October 14, 2010. Devils Lake, N.D. The Desk.

Her desk was amazing, large and cluttered, piled with folders and books and situated right in the middle of this large room. Ken and I were touring Fort Totten, a partially restored fort from the later half of the nineteenth Century. The gate was open so we went in even though we discovered it had closed for the season October 7. One good aspect of being a tourist in October is the lack of crowds. One bad aspect is the closed parks and visitor centers. It does save money!!

So Ken and I are walking around the fort all by ourselves, peering into the windows and trying to find out whether this place is being restored or demolished. One sign on the wall of one of the buildings said "Site Manager", so I looked in the window to discover a lady sitting at this enormous desk. I opened the door and said "Hello Site Manager. Are the rest rooms open?" She stood up and came over to the door and apologized for the closed rest rooms, but told me that as the buildings are not heated, they turn off all water when the Fort closes for the season. After that, she told me she is required to traipse all the way across the enclosure, a distance of several hundred yards in order to visit the toilet.

Now I am wondering what is on her desk. This place is isolated, even for North Dakota and yet her desk looks like any other very busy real estate agent's desk. I saw her house at the far corner of the Fort. It says "Site Manager's Residence" and it looks lovely, at least as much of it as I could see through the window. Until I looked into the room I could not tell the building was occupied. I wanted to go back to ask her what all the stuff was on her desk, but Ken assured me that it was none of my business, which would be true, but I could not imagine what is in all those files on this enormous desk. Perhaps the place is being restored and she is the responsible lady to handle every detail.

We took another detour, over to Devils Lake, the largest lake in North Dakota where we will stay the night. It is pretty here, sculpted by the glaciers. Tomorrow we will end the journey on 281. But we will see Wilma and Keith. And we will attend a hockey game, the same team Keith played for all those years ago. Travelling is a grand thing.