ETHIOPIAN MAN

May 19, 2008. We are in Minnesota a home of 10,000 lakes. Did I say 10,000 lakes. Yes, I did. That is true. Wow !!! What a country !!! We are now driving further west to South Dakota. On left and right side of the road almost 90% what I see is a farm land. I think mainly they grow all sorts of grains like corn, wheat etc. I lived in Washington, DC metropolitan area for the last four and half years. When I compare East Coast where I lived with Mid west, I would say there is a huge farm and in Mid-west than East Coast.

The northern part of Ethiopia is mountainous.Most of the area is not suitable for agriculture. but it has hydro power potential. So it is amazing for me to see such kind of huge farm land on fairly flat topography. I haven't seen any kind of dam for impoundment to irrigate this land. But I can see a kind of borehole for ground water discharge in the field. I would assume ground water is available at shallow depth. So my guess is they are using sprinkler at a latter time to irrigate the crops.

There are also wind mills in the field at a distant to generate power. I want to give a clear vision of how much huge the farm is. Until now we have been driving west to South Dakota around 350 miles from Minnesota. All these area is a farm. I don't know where it is going to end.

We have been travelling 2000 miles since may12, 2008 the trip was started. Including our hometown Sterling, VA we have been to 10 states in addition to Canada. I haven't seen a mountain yet. It is all flat topography suitable either for agriculture or to develop it in to a town.

Another interesting thing is to see Mississippi river. I heard about it since I was 5th grade student in my Geography class. I just saw it today. That was wonderful. It is the biggest and the longest river in US. This river takes my attention because my country, Ethiopia is the source of Nile river which is the longest river in the world.

Last night we spent the night in St. Paul, Minnesota. Abebe, an Architect was my x-coworker in Ethiopia. We spent the night in his house. Avi and Andy used to eat Ethiopian food many times. It is spicy food ranging from mild to hot sauce made beef or lamb and comes with a kind of bread called "Ingera". A team of travel America had a dinner with Abebe. I enjoyed the food and hope Avi and Andy do the same. Abea, Thanks for the hospitality.

Hey guys, We just hit South Dakota. Hope you are enjoying our trip. We are going to camp tonight in South Dakota.