I’m digging deep here but after two weeks traversing the prairies – Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota – there’s just not a lot more to say. Big sky, tough winds, fields of canola, barley and wheat, glacier carved landscapes full of marshland, ponds and lakes, once thriving towns now sleepy and largely abandoned.

So today was another hot day through this landscape crossing into the Minnesota side of Grand Forks.

Route 2 continues to be a good choice as a way to tuck under Lake Superior on my way to Ottawa. Wide shoulders with a nice rumble strip but in a year or two, unless the cracks are fixed, they will become a field of weeds.

I love how the grasses that grow along the side of the road and in the median strip are harvested, fed to cattle and, I guess, end up on our dinner plates.

As today will be the last one in the prairies, I take a look back as the sun sets to see that big sky once again.

Stats – for Friday 6 July 2012

Start: Grand Forks, North Dakota
Finish: Fosston, Minnesota
Distance: 113 km
Time on Bike: 5 hrs 41 min
Average Speed: 19.8 km/hr
Distance to Date: 4,037 km