Fargo, ND to Marvin, SD

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I rolled into Marvin about two hours ago. I will add the pictures shortly.

UPDATE: Here are the pictures I took of Marvin, SD. My mother told me that it was a pretty small town. I wasn't prepared how small it actually is.

Main Street

The park

The local watering hole

The fire station

Blue Cloud Abbey, wher my Uncle Stan lived for about 60 years, is about two miles outside of town. I wanted to stop through and see the place since I never took the opportunity while he was alive. When I arrived, I was unable to find anyone, but I heard the sound of motors running in the basement. When I went to investigate, I discovered six or seven people with mops and industrial shop vacs cleaning up a whole lot of water. It seems that a pipe in the basement ceiling burst shortly before I arrived.

I introduced myself to Brother Chris and asked if I could lend a hand. He handed me a mop and I got to work soaking up the water with everyone else. After an hour or so, we had gottn the floor dry enough that we could rely on strategically-placed fans to take care of the rest. It turns out that the room where the pipe burst is where they recently decided to relocate the Indian Research Center. There are several display cases containing beautiful artifacts. I don't know yet how badly the cases were damaged.

When we were finished, a woman named Colleen appeared, whom I met about 15 years ago, and re-introduced herself to me. She and her husband had come to Indianapolis to pick up my uncle. While he was visiting us, he became extremely ill. Paramedics came out, he went to the hospital, came back to our house, then the whole ordeal repeated the following night. I don't recall what was wrong with him, but the doctor ordered him not to drive. Colleen and her husband stayed wit us fo few days until Uncle Stan was well enough to return to South Dakota.

Back at Blue Cloud this afternoon, everyone decided that they should feed me and put me up for the night in exchange for my help with the mopping. I'll be joining the group for evening prayer and dinner shortly.

Unfortunately, as I was getting my things from the car, I dropped my phone flat on its screen. The closest T-Mobile store is 80.9 miles away, roughly in the direction from which I just came. I can still use the phone, I just don't know who is calling me, and texting is out of the question. However, Marvin is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so I don't have service in these parts anyway.