North Dakota

North Dakota has 63 National Wildlife Refuges, more than any other state. I had hoped to photograph in Lostwood, Des Lacs, and J. Clark Salyer NWR but the weather was not going to be in my favor. I noticed that the last couple National Wildlife Refuges all boasted observation towers and Lostwood was no exception. It's tower seemed especially tall. I wondered if some of the refuges were in a "my tower is bigger than your tower" contest.

I had hoped to photograph two types of "LBJ's" here but neither the Nelson's Sharptail or the LeConte's Sparrow cooperated. A front was approaching and the as the skies turned gray and the weather report was full of "heavy downpours", I remembered the futility of the first part of this roadtrip and made a quick decision to point the truck towards Michigan. I stopped in Kidder County for old times sake but found that the old spots had experienced a lot of water and birds were scattered so I continued on. Western Minnesota still had very high water levels. At one rest stop the water was up to the steps of the restrooms and a fellow traveler told me that it had been closed just two weeks ago. I decided that this road trip was now over and to run ahead of the front. About midnight I stopped at a "WalMart Waldorf" and slept for several hours and then continued on to Michigan.