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We left the casino hotel at 8 o’clock the next morning and it was raining cats and dogs. Maybe I should say it was raining ducks and geese. They were everywhere! But it was clear sky in the north and, since that’s where we were headed, we anticipated a good day for driving.

In one hour (at 9:05 a.m., to be exact) we were in Rugby, the geographical center of North America. That designation might give the town some global relevance, but it wasn’t so relevant on a personal level because it didn’t have a McDonald’s. I had been looking forward to a Sausage McMuffin. Fast food has always been a hit with me, both at home and away from home.

The landscape was still flat and green and every once in a while there was a lake around the bend. Railroad tracks were now following close alongside us, and we knew that “our” train -- the Empire Builder that runs between the East Coast and West Coast and through Minneapolis in the middle -- was ahead of us by over an hour. It would rumble through the town of Tioga, ND, before we would. I was getting anxious now to see the kids.

Outside my passenger window was the longest crop sprinkler I’d ever seen. A field so flat and rectangular is, of course, ideal for such elongated contraptions.

And then a brand new color arrived on the scene. Fields of mustard were wearing a yellow that was brighter than a canary and more vivid than the yellow in the wings of a Monarch butterfly. The color curled for miles around ponds and over hills.

Did I say hills? Yes, the terrain was beginning to change.

We arrived in Minot, “the big city” in this part of North Dakota, at 10 a.m. The first oil rig appeared one-half hour west of Minot, and then they were everywhere. The sighting of oil wells has become commonplace to us in the last couple years of venturing to this neck of the woods. I am no longer compelled to take a picture of every one I see.

In no time at all we pulled north off Highway #2 and were drawn into Tioga. Two years ago I was still learning how to pronounce the name correctly -- it sounds like Tye-ohˊ-gah and rhymes with yoga -- and now the place is pretty familiar.

A couple blocks later daughter Jenny’s home sweet home away from home was in view, and so were she and her family. Everyone looked healthy and wonderful.

The first “event” was the Tioga swimming pool where Addie, 7, and Gunnar, 5, jump off diving boards, play with friends, shoot down the circular slide, and swim like fish across the entire length of the pool. I was impressed by such a nice pool for such a little town, population 1,200.

Another event was “the bank.” Earlier this year Chris and Jenny purchased the old Tioga bank on Main Street -- a brick building not unlike the old bank in downtown Victoria -- and remodeled it into a three-bedroom apartment to help alleviate the housing shortage, not to mention add a few coins to their own coffers.

Lake Sakakawea

I’d say that the biggest event for us this time in Tioga was Lake Sakakawea. Located about 15 miles from their front door, it is an amazing lake. We’ve never before been on a lake quite like Sakakawea, certainly not in Minnesota.

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