#3: [25-May-24]

01-Nov-2002 -- Does the wind ever stop blowing in North Dakota? My first GPS confluence adventure had me navigating the vast Eastern North Dakota flatlands with the Clerk of Court from a nearby Minnesota county. I had business in Alexandria, Minnesota and I knew that 46N97W still awaited a visit. This confluence was only an hour travel time from Alexandria. Roger Strand, my court administrator friend for Traverse County Minnesota, works in nearby Wheaton and he was an enthusiastic participant for the rigors of confluence hunting. Friday, November 01, 2002 brought us to Roger’s neighbor county; Richland County North Dakota. I was amazed at the number of lakes in the region. Farm fields and lakes – almost no trees. The land owner happily granted us permission to walk the third of a mile across his field. I parked on the township road right at 46 degrees and we headed west. Roger showed me the intricacies of successfully crossing our first obstacle; an electric fence. Roger’s advice is to crawl underneath the electric wire. If you hop over it and stumble the charged wire will no doubt break your fall somewhere between your legs. Crawl under was the only option for me! We battled a strong wind from the northwest and soon came upon the intersection. The satellite photo had me concerned that we’d be on the edge or worse in a pond but that was not the case. In the main photo and the west facing photo you can see the untilled soil where water must gather during the winter and spring. Hands were shaken, we stopped to thank the kind farmer once more and North Dakota goes to 24 of 24.

Jim Attwood