Stargazer's Garage

Obviously, we've finished the first leg of our road trip. We arrived in Thunder Bay, Ontario on Wednesday. The 5th day of driving from Detroit Lakes to Thunder Bay was the longest and I haven't had a chance yet to post up the details. That's coming next. What I've been doing is getting the pictures from Day 3 ready. That day had the most pictures so far because we stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park to do the scenic drive and encountered a herd of bison crossing the road. I finally updated that post with those pictures and the map, which you can find here: Day 3: Billings to Dickinson . These are some pictures from Day 3: Click below for some more pictures. The rest are on the map.

Bison and Buffalo I was curious to find out what the difference between Bison and Buffalo was, since I've heard both terms used. I figured it must be something like how alligators and crocodiles are different. I found this site that explains it: Bison and Buffalo and realized that North America is home not to the buffalo, but to the Bison . That means that instead of seeing the "World's Largest Buffalo" yesterday, I was really looking at the the World's Largest " Bison " and that the National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown, ND should have been called the National Bison Museum.... I feel deceived!

Click here for MAP of Day 4: Dickinson to Detroit Lakes . Click here to see all of today's photos . Today's Summary: Dickinson to Detroit Lakes Total distance traveled: 568.5 km Estimated travel time (GPS): 5 hours, 14 min. Total elapsed driving time: 5 hours, 42 min. Average fuel consumption: 10.3 L/100 km Average speed: n/a Highest observed outside temp: 26° C Number of confirmed V1 bogies: 1 Today's drive was relatively short because last night we decided to change our plans and instead of staying in Duluth, MN we stopped at Detroit Lakes. The severe thunderstorms had moved on ahead of us, although the winds were still very strong. It was really interesting watching the wind blow over the grass fields like waves on the ocean. It was a pretty quiet morning until I saw in the distance what looked like a huge cow standing on a hill-top. That's when we discovered Salem Sue. This is Salem Sue: She is the World's Largest Holstein Cow. Little did we know that No...

Click here for MAP of Day 3: Billings to Dickinson Click here to see all of today's photos . We finished day 3 of our road trip yesterday. We're taking took the northern route on the I-94 through North Dakota because we're heading to DC via Thunder Bay, Ontario. I'll upload pictures and GPS map data as soon as possible. Today (Day 4) is going to be a long drive! Bison in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota Today's Summary: Billings, MT to Dickinson, ND Total distance traveled: 569.5 km Estimated travel time (GPS): 4 hours, 25 min. Total elapsed driving time: 6 hours, 13 min. Average fuel consumption: 11.2 L/100 km Average speed: 93 km/h Highest observed outside temp: 28° C Number of confirmed V1 bogies: 4 Interesting Observance: We had lunch at a McDonald's in Glendive, Montana and noticed that they accepted personal cheques as a form of payment. What was most interesting was that I watched some guy write out a cheque, hand it over, place hi...