Well, after living four years in Germany, two years in England, and two weeks in Canada we’ve had to renew our skills in recalculating things.  For instance  in Germany one of the first things I learned was to multiply the kilometers by .6 and round up to determine how fast to drive.  Along the way I also had to learn how to determine the temperature by taking the centigrade figure, doubling it and adding 30.  Very approximate, but workable.  In Canada we were assigned the thought problem of recalculating mountain heights into feet.  Here we go again.  Multiply by 3 and round way up.  And money.  Yeesh.  The Canadian dollar is about 90% of an American dollar so I would multiply by .9.  We won’t even go into oven temps!!

So we arrived in North Dakota, which as you all know, is Mark’s home state.  This was the final state Bill had to visit to make all of the Lower 48.

 One reason we came here was to memorialize Mark’s dad who passed in January.  We spent the day with family at the old home place.  Above is Cousin Wes, Mark, Cousin Tammy, Grandma Ann, Chris, and Doug.  They are standing in front of the original log cabin which Great Grandfather Matt built in 1902-03.

Mark’s dad Don’s grandparents are buried in this beautiful cemetery in Sanger.  We visited their graves, too.

A fantastic field of sunflowers to help us commemorate a beautiful day.

One of the best ways we commemorated our fathers was with the birth of Jenny and Brad’s daughter Elise Marie.  She was born August 4th which would have been my Dad’s 101st birthday!

Bill has kept a log of all the states he and Eileen have visited.  Here is Mark putting the North Dakota decal on his map filling in the 48th state they have been to.

So you know that snarky bitch on the GPS who always says “recalculating” when you go a different way than what she thinks you should go?  We have had to learn a hard lesson from her.  Mark has developed some health problems and we are having to recalculate our continuing on this wonderful trip.  We have decided to stop over for a time in ND so Mark can see our long-time friend and doctor, Darwin, and get these issues resolved.  Sadly, Bill and Eileen are continuing on their own.  But, we are glad to be someplace we know and with people we love and feel confident our journey will continue soon.  We have already made plans to go to Medora, ND and The Black Hills later this month so stay tuned for more adventures!  We intend to be Nomads for a long time to come!!