Saving the best for last.
There was a general plan. My friends and I had just spent four glorious days exploring South Dakota. On this, our fifth day, we would be crossing the border into North Dakota and with that, I would complete my quest to visit all fifty states. Certainly, we would stop and take photos at the state's welcome sign. Odds were good there was an alcoholic beverage or two in our handy cooler for us to toast with. We could do a TikTok. The details were fuzzy but the celebration was certain. All we had to do was keep an eye out for the sign. At one point, I knew we had to be close because when we stopped for gas , the store had a rack full of ND magnets. There was also a separate area that doubled as a visitor's center with brochures for ND attractions. In retrospect, I think there may have had a machine where you could renew your ND driver's license. Were those ND lottery tickets they were selling? Yup, we had missed the sign entirely. Also missed were all the indications that we ...