I learned an important lesson last night - don't cancel an invitation to stay at someone's home while taking a 20-hour trip unless you've confirmed with the other person...  Big mistake.  However, it was not all my fault.  Driving through Chicago and part of Wisconsin last night was awful - snow blowing sideways, drivers sliding all over the road.  Come to think of it, I have never driven through Chicago when it hasn't snowed, regardless of the season.  So I actually missed my third appointment to crash on a couch since it was so late and I couldn't predict when I would arrive.

So anyway, I did discover that Wisconsin has some of the most beautiful and accommodating rest stops in the world - here's one of them:

It's hard to see with all the snow that was falling, but trust me, it was pretty nice.  Here's an inside shot:

I even had my own bathroom:

And, it even came with one of these installed, but I'm not sure what it is:

I finally felt like I had had enough sleep by about 5am, so I set off across Minnesota.  Time went by fast and I made good time.  I also learned that there's an Alexandria in Minnesota - probably not the same one as in Romania:

Then, I hit North Dakota...  I felt like I was in the Bermuda Triangle - the more I drove, the longer the trip got.  Here's a shot of me trying to get a picture of the "Welcome to ND" sign:

Here's some of the more exciting pictures of North Dakota:

The last leg of the journey was the worst.  Jameson to Minot - 175 miles of basically logging trail.  Two-lane, very narrow.  Rocks in the road.  Animals of several varieties wandering across.  BIG trucks flying by at 75 mph plus.  And of course, blinding snow showers.  Sums up to about 4 hours of moderate panic.  But I did make it and I'm sitting in my motel room blogging about it.  My prayers will be extra long tonight.

Tomorrow I plan to attend all three wards in Minot.  Since they don't overlap in time, that will take about the whole day.  I'm looking forward to making some new friends!