Spreading Around My Tourist Dollars

As many of you know, I am back in the US for about 2 weeks for my annual pheasant hunting trip in South Dakota with my granddad.

I am sitting in a local hole in the wall restaurant in Bowman, ND. The sign said 'World Famous Big J's Restaurant' and actually had both an American and Canadian flag, as to make it clear that the world is bigger than ND and the US! I had to give it a try - heck if those kooky Canadians love this place, it must be good.

Turns out this little hole in the wall has Internet access... Amazing.

So I am making good progress... Started out from Canby at about 4:30am on Thursday morning (jet lag lead to an early awakening). Made it to Bozeman (as planned) on Day 1 and will get to Willow Lake, SD by this evening if all remains on track.

I stopped here in Bowman, ND for 2 reasons - #1, I have never been to ND, so I decided stopping for lunch would give me a real excuse to say I had been there... and obviously I lucked out and came across the world famous 'Big J's'. #2 - I decided to spread out my tourist dollars. This route only crosses the SW corner of ND, I can't be in the state for more than a hundred miles - so I grabbed this chance.

The 1 state that is in last place in the Welsh Tourist Dollars standings is Washington. I could not make it from Canby to Couer D'Alene on 1 tank of gas and was forced to stop in Spokane and get gas - which I was trying to avoid, as it was something like $3.2x/gallon. I got only $15 worth - enough to get me to the $2.89/gallon gas in Couer D'Alene.

Montana got some gas and a night's stay.
North Dakota got lunch, although that's only $5.79 ($6.20 with tax).

Oh, last reason Big J's will remain famous with me: they rightly serve ranch dressing in a squeeze bottle like ketchup and mustard... not limited quantities in little cups like most places... that alone was worth the stop!

More from the 'Pheasant Trail' later...

Cheers,
Joe