St. Cloud, MN -> Keldron, SD

Started out in the morning zipping along 94W, but the truck traffic was pretty intense, and then there was construction, and the prospect of being nearly 100 miles from Fargo wasn’t enticing, so we got off onto some small side roads near Osakis. I got myself somewhat turned around, but kept basically oriented, using the sun, and eventually ended up heading west on 27 towards South Dakota. The farmland here was gorgeous, though pretty limited to corn and sorghum. Crossed over the South Dakota on county road 106 with the intent of cutting up to North Dakota pretty soon, but I changed my mind, and stayed in South Dakota, traveling South for a bit on 25, and then west on 12. Stunning! Rolling hills of various shades, wheat now a major component along with the corn.

Hit the Missouri river at Mobridge, and entered the Standing Rock Nation, and the most beautiful country so far! Incredible hills of varying shades. We kept on 12, heading northwest towards the North Dakota border.
Along the way, there were many abandoned houses, although everything was still under till. Got through the towns of McLaughlin and McIntosh, and was starting to tire, so began looking for a place to bed down for the night.
I found the perfect spot – an abandoned house outside Keldron, with an un-occupied house foundation behind it. Pulled the futon, sheets, and blankets out of the truck and settled in to watch the sky turn from dusky blue into a blanket of stars. Some mosquitoes made it a little less than pleasant, but they went away after about 11PM. More of a problem was Tuna, who was very eager to explore, and I had to basically hold her down into bed. At some point I gave up, and she sat out on her own. But I called her back in, and the poor thing was shivering from the cold, but still eager to jump back out of bed again.

At daybreak, we rolled out.