After we left Sisseton, Barb and I headed north to Hillsboro, where we camped in the city campground. We were between Fargo & Grand Forks, in the heart of the Red River Valley, the incredibly flat and fertile area that owes its thick topsoil to silt laid down by Paleogeographic Lake Agassiz.\u00a0The campground was crowded with workers for the sugar beet harvest. \u00a0We had called ahead, and had been told that there was lots of room. \u00a0But when we arrived, all but one drive-through spots were occupied. \u00a0Apparently the person with whom Barb spoke had forgotten that the sugar beet harvest was just getting underway. \u00a0We learned that the beet harvest is a frantic affair that must be completed in a very short time. \u00a0Consequently, the effort requires many extra workers, most of whom are employed driving trucks filled with beets to storage facilities. \u00a0Where do these extra workers stay? \u00a0In their campers in the campgrounds.<\/p>\n
Next day, we drove our dinghy back south a bit to visit the farm, near Grandin, ND, of Barb’s cousin Geri Peterson (and her husband Dennis), where we had a scrumptious lunch and then a tour of the farm and machinery, including rides on a combine for each of us, harvesting corn, and including a drive to see some of the Peterson’s land. During the ride we saw a new colony of Hutterites just forming. \u00a0And we learned that many farmers in the area are burying tile pipes under the soil in order to flush away salts that have accumulated over the years. \u00a0Pipes in fields adjacent to ditches just drain into the ditches; other fields require sump pumps. \u00a0The cost of such installations is some indication of the productivity of the farmland in the Red River Valley. \u00a0The size and complexity of modern machinery on the farm was mind-blowing to Barb and I, who grew up and left farms, um, a few years ago.<\/p>\n
On the 9th we moved up to the Grand Forks area, where we camped in the Sherlock park campground of the Red River State Recreation Area in East Grand Forks, MN. \u00a0The Recreation Area \u00a0was created in the wake of the flood of 1997 that devastated the communities of East Grand Forks, MN and Grand Forks, ND. \u00a0Various structures and over 500 homes were removed and the land — now a 1,200-acre greenway — became a state recreation area. \u00a0Near the park is Whitey’s, a reconstruction of the famous bar and restaurant in East Grand Forks, an establishment that I and my fraternity brothers at the University of North Dakota used to frequent on Sundays since we could get a beer there (with a meal and by using our fake IDs) because Minnesota’s laws were more lenient than North Dakota’s. \u00a0East Grand Forks was also where my first wife and I lived after we married during our senior year in college. \u00a0The apartment building was nowhere to be found; it was probably also destroyed in the flood.<\/p>\n
Barb and I drove into Grand Forks to visit my undergraduate alma mater. \u00a0We had trouble finding parking, so our visit was shortened to the 30-minute limit imposed in front of the impressive student union. Too bad; I had intended on stopping by the development office and leaving a substantial endowment. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t