North Dakota to Florida, with a Side of Ontario, France and Indonesia
Back in the lower-48, we continued to flee the cold weather systems as we made our way to Fargo, ND. In Fargo, we found some great food and coffee, learned about the sugar-beet harvest, attended a Pow Wow and generally had a good time. If you’re a fan of the movie Fargo, visiting the town is worth the trip. The main visitor’s center even has the wood chipper and a copy of the script on display.
We, again, parted ways from 13roads , and made our way back towards Ohio and the Mothership. We had a check-in scheduled with them coming back from Alaska. As we had a little extra time, we took a slightly different route than usual and went through Iowa. We saw some of the famed bridges of Madison County. We found some unpalatable water and had to nurse our freshwater tank. It was during one of our droughts that we tried our first truck stop shower and it was wonderful! We ended up using them a few more times on our way and in Ohio. They’re better than the Admiral’s Club showers found in many airports.
From Ohio, we went to visit friends in Ontario and took a new route through Michigan. The Canadian border crossing was fun. The officer had a sister that lived in Cayman who worked with friends of ours – small world. After a fun time in Ontario, we headed to Rochester, NY for a Halloween meetup with 13roads. We closed down the park and the we prepared to head south.
I had a marathon month of travel scheduled, starting with a return to Cayman. Then I went to Paris, France where I had planned to stay a few days before flying out. In Cayman, I learned that more family was in the south of France, so the day I landed, I switched airports and flew down to Nice. After few days, I was back in Paris and then was on another set of flights, with Cathay Pacific, to Jakarta, Indonesia via Hong Kong. I managed to have “authentic” noodles in the Honk Kong airport. The week in Jakarta was great and then I was back in the air to Paris, this time via Doha, Qatar on Qatar Airways. It was on this set of exceptionally serviced flights that I was able to fly a Boeing 787 and then an Airbus 380. Yes, I’m an aviation geek! I spent another few days in Paris and then I flew back to the US, meeting the family and 13roads in Savannah, GA. I don’t think my body clock ever fully adjusted and it wasn’t until Thanksgiving that I was localized.
While I was jet-setting around the world, the family had made a short return trip to the Mothership before reconnecting with 13roads. I was in Paris and they were in a snowstorm! A hop, skip and jump and everyone was in Savannah. From there it was an easy drive back down to Orlando and you guessed it, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade!
