#3: [25-May-24]

#2: [21-Aug-04]

26-Apr-2002 -- On a Friday afternoon, I left Fargo, ND, ultimately bound for Minot, ND. My sister and her husband live in Minot and I planned to run in a half-marathon there on Saturday morning and spend the rest of the weekend visiting my niece Ashlee and nephew Hunter.

From Fargo, I headed north on interstate 29 to Grand Forks, ND. From Grand Forks, I headed west on US highway 2. When I got to the intersection of ND highway 32, I turned south. About 1/2 mile later, the GPS read exactly 48 degrees north. I looked west and there was a fair sized slough in the way. I drove a little further south to where the slough ended and there was a place to pull off the road.

It was cloudy and about 40 degrees and I noted a little extra chill in the air near the water. I gathered my stuff and started walking west through a muddy field towards 98 degrees west. When I got over a small hill, I could see there were numerous sloughs in the field and I feared one of them would be between me and the confluence. I was wearing sneakers. I started to walk around a large slough when I realized it would be a much shorter walk if I approached the confluence from the north.

I went back to the car and drove west on US highway 2 until the GPS read exactly 98 degrees west. I started walking south. I had to zigzag between the sloughs and various critters. There were ducks and geese all over the water. A muskrat dove into the water just a few feet ahead of me as I walked and scared me half to death. I also saw a large jackrabbit out in the field. I silently wished I had brought my pistol in case a skunk or some other varmint showed up. As I got closer to the confluence, I realized it was going to be close to one of the sloughs. I decided I would do whatever it took to visit the confluence this visit. It turned out the confluence was in the reeds along a small slough. It was close to, but not in any water.

I took photos from the confluence and then set up the tripod and took a picture of myself standing on the confluence. When I was finished, I called Dave who was providing the camera, GPS and technical support and reported my success. As I was getting ready to leave, my phone rang again. It was Steve and he was wondering about my confluence visit. I told him I was still at the confluence and he congratulated me on the journey. I gathered the equipment, walked back to the car, and headed west towards Minot.

The next day there were 2 inches of snow on the ground in Minot. I ran the half-marathon in 1:30:29.