Medina ND

Last night we stayed in Minnesota with Justin’s aunt and uncle and tonight we will be camping in a small town by the name of Medina. Yep, we’re in the great state of North Dakota where the grocery stores look like they haven’t been updated since the 70’s and the people don’t really smile unless they know your name. Maybe it’s just Medina?… all I think of when I see the name is that 80’s song by Tone Loc, ‘Funky Cold Medina.’ I guess they couldn’t have predicted that one. Uhhh! That song is going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the night. Anyway, we lucked out this time and got here just as the fields of sunflowers started blooming. I hope we pass more of them tomorrow.

Chrissy


Minnesota was a pleasant state to pass through. I got the oil changed at a Valvoline right outside of Minneapolis this morning. This is our first oil change in this truck and I didn’t realize that changing the oil filter on a Toyota truck leaves a mess of oil all over the place because it is tilted downwards. We drove on I 94 about 45 minutes away from the oil change place around a town called St. Cloud and stopped at a grocery store to stock up on food. When I came back out to the car there is a puddle of oil underneath it. Uh oh. I am infinitely paranoid about car problems to begin with, so the slightest problems with a new (to me) truck on this trip are sounding big alarm bells immediately. I checked everything out and all the oil looked like it was coming from around the filter. I didn’t see anything leaking, but I sure saw it dripping from all over the underside brush guard.
I called the Valvoline and asked them about what it might be doing, and whether there was another store around there that I might be able to take the truck into to take a look. They didn’t have a company store in the area and with the potential for a leak didn’t want me to drive back, so they sent someone out to meet us. I felt bad. It was nothing but a lacking cleanup job that had me all freaked out. So, we got on the road again around 12:30. Hot, bothered and ready to get on our way.
North Dakota is a state which I like in the same way I like South Dakota or Nebraska. I appreciate the wide open spaces, and in a way could imagine myself living in a place like this, but at the same time, there seems to be an undercurrent of depression sometimes. Lack of opportunity.
Funky cold Medina, over and out.
-Justin