It’s a good thing Alex had a huge frying pan, because there was a lot of food for everyone. We wanted to thank him for his hospitality and what better way than to cook him breakfast before he headed off to work.
We had a little bit of time to kill before we had to drive to Mandan, which was only a few hours away. We went to Atomic Coffee so that we could upload the first vlog and start posting here on the blog.
Downtown Fargo had a bunch of these decorated bison, so we figured we had to do the tourist thing and get a picture with one before we headed out. We were cruising along down the freeway going 75 (because that’s the speed limit in North Dakota), when all of a sudden there were signs for 55 and then 25 and there were orange barrels all around and levies to try and prevent the water from creeping up more.There is a lot of flooding going on in North Dakota, especially once we started getting closer to the Bismarck/Mandan area. There was standing water on the east bound side of the freeway. It was unreal.
Mandan was the first location that we were going to be at for more than one night. We were playing Friday & Saturday at a place called Captain Freddy’s.
We set up outside on the stage on the porch. It was awesome watching the water flow by as we played. But later in the set the mosquitoes started attacking. During the break Mark started calling around to try to find a hotel room for the night, because we hadn’t found a place to stay yet for both nights. Every single hotel was booked in the city. Not only is it a holiday weekend, but so many people are staying in hotels because of the flooding. We threw in the towel and decided that Friday would be our first night of camping.
There was some land by the docks across from the marina where the guy from Freddy’s said we could pitch a tent among the trees. So while Mark was DJing for the crowd around midnight, I went and did just that. I set up our home for the night. It was all part of the adventure. A story within our story. I only got a total of 2 hours of sleep, Mark might’ve only gotten double that. Also part of the adventure.
In the morning we went around with tour guide Mike. Seriously, Mark’s buddy Mike used to be a tour guide for Lincoln National Park, [[whats the name?]] so he showed us all around Bismarck and Mandan and told us about the flooding and the history. He also bought us an ice cream along the way. Thanks Mike for the tour, it was awesome to have someone show us around.
We took a nap in our tent and in the afternoon it was beautiful. The breeze coming off the water made it just cool enough to fall asleep with all the windows open. But we knew we had a long driving day after the Saturday night show, so we called around to see if anyone had a hotel opening for the nights. The Super 8 was the only place in town, but we decided to save some money and camp one more night.
That was true…until we met Matt.
Matt and his friend Scott came out to Captain Freddy’s Saturday night and they seemed to really enjoy the acoustic music. So we were talking with them and telling them our story. Matt asked where we were staying and we pointed to the trees and said we had a tent set up beneath them. Without a moment of hesitation he said, if we needed a place to stay we were more than welcome to crash at his house. Two big beds in the basement, a place to do laundry and shower? We couldn’t refuse. We gladly took Matt up on his offer, and we were beyond blessed once again by the hospitality of these young gentlemen in North Dakota.
Thank you Matt (And Zorro!) for opening up your home to us. We appreciate it so much. Your kindness is something we won’t forget!
Until next time,
Jordan
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