Bismarck, North Dakota

Our plan was to drive north from Grand Rapids, cross into Canada at International Falls, drive across the Canadian Shield, and then west to Winnipeg.

But a couple hours north, driving through some beautiful wooded, lake-dotted wilderness, we hit a deer. Blood and guts splattered all over the car, and the deer made big dents in the hood, bumper, fender, and side of the car, in addition to knocking out the passenger side headlight. Luckily, we were only a couple miles from a tiny town with a mechanic. He helped us clean off all the blood and guts and then determined that, other than the headlight and the body damage, the car was in okay shape to drive. That was a relief. The whole experience was pretty jarring and unsettling, and we decided to alter our trip plans and make a more direct route back west rather than go up into the Canadian wilderness, just in case something should go wrong with the car.

We then drove all the way to Bismarck, out of the wood and lake country of northern Minnesota and onto the flat prairie of the Great Plains. After seven hours of driving, we were pretty confident that the car is in okay shape (despite looking pretty awful) and so we now plan to continue our trip as originally planned into South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon before ending up back in California.