We got up, scurried out of the decimated hotel room, gassed up and were on I-94 racing out of Fergus Falls.

We passed up Fargo an hour later and I thought about Hammerhead, and this one time after an MCAD art opening where I had a couple freebie drinks, got a little wobbly and started pedaling back to my place, only to see Paul from Hammerhead waiting to cross Nicollet street. All drunked up, I rolled up and said, “Man, I love that last Vaz album.” And he raised an eyebrow and said, “We haven’t released a Vaz album yet.” I just smiled and took off on my bike, feeling dumb and drunk for meaning to say, “…that last Hammerhead album.” I had heard about Vaz shows around Minne and got the wires crossed. I blame the spiked punch. Always top-notch, I am.

Then we drove all the way across North Dakota, and man, I’ve got nothing to share about that run. Just miles and miles of Dakotas, with a nice Teddy Roosevelt Badlands exclamation point just before we crossed over into Montana.

Made it to Glendive, Montana and pulled off for the night. After securing a room, we headed off into the town to forage for vittles. Tough times. Not too much going on in Glendive.

“Glendive, Montana: The kind of town that just makes you want to leave.” Something like that. Sorry, Glendive, I know you have your finer points, but we aren’t a match.

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SCARIER AND SCARIER, WITH EACH GODDAMNED CLIP: Some clips from upcoming The Road. Chilling. Man. (Sent in by Orville Esoy, somewhere in America. Thanks, man. That’s one hell of a name, too. Awesome.)

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GOOD LUCK PULLING A FAST ONE ON THIS BEAST: One very serious after hours drop box. Sent in by Tony Piff, who knows a good drop box when he sees one. From Portland, even! Good work, and thanks. Another cool name. Tony Piff. I’m tellin’ ya.

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ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLATES, OUT OF THE WHOLE MESS: North Dakota, you northern beast!

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DIDN’T MAKE IT TO GRAND FORKS THIS TIME THROUGH: This one makes up for it, though.