all over him about something.
As she left you turned to him and said something along these lines. “F–k Captain, who does that bitch think she is talking to you like that. You need to sort her out. If I was the Captain I would never take that shit from any hostie and in particular not from one as fat and as ugly as her.
JJ says you could have heard a pin drop, he was pissing himself as it was clear you had no idea that the “fat and ugly” hostie was his wife! Nobody can tell me what he said or did, but I would love to know from you.
So enjoy the last couple of days of the ride.
Take care and stay the right side up.
SO.