On Monday, August 20 at an exit of the
I#57 highway I found a McDo to read my
mailbox and to publish the page of my
website. I arrived without difficulty at
220-electronics where I had appointment.
My visit lasted less than one half an
hour. The technician asked me for
technical elements to calculate the power
necessary to feed the system of
air-conditioned and the other items, I did
not know them. On the other hand I showed
the features of the Panda Generator which
provides the necessary power. Calculation
carried out was obscure, here: for a rated
current of 20.4 amps under 220 volts, the
formula used gives: 20,4x220x3
(coefficient?) = 13,464 watts. One thus
needs a “set-up & down transformer” of
15,000 watts. The material is available
for $335. But it weighs 47,25 kg
(105 lb) and one needs an electrician to
connect it at each use. The DSR3000w I had
bought was taken back with an abatement of
15%. I left the company under the shock of
this discovery.
I started again my
peregrination towards the Canadian border
while entering Wisconsin, undulating
landscape with many equipment of holidays
in admirable sites incentive to walking. I
bivouacked on a rest area.
On Tuesday, August 21 I left Wisconsin to Minnesota which I crossed from east to west by circumventing St Paul and Mineapolis to arrive at Fargo in North Dakota at the edge of Red River border between the two states. The landscapes are very different Minnesota resembles Wisconsin but with less and less high mountains to finish by a lowland in North Dakota dedicated to cereal agriculture. After a rapid visit to the Visitor Center at Fargo to take a road map I established my bivouac on a rest area with WiFi access.
On Wednesday, August 22 I crossed the border between the USA and Canada without control at the exit the USA, I had forgotten this characteristic thus not stamp on my old passport! At the Canadian control the procedure was dispatched promptly with the usual questions from where I come, where I go, I have weapons etc… A stamp on my new passport, is ten minutes. Canadians are effective. One kilometer further on I stoped at the Visitor Centre of Canada for the collection of booklets. With the agreement of the hostess I decided to bivouac on the carpark to prepare the continuation of the journey. From Houston, TX, to the border at Pembina, ND, I had traversed 3379 km (2100 mi) in four days and two half-days without doing any visits initially envisaged.
The stay in the USA started in brass band with the visit of Miami. Then they were the batteries of my truck discharged heralding, not perceived, other problems. The visit of Key West and Everglades was not plain success in summer season. On the other hand I have a very favorite at St Petersburg at the time of the visit of the museum devoted to Salvador Dali. It was the end of the state of grace. From Panama City Beach it was a sequence of technical problems of which some came out from a control during service by a MAN garage, non-existent in North America. The climax was and remains the tires Michelin 14.00R20XZL become unavailable in the USA due to Michelin privileges the supply of the American army in battle field to the detriment of the private customers, business obliges. Thus I spent the major part of this trip to expect spare parts or hypothetical tires, little or no tourist visits. The resolution of technical problems in Europe is very easy but becomes stressing and random elsewhere. Since my departure in 2006 I make the report that the more a country is developed technologically the more repairers miss ingeniousness or know-how. Here in the USA, the tune is: “It is not American, we do not know”, or perhaps exacerbated nationalism.
