There isn’t much to see between Minot and Cando. We did our best, which consisted of a thorough tour of the town of Rugby. It bills itself as the “Geographical Center of North America.” (Not to be confused with Belle Fourche, South Dakota, which is the Geographical Center of the United States.) As with every other site of this sort I’ve been to, the actual point being celebrated is several miles away.
This one is better because it’s drive-through.
We parked in downtown Rugby and wandered the streets. The town has the largest grain elevator I’ve ever seen.
And the remains of what has to be the smallest J.C. Penny’s on the planet.
We found a diner downtown that doubled as an antique store.
Cando is only 20 miles from the Canadian border, but it sure doesn’t feel like it to me. Not when it’s 95 degrees in August, anyway. The flat farmland looks like central Illinois and doesn’t at all conform to my idea of “north.”
The town got its name Cando “to show you that we can do it,” according to its web site. It’s one of at least two towns (the other is Gackle) to bill itself as the Duck Capital of North Dakota.