WILDLIFE UPDATE:  I haven't seen a single large, living, wild animal since my last day in North Dakota.  Since then it has been nothing but birds and rodents.  I miss the wildlife of the western states as much as I miss the mountains and the awesome campsites.

However, if you are interested in dead animals, central Minnesota has large numbers and wide varieties of roadkill.  A quick checklist of dead animals I've seen includes skunks, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, deer, rabbits, opossums, owls, prairie chickens, snakes, turtles, caterpillars, dogs and cats.  Some of them are so flattened and dried out that they resemble the crude fur coats and caps of mountain men.  Some of the fresher roadkill looks just like a chunk of meat one can find in the local grocery store.  Some stink really, really bad.  Some have turkey vultures picking at them and stubbornly guarding them until the vultures themselves have to fly off to avoid becoming roadkill.  Damn you, cars and trucks!

Today I saw something I may never forget.  A deer had been bisected, and I think I passed it not too long after it happened.  It had to be a collision of such powerful impact that I cannot even imagine the violence.  There was a head, shoulders, and one front leg on the side of the road.  The hind quarters were still in the middle of the road about five yards away.  Blood and guts were scattered everywhere between the two parts.  The deer's mouth was open as if, just before impact, it was screaming "OOOOOOHHHH FUUUUUUDGE!"

My brother repeated his routine of driving to my destination town, parking the car, riding his bike back to meet me, and cycling the same route back together.  When we arrived in Hutchinson, he loaded up the bike once again and drove back to his St. Paul home.  Our rides together were fun.  In the last month I have only had a handful of conversations of any significance, so it was nice to have some company for a couple of days.  Although, come to think of it, our conversations aren't very significant either--but they're definitely a lot of fun.