Impressions of Coeur D' Alene

It's been over 20 years since I last visited as a tourist. I know I camped here last Fall, but it was only a 2 nighter and I didn't get out in the area. I camped in a small, cramped, RV park and couldn't get my slides out all the way. I scraped the top of the rig on a branch on my way out. I didn't choose that camp ground this time and I'm glad I chose the one I'm in now.

The camp ground is one of the prettiest. It has the "IT FACTOR" one of the bloggers I follow uses to describe a nice place.

I should say it's been nice until last night. There is a young couple occupying the site behind me. They came back to their trailer last night, obviously having too many adult beverages. I heard some arguing. After about an hour of this going on, I watched as the young lady dragged her luggage along the road, making a staggering retreat to who knows where.

Twenty years ago, the road from Coeur D' Alene to Hayden was a highway through the trees. It had a wild a woolly feeling. Now it is virtually a strip mall the whole way. Traffic is all over the place. There are many new traffic lights in the downtown area and there are now one way streets to manage the flow.

In my opinion, I enjoyed the place more as it was back then. The resort on the end of the lake was the only place to stay. The town had a real "town" feel. Now it is a virtual tourist trap. I think I will use this time here as a "quiet time" and just enjoy the park.

I'll be here until Tuesday. I'll then be moving further West. I haven't figured my next stop and I won't until later. I should be in the Tacoma area around this time next week.

I'm in Hayden Lake

I finally hit the road. I did my hitch routine, dodging rain and more rain. I managed to get everything together without incident. Ah, er, I did forget to secure the pantry drawer. I found canned goods all over the place when I opened the trailer door when I was setting up again.

It was 250 miles from Glacier Lake to Hayden Lake. Hayden Lake is famous for the old headquarters of the Skinhead movement and Neonazis, etc. They are no longer around. Somebody sued them and cleaned them out.

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find a site for this weekend. It's one of the biggest weekends of the year for RV Parks. I couldn't call ahead because I was in a place so remote, there wasn't any cell signals. I showed up, expecting to only get a night, but I was lucky. The clerk said there was a cancellation and I have a site through Labor Day. Great!

If you look real close, you can just make out Emily in the window.

Lucky, to be sure. This is one of the nicer Parks I've been in. It's off the highway, so no noise, no train tracks either. It's clean and well kept up. The picnic tables are all new and aluminum. You can have a fire at your site too. They have showers and a Landry. It is very nice.

I recommend Alpine Country Store and RV Park, if your in the Coeur d' Alene area. It doesn't look like much from the road, but it's a hidden gem. Oh, by the way, your at a 50-50 shot at getting dish TV. It all depends on the trees at your site. I can't get a DishTv signal, but the bat wing antenna gets about 6 channels, with great reception.

Jim Olson sent me a video of a guy with a cat and a lot of it hits home with me. I think I got it loaded, enjoy! By the way, she is slowly pulling through her mood.

A Rain Delay

I came in on the rain here and, it looks like I'll be leaving on the rain. For most of the last two days, it's been wet. Off and on casual storms during the day and last night it was a good old fashioned thunder storm. I've been staying close to the trailer, and dry.

I have been expecting a mail delivery. I anticipated it to be here yesterday afternoon, and I would be traveling farther west today. No luck. This park has a PO Box delivery in the next town. Coram doesn't have a post office. I appears I will have to make a mental note to allow an extra day when PO Boxes are involved.

At any rate I extended an extra day here, at a premium price. My mail came this afternoon and I am now prepared to head out tomorrow for Hayden Lake - Skin Head territory!

This is Lake MacDonald from the foot of Apgar village.

I snuck out to the little town of Apgar. It's located just inside the Park boundary. I bought a souvenir hat and a huckleberry scone with ice cream. Huckleberries are ripe right now and I have had a bunch of them. I've heard of them before, but like chokecherries, I didn't know what they really look like in the wild, or what they tasted like.


They are like lighter colored and smaller blue berries. Very sweet too.

On a side note. When I extended the slide out, getting things set up when I arrived, a very long pine needle evidently fell out and landed on the carpet. Emily found it and started to play with it. I didn't think anything of it. The last two days she has been very unlike her normal self. She's lethargic and doesn't eat much. I can't find that pine needle. I am beginning to think she ate it. Cats are supposed to be able to overcome these things. I'll be keeping a close eye on her.

Since tomorrow is a travel day, I'll most likely post my next post on Thursday.

Logan Pass

Boy, it's been beautiful here the last two days. Unfortunately, my laundry was beckoning me. It has been piling up to the point where I just had to do some homey chores. That's what I did for one of the last two days. I won't bore you with the details.

Yesterday was another great day. The sun was out, and it gets cool at night now. It takes until about 10:00 when it warms to the point of not having to wear a sweatshirt, or light jacket. It makes for perfect sleeping weather. I even have to put the furnace on before I go to bed now. The Summer is surely moving on.

I got going just before 11:00 and headed for the Park. I was going up to Logan Pass today and try my hand at hiking in the mountains. I have to be honest, I am more of a flat lander. Standing on top of mountains, at the edge of cliffs, is not my bag.

The noted Road-to-the-Sun is going through repairs this year. Culverts are being installed to divert water from rain and snow melt under the road. I decided to take one of the many shuttle rides to the top. I'm glad I did. The road is a typical narrow, windy, cliff edge road with vast scenery and thousands of feet chasm views.

I would have been a wreck if I drove it. There is a mile and a half stretch of single file driving through the construction area too. I remembered my drive up to Kitt Peak, in Arizona last Winter. This drive would have been rougher.


But once I was up on the pass, I was all right. The terrain is a little flatter up there, around the Visitor's Center. I did walk a couple of trails, but I didn't go much more than a mile on each of them. One of them descended down a mountain face. I turn around when I got that far.

The views were amazing. I'll just post them now.

The Continental Divide.

Waterfalls.

Alpine Meadow.

This valley, according to the shuttle driver, is where most of the Park's Grizzly bears are born. I have learned that most of them wear tracking collars. They tend to travel loosely together. By monitoring their movements, the rangers will close trails to hiking, if they get too close.

Of course there are the wildflowers. They are all over the place.


I was lucky enough to come across a herd of about 5 mountain goats. I couldn't be sure of the number because they were emerging from a thicket. I think there were a few more that weren't brave enough to come out. But this mother and her two kids just ambled across my path, about 20 feet away. Amazing!



Colombian Ground Squirrels were all over the place. This mom and little one, weren't afraid of begging for some food.


On my last post, I mentioned the Red Buses and not seeing them around. Well, I was wrong about them being used as shuttles. If you want to ride one, you have to book with the Park Service. It costs $80.00 per person. But, they take you to places that most people don't know about and the driver gives information about everything you see. They travel the whole Road-to-the-Sun.


I made it out of the park at about 6:30. Before I did, I stopped and checked out the lodge at Lake MacDonald. It wasn't much more than one of those touristy type of things. I was a little bit disappointed. I didn't even bother to take the camera out of my backpack.

I'll be planning my next location tomorrow. I also am expecting a pony express mail delivery. Until then...

Avalanche Lake

You might have noticed in yesterday's post, the font and line spacing were a little bit different from what you routinely see. Blogger is working on a whole new version of itself. They invite users to hop over to the Beta version of it and try it out. They have a much easier way of loading pics and the look behind the scenes is a little more user friendly. I think it will be great when they are finished, but it isn't quite there yet. So I'm back to the normal version.

The Middle Fork of the Flathead River. You cross this in the town of West Glacier, before the Park entrance.

No rain this day! Even though it was a dry day, the sun never quite came out. The day was cool and I researched the best place for an easy hike. Avalanche Lake, according to information I read, is an easy two mile walk one way. Then follow the same trail back. The trail is quite popular. And, because it is so popular, no grizzly bears sightings have been reported in the last few years!

Most of the two miles to the lake runs through dense forest.

The trail winds through the Avalanche Creek valley. I would classify this as more than a creek, though.

I got started just before noon. I loaded my pack with food and extra clothing, in case I somehow got wet. I drove to the Transportation Center and parked. I took one of the free shuttle buses to the trail head. It was a normal city type bus. The old restored red open top cars, from the 30's, are all around, but are not used unless the visitors overwhelm the standard buses. On a Thursday with an overcast, and after three days of rain, the Park's population isn't a large as it would be on a nice weekend day.

Wildflowers along the way.

Once I got to the trail head, it was obvious my tee shirt wasn't going to be warm enough. I was glad I bothered with the pack, because I whipped out my jacket out to keep warm.

Most of the trees are draped in this kind of moss.

The literature classifies this as an easy hike. Maybe I'm more out of shape than I thought. I was huffing and puffing my way on a steady uphill grade with steep portions. The trail is well maintained and wide. This trail gets used quite a bit.


Just before the trail gets to the lake, you can begin to see the top of the mountains on the hover above the far side of the lake. Then the forest clears and Avalanche Lake appears. It is a majestic little lake. It's no more than a half mile across. The water is absolutely crystal clear and has a blue green color to it. I bet with the sun out, it would look more sapphire. The mountains towered on three sides and water falls were cascading down on all of them.

I took a lot of pics here and I paused to eat my PB&J sandwich and other munchies I brought.


I walked a trail to the far side and then I walked the rocky shore back. On my way back, I stopped because of I heard what I thought was a bird very nearby. I look and look and could not gage where the sound was coming from. Then I saw a little movement and it turned out to be a chipmunk, on a branch above me, scolding me big time.



I usually have a handful of sunflower seeds in a baggie with me. I pulled a couple out and this guy scrambled down from his tree and perched on a rock waiting for a hand out. They don't want you to feed the critters of course. But...

By the time I hiked back to the trail head and caught a bus to get back to the truck, it was passed 6:30. My, time went by fast. My next hike will be across the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. I'll have to get an earlier start for that one.


I learned there is a hiker missing in the Park. He went out and never came back. They are thinking either bears might have had something to do with it, or he slipped and fell. He's be missing for so long.

It's Still Raining

I was hunkered in all day yesterday. It rained throughout the day and into the night. It was raining today too. Up to the time I started to post this post. The sun peeked out just now and hopefully it will stay that way. The wind is picking up and I can hear the trees in the background. A lot of "whooshing" going on.

There was a brief break yesterday morning and I got out and at least walked the campground before it started up again. It's a clean and relatively new park. They specialize in yurts, and cabins. I didn't see any of those occupied. The RV portion is about 3/4 full. 

There is one rig here that's the biggest I've ever seen. It's a Volvo semi cab pulling at least a 40 foot 5th wheel. He has a hydraulic lift on the rear of the trailer and carries his Harley, with side car, there.

During the sun break, I ran out and took a pic of the Big Rig.

The guy looks to be in his 60's but his wife is in her 20's and they have what looks to be a four year old boy. He's the one in the side car most of the time. They took off during that little break we had. I can't imagine there are many places that can accept a rig that big. I sometimes have a problem with getting my setup parked.

I got cabin fever by mid afternoon and drove to Columbia Falls, 20 miles south, to do a little grocery shopping and to just drive around.

It was a frozen pizza in the oven when I got back. I watched a little TV and then off to bed. The rain was hitting the roof and lulled me to sleep. It has a hypnotic effect that way.

Rain in the Mountains

I got out of Great Falls this morning before the sun got too high. It was 9:30 when I pulled out and it was already in the 80's. It stayed pretty much that way the whole time I was East of the Mountains.

It cooled quickly once I got in a higher elevation. I fueled up in Browning, Montana. Wow, what a zoo. It's an Indian town in the Blackfeet Reservation. Every stall in the station had a car in it and at least another one waiting. Diesel was sold on a separate island and I was able to drive around the back and approach an empty spot. It's like the old 50's Drive Inns. People come here to socialize and see other people!

I carefully zig zagged my way out, once I filled up. It was quite an experience.

I passed a forest fire raging at the top of a mountain 20 miles before I pulled into my new home for the week, North American RV Park, in Coram, MT. It stormed and stormed just as I pulled into town. I had to pull off the road because I couldn't see to the end of the truck. It was raining that hard.


It quickly passed and I found my spot. It's a nice place with great wifi and bad cell reception. My satelite TV got a signal. Emily is settled in. I'm dry, and it's started to rain again. I can't wait to see what Glacier Park is about.

100+ in Great Falls!

...Before I get too far. My thanks to Fred and Nancy, for bravely entering the realm of "shout" on the website. If you are getting RSS feeds, I urge you to hit the blog site and try the "shout" feature in the sidebar. Okay on to today...

I stopped yesterday's post early because of technical problems. I should have finished it with running to "Bed and Bath and Beyond" which I noticed on my way in. I replaced all of the pillows I tossed the day before. I also scoped out a "Walgreen's" and had my prescription filled this morning.

I rolled in Yesterday and the thermometer in the office read 99 degrees. Sheesh!... I scrambled to get set up and get the air conditioning going as fast as I could. I headed to one of those Casino bar-tavern-lounge places to wait out the heat and let the rig cool down and for the sweat to dry off of me. The temps were predicted to be the same for today... and they were right! It got to 102!!

What do you do in Great Falls in 102 degree heat? Not much. I woke up too early this morning because of all the diesel motors starting up at 6:30. People were heading out before the sun got too high, and I don't blame them.

After coffee and a bagel and surfing the web sites I normally surf in the morning. You know, those sites that replace the morning newspaper. I usually scope the CNN website. Then I scan headlines from the Tacoma News Tribune and the Winona Daily News. Then I drift over to a blog I've been reading for three years now "RV Dreams". Then I researched the next place to stay and gave a promising camp ground a call.

Trout in the Missouri River down stream of the falls. Where's my rod!

The lady said she could put my name down for a really good site, or I could just show up and probably get a crappy site. I never heard that approach before. I gave her my name, and that's all she wanted. No reservation, just a name. Go figure!!!

The morning sped by and the temps were rising and I had to asked myself: "What do you do in Great Falls when it's a 100?" That's when I headed to the visitors center for a suggestion. It was definitely not going to be an outdoor day today.

A Russell sculpture among the Browning gun display.

Russell built this log building as his work shop.

They were great and a nice guy gave me direction to drive out to the falls early, then head to the C Russell Museum and then head out to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. That was my plan!


The drive to the falls was a little harrowing. I don't think the road has been improved since the 1960's. Ruts and pot holes all over the place and there is an ongoing patchwork job the City is obviously doing.

But the 14 mile drive was worth it. The falls were discovered by Lewis and Clark, and was the only place on their exploration where they actually buried some of their provisions, to be picked up on the return route.

The dam was built on top of the falls. The terrain is today, the way it was, except for over twice the amount of water traversed over it. Today it is deflected to the turbines of the dam.


The Russell Museum was almost too much material for me to absorb. It seemed endless and was the type of art I like. They also have an extensive display of Browning fire arms. Browning was a local boy and owned most of the gun patents that our modern guns evolved from. Did you know that he invented and owned the patent for the lever action that Winchester made famous? ...a little trivia!


The Lewis and Clark Center was also very good. The pic is a look up river toward the City from the deck of the Center. It was very well done and well worth the time.

It was cooled down to 93 when I left the Center. Whew, I thought it was going to be hot! I headed for home, but stopped for a beer and to wait until it got down to the 80"s. I got home and Emily was waiting. The rig was cool. I'm glad I opted for the bigger air conditioning and 50 amp. Wow, it was hot.

On the Road With Emily

This is an out of focus shot of Emily. It was a one hand try while driving. She has become a real solid traveling buddy. She never complains anymore about the ride. When I am getting the rig ready, she is now familiar with the noises and bounces with the trailer while I am hitching up. She knows it's time to get into her traveler and she waits next to it when I have everything ready to go. She is the last item on the routine when I transport her from the trailer to the passenger seat in the truck. She's 11 years old now.


She doesn't whine anymore, but she does "talk" to me when I talk to her. I can tell when she is content, and I make sure she always is. She is a great companion. It's like the time when ever I come across one of those old combines on the prairie. I always remark to her "look another one", she usually replies. Here is an out of focus example of another one of those combines.


I left Glasgow this morning and headed for Great Falls. Great Falls is a little off the route, but I had to go there for two reasons.

First, my prescription drugs has run out and I am on the computer at Walgreen's. It has worked out great until now. From the Minnesota boarder to Great Falls, via Highway 2, there is not a single Walgreen's - more than 750 miles! - sheesh....


Secondly, I mentioned I washed all of my linen. What I didn't mention was, when I pulled the pillow cases off and then unzipped the pillow covers, there was a storm of feathers from one of the pillows. My small bedroom was full of feathers. I also have some really cheap pillows used as shams that also "leak" all the time. I tried to remember when I bought those pillows. I can't put my finger on it, but it has to be around the time I got married. That's 20 years ago! My God...

I tossed the pillows.

I'm having all kinds of problems with blogger right now.

...By the way check out the chat window in the side bar...

A New Feature - Chat

In an effort to get the "Lurkers" out of the closet, (You know who you are!) and to make this blog more interactive, I've added a sidebar feature called "shout". It's a chat type of tool that will allow you an easy way to communicate with me and any other reader out there.

I'm expecting you folks to come forward. Yes, step out, and and chat. It's easy. Just put a message in the message box and click the "shout" button. You don't even have to give you name.

"Just do it!"

On to Glasgow, MT

I was just getting ready to pull the rig out of the RV park in Dickinson, when the park host came over and chatted. He is a solo traveler too. When he learned I'm traveling alone too, he offered me a site for free the next time I come through. All I have to do is greet incoming campers and assign them a spot. It would only be a three day a week job. Great, I was offered my first job on the road!

If only the park were some place else. Dickinson isn't exactly a 'Destination Resort'. I thanked him and if I ever am in the area again, I will take him up on his offer. It was a nice gesture.

I was off under sunny skies and a 250 mile trip. It didn't stay sunny for long. The skies turned stormy and the temperatures dropped into the 50's. I drove through storm cell after storm cell. There were three BIG downpours I had to endure. So much for washing the rig last week. It is now another mess.


I made it to Glasgow with only one harrowing experience, other than the rain. I had to pass through the town of Wolf Point. The road snaked through the small town and passed under a low railroad bridge. The sign read 13 feet, 10 inches. I think the height of my rig is close to that.

I wasn't sure, but I was already passed the point of no return and I could see the top of the underpass was all damaged from high rig impacts. I held my breath, and made it through. I will have to get an exact measurement of my height and watch these small towns more closely, from now on, for these obstacles.

When I got to Glasgow and all set up, I was in the mood for pizza. I was hungry and it was close to 5:00. Where do you find the best place in town for pizza? Well, since I am parked next door to a motel and restaurant/lounge, I headed to the lounge for a beer and to find out where the best pizza place is.

There were four locals seated and about halfway through my beer I asked where to go to get a pizza. It was like a choreographed preplanned response. They all turned there head toward me at the same time and simultaneously said: "Eugene's". It was quite funny.

"Eugene's" it was. I must say, they were absolutely right, it was the best I've had in years.

I spent the following day doing homey chores. It was laundry, changing linen, cleaning and vacuuming. I didn't touch the outside of the rig. I figured there will be more rain before I get to the other side of the mountains. I'll have to just grin a bear it.

Last Day in Dickinson

I scouted out my next location. I'll be heading in the Glacier National Park direction. There isn't much for RV parks along the way. I finally found a place that sounded decent enough. I gave them a call and asked them availability of sites. They have plenty. So, though I didn't make a reservation, I made it my next destination. It's in the little town of Glasgow, Montana, about 250 miles from Dickinson - and still a long way to go before Glacier.

Before I left Dickinson, I wanted to check out the nearby Dinosaur Museum. I've never been in such a museum before, so I didn't know what to expect. I must say, it was an interesting visit for me. Maybe I'm just interested in such things - old things. All the displays were very well done and well thought out. They also have samples of most all minerals found in the US.


All of the open displays were made from casts of actual fossils. The only real fossil was displayed through a glass window looking into the lab. It was a triceratops scull found 80 miles west of here. They were still studying it.


I spent a good two hours in this museum before I wandered into the gift shop and bought a T Rex souvenir T-shirt for $10.00. On my way out, I noticed a nearby building that had a sign on the door that read: "Farm Machinery Display". There was plenty of time left in the day. Curiosity finally got a hold of me and I strolled in.

I see this reaper in fields all over the place.

It was a small warehouse filled with antique farm tools donated by the locals. It was another very interesting place for me. I saw the reaper on display. It's the same reaper I have been seeing abandoned or on display in fields all over the Midwest. It's made by McCormick. It must have been one of the most popular machines at one time. I took a pic of it when I was in Nebraska, this Spring.

Do you think the company that built this old tractor was the inspiration for the Minnesota Twins' logo?

..... a note: I'm having problems with blogger today. They have done some updates yesterday and it is acting erratically. I can't vouch for the quality of what you're reading....

This planter is a conversion of the normal hand water pump to a gas operated automatic pump.

I signed the guest book and headed for the truck. Off to my left, on the crest of a hill, were several buildings that seemed out of place. So, why not, I took a walk up the hill and there were displays of restored old small town buildings. According to the plaque there, this is an ongoing project of the local Eagle Scout troop.


The old East Heart train depot had a little write up about it. The clerk working here was on duty 24/7. In addition to mail and loading and unloading freight, he lived with his family in small quarters in the rear. He had to signal trains passing, at all hours, using levers from inside the building to the tower outside the window.


Low and behold, there was another Scandinavian Stabbur on display. That makes three of them since I left Minnesota. I have never even heard of them before this leg of my travel.

I had to get back and call it an early night this night. Tomorrow is travel day and it's a long way to Glasgow.

Roosevelt National Park

I got a strange visitor this morning. I was out and futzing about. I can't remember what exactly it was I was doing. You know one of those little innocuous jobs you don't think anything about. A guy and his wife drove up and rolled down the window. He simply asked what kind of flag I was flying beneath the American flag on my flag post. Huh? It was the Norwegian flag! I might be able to understand that kind of visit in, say.... Georgia, or something. But this is little Scandinavia. Oh, well....

I wonder what Garrison Keillor would have to say!


I headed 30 miles East today. Teddy Roosevelt National Park is located there. This part of the park is the South section. Another 30 miles North and there is the North section. Most of this park is the Northern Badlands area. There is a lot of rugged land. I don't know what kind of agriculture would work here, but this is where Roosevelt owned a ranch.


His first house is on display in the park. It is not much more than a cabin, but it had a basement, three rooms, lots of windows and a loft for the hired hand. He actually lived in it for an entire year before he built a spacious ranch house and ranch buildings 35 miles North. There is nothing left of that property today because of fire.

Five large prairie dog colonies resided along the road. There must be thousands of these guys with their dirt mounds dotting the area.

I took a drive through it. There are many hiking trails and a lot of horse stables offering rides around. I didn't get here until the early afternoon so there wasn't much time for me to do any of those things. I just enjoyed the scenery. And there as a lot of it.

Balanced rocks

It wasn't long before I came on a road block of buffalo. This was the first time I have seen buffalo in the wild. A line of cars was stopped for over a half hour as we waited for the critters to amble on.


Outside the park is the little historic town of Medora. It was named after the wife of the first settler. He was a French aristocrat; "The Marquis de Mores". He had the idea of ranching cattle and supplying high quality beef to consumers in the East. He built a huge processing plant in 1883 and shipped his beef via ice cars on the railroad.

I took this pic of the chateau from a butte across the valley.

It only lasted a couple of years. He hit a drought and could not graze beef to the quality standards people would buy. His guest house is still here. They call it the chateau and it is now a museum. In 1912 the packing plant burned down.

This Conestoga made for a neat planter

By the time I got home, the sun was setting. I swung by the grocery and bought some chicken for the barbecue. A little TV and I was in bed early.

An Idle Day

I heard on the news that one of the arches in Arches National Park fell due to erosion and gravity. I wondered if it was one of the arches I saw when I was there this Spring. I hopped on line and sure enough, it was one of those I have a pic of. The arch is (or was) "Wall Arch" and is in a very narrow slot canyon in the Devil's Garden area. The pic I took is from just about exactly where the AP photo was taken from.


It must have happened at night because no one witnessed it, or heard it. There were tourists all over this part of the park, when I was there. Very lucky.

It rained off and on all day, which kept me inside most of the time. I did manage to get out and buy some jeans I was in dire need of. They are another size larger in the waist, of course. What causes old jeans to shrink so much anyway?

The rain was good. They need it here, according to my neighbors, Wayne and Margorie. They are early risers. They have farmed all their lives in the area and are up by 4:00 every morning. They moved out today. I wasn't even out of bed when they drove off. It was a little after 7:00 when they left. They're nice folks and will be wintering in Yuma, AZ. Maybe I'll see them again. I plan on visiting Yuma this Winter too.

I watched the last round of the PGA golf tournament. What a great show again this year. I have to hand it to Harrington. He is at the very top of his career. Like most, I was pulling for Garcia, though.

The rain is still here and I haven't made any plans for today. I'll just have to see how it pans out. I am staying in Dickinson for another three days. I'm staying long enough to get my mail forwarded. ...'til later!

A Road Tour

Yesterday was maintenance day. I washed the truck, and it wasn't easy. I toured Dickinson for one of those wand type car washes and couldn't find one. I was low on diesel because I had not yet refueled from the trip here. I drove into CNEX and filled up. A local biker was in front of me in the cashier's line and I asked him if there was one of those wand type washes in town.


He pointed me to the exact center of Dickinson and low and behold there it was, a car wash I could use. The office was open and the worker, or what ever, had just emptied the coin boxes and I asked for change for a $20.00, ten of it in quarters please. I spent all ten bucks and had to change another fiver before I was done with the wash. My ride was that dirty! She's clean now...

My little sister sent me an email this morning. Her husband, and my brother in law Joe, has roots in this area. The old family "Stranik" is from an area North of Dickinson. They farmed near the New Hradec community just twenty miles North of here. After I read my email, I started the Taco Chile I prepped last night in the crock pot.

Today's weather was in stark contrast to yesterday's. Yesterday the skies were clear and it got all the way to 93 degrees. I sweat bullets doing anything that day. Today it was overcast, cool and rain was predicted. The locals want rain and that's okay. Just so it isn't the extreme lightning and thunder, with wind, storms I've been going through the last four weeks.

At 150 feet tall, the Guiness Book has this as the worlds tallest work of art.

It was a dismal wimpy kind of rainy day. Similar to what you would find in the Seattle area. I thought hey, I'll just take a drive to New Hradec and then tour the Enchanted Highway, where a local artist has erected some large sculptures. I could make it home in time for the third round of the PGA Championship - and stir the Taco Chile.

A 'Fisherman's Dream'

That's what I did. So be prepared for a lot of pics of metal road side art. If you are interested in who in the world is doing this, you can find his web site here. I'll also spare you with the other pics because his site has them too.

'Deer Crossing'. You can get an idea of scale from the truck behind the fawns rear leg.

I stopped at all the derelict farms along the road and the little bitty towns I passed along the way.


This is all that is left of Lefor, ND. The ruin is the vault.


I finally got home and stirred the chile. The golf tournament was rained out and I settled into the lounge chair outside. I opened the Chokecherry wine and chatted with my neighbor Wayne. He also had relatives around the New Hradec area. He pronounced it just like "neurotic". Instead of and "aw" sound it is pronounced with an "ah" sound. He should know!

Ufdah

I woke up this morning to a beautiful sun lit morning. At night, it now gets into the 50's. It makes for great sleeping and very tough to get up in the morning. It was one of those mornings. I was just lazing in bed with the sun shining through the little windows in the bedroom. I did finally get out of bed about a half hour later than I wanted to. This is travel day and it is good to get started as quickly as the cobwebs clear and after, of course, the morning coffee.

Everything went routine as far as getting things ready to go. That is until I drained my black water tank. The thing just stopped draining quicker than it was supposed to. Oh, oh, I've got a plugged drain line. I hooked up hose to the flush system to get water in it and hopefully unplug the problem. I have a clear plastic adapter on the fitting for the sewer hose. It lets me see what is happening there. It's one of those tricks I picked up along the line.

The water was being pumped into the black water tank and the valve was open, but no water was coming through the sewer line. Toilet paper is always the culprit. That's why they make that special paper for marine and RV use. I, knowing more than the manufactures of such things, opted to used Angel Soft. That's what just about every other full timer uses and with no problems. But now a problem!

My neighbor next door came around to chat. Neighbors always come around to chat when you are either going through the critical move routine, or when such problems occur. He happened by when both of those things were going on. He asked: "What's the problem?" Just when I looked up, I heard a 'whoosh' and the water was flowing through the sewer line, transporting the problem toilet paper plug. I said in a confident tone: "Oh, nothing."

Before I left Minot, I stopped by the winery down the road. It is the first winery opened in North Dakota and is just three years old. They currently specialize in fruit wines. They have grape vines growing on the property, but it takes a few years before they begin to bear fruit. I did a little tasting and settled on a bottle of red and a bottle of white.

The red wine is called Chokecherry and is a mighty fine dry red. What is Chokecherry? I heard about it years ago but never really knew what is was. A bill was signed last year by the North Dakota governor, making it the official fruit of NoDak. Wonderfull! I found this pic of Chokecherry on Wikipedia:


The other wine, the white one, is Rubarb. A sweet white with a mellow perfume!

The best from the Point of View winery

Okay, back to the trip. It was pretty uneventful, you know the usual routine. The landascape in this part of the state is completely barren of trees. Except, when you come upon a farm, or ranch, that has trees around the buildings, acting as shade and a wind break. The fields are all wheat or sunflowers now. The acres and acres of sunflowers are an amazing sight. I didn't have my camera with me or I would have gotten a pic.

About 80 miles from my destination, I came on some road construction. Not a big deal I thought. The black top turned into gravel, then hard packed dirt with construction equipment all around. Then the truck in front of me came to a complete stop and I was right behind him. There was a flag bearer that halted us. No big deal, just wait for the cars coming from the other direction then it would be our turn.

I waited for over twenty minutes. She was signalling construction vehicles to come around us and there was no oncoming trafic. Finally, she turned her stop sign around when a truck showed up with a "FOLLOW ME" sign on the back. After that long wait, there still was only me and the guy in front of me to go.

The hard packed dirt turned into softer dirt. A water truck cued in front of all of us and sprayed the ground with water to keep the dust down. All it made was a type of mud that turned to dust as soon as it stuck to the truck's wheels. The guide truck changed lanes to the right shoulder, and we followed. Then he changed to the left shoulder, and we followed. It was two miles of this and in the middle section, the ruts we were driving in were a foot and a half deep and it was soft dirt. I locked my transmition into four wheel drive low. I was bogging down and didn't think I could make it. I know the rig has high axles and I was clear there.

I made it through, I made it through! I finally made it through. I could not believe they allowed me to go through that stretch. My milage suffered and I was only averaging 8.2 mpg. But, I made it through.

I got to Dickenson and my camp ground by 4:00. But it is actually 3:00 as I am now in Mountain Time. My truck and trailer were absolutely FILTHY. I got parked and washed the rig right away. I think they have rules in this park about washing rigs. But I found out long ago, if your new to a park, you can get away with just about anything the first couple of hours. Just play dumb!

A calm, windless day in Western North Dakota

I have nice neighbors, we chatted, but we haven't introduced ourselves yet. I was completely spent by the time I settled in. Ufdah!

Little Scandinavia

Minot has a LARGE population of Scandinavians living here. Just by looking around at the people on the street, there are MORE gorgeous blond young ladies in this town than anywhere else I've been. If you are looking for this type, mark Minot, NoDak on your calendar... Seriously, there really are a lot of Nordic types here. I found out by stopping in the town park.

This house was built in 1770 in Sigdahl, Norway. It was restored, dismantled, and shipped to Minot, where it was reassembled.

There is a well established Scandinavian Heritage Association here. It includes all seven of the countries. I can only think of five of them: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. Can you think of the other two? At any rate, there is an amazing park, put together here with a lot of effort and is maintained to a high degree, existing here.

A Stave Church. It's a full size replica of the original built in 1250.

This windmill was built in 1928 by Carl Olson in Powers Lake, ND and was used to supply water and grind wheat for his family.

I passed it when I went to the laundromat for my much needed laundry chore. I was down to my last pair of skivvies. The RV park I'm in has a laundry room. There are only two washers and two driers in it and one of the washers was on the blink. There is always competition for these facilities. I've learned long ago it is better to go into the community, in most places, and do the laundry thing. That's why I hunted down a local laundromat. And that's how I found this little section of town.

A Stabbur, or storehouse for food, was built in 1775, in Telemark, Norway. Compare it to the one I saw built by the towns folk in Hanska, Minnesota. Click Here.

I came back to the town park and had a little walk around - after my nap, of course. When I finished with my little walk, it was time to call it a day. It was getting on to 5:00 and I had a steak thawing for the grill. A good dinner and a little TV and I was off to bed.

Can't do Devils Lake

I spent most of yesterday afternoon calling RV Parks in the Devils Lake area. Devils lake is the largest lake in North Dakota. There is a lot of history there and the Dakota Sioux have a Casino near the lake. There must be six RV Parks I called. No luck. This is the first time I have ever had a problem with finding a place to spend a couple of nights in the eleven months I've been on the road.

I got a clue from one of the calls I made. There is a fishing tournament on the lake this week. Cabela's is sponsoring the Masters Walleye Fishing Contest. Okay, that explains it! I can't compete with a walleye. That made me refigure my strategy. - Strategy??

I looked at the map and thought what the heck, I'll just go all the way to Minot. I called there and found Parks were already full for Monday. What? I finally found a park that had room for three nights. Wow, I never anticipated this kind of problem in this area. The truth is, there just are not that many parks in NoDak. The catalogue listings I have are only two pages worth. That's for the whole state! Compare that to, say Wyoming, they have 11 pages of listings.

Anyway I found a spot and it was a four and a half hour trip. With the wrong diesel I pumped yesterday and a headwind, I only got 8.1 mpg. I had to fill up in Rugby, the geographic center of the North American Continent! I rolled in at 3:30. Emily was a princess the whole way. The lady at the desk informed me that there are a lot of Canadians coming down this time of year to spend a few days vacation.

Roughriders' RV Park

Yesterday my uncle, Darwin called and told me of a friend of Loraine's and him live in Hillsboro. He gave me the address and encouraged me to look him up and say hi. I Googled the address and it showed up to be only a mile or so from me in town. I headed out there only to find there is no such street marked there. Sometimes an address can be completely out of whack on Google. What Google said was Post Street - was actually 8th Street. I thought maybe the street name changed as it left town; and it probably does but it wasn't marked out there either and the acreage between houses becomes exponentially greater.

No luck. Sorry Darwin.

Back to Minot. I pulled into the park and got my spot. It is a real nice little park well off the freeway and secluded, but still close to town. I was alone when I pulled in. No neighbors. Within twenty minutes a great couple pulled into the site next to me. This park has the hookups arranged so that when you park, your door faces the trailer's door next to you on one side and your slides are adjacent to the slides of the trailer next to you on the other side. I have never seen this kind of set up since I've been of the road.

I didn't think I had a chance at TV reception. But I got a great signal, whew.

Wayne and June pulled in. They have a truck like mine pulling a 5th wheel and the 5th wheel pulling a trailer with their Harley on it. I didn't think tandem towing was legal without a commercial license, and then only in a couple of states. But they haven't experienced a single problem with the law, or anything. They have a wheat farm about 80 miles North and they will start harvest next week. So they took this time to take a break.

This is what I mean about the weird set up with the sites. That's Wayne's Harley.

I'm heading for a big grocery run right now and tomorrow I have to do laundry. I also want to assess the next spot and book early.

Another Storm

I arrived in Hillsboro not expecting much. It is just a stop on the way to my next destination, Devil's Lake. I have to say, my expectations were met. There really is nothing to this town. The downtown area is a single street, Main Street, about three blocks long, that faces the railroad tracks. Of the nine buildings on that street, five of them are taverns.

They actually broil chicken in a separate building on weekends. I didn't try it.

With full hook ups, 50 amp electricity, great wifi and a rustic setting, it makes for a pleasant short stop over.

I found a pizzeria just off main, and it appears to be the only restaurant in town. There are two gas stations, one of them also contains the liquor store. I filled up with diesel there, only to find I used the wrong type diesel. My truck takes the ultra low sulfur diesel introduced two years ago. But, unknown to me, I pumped the pre ultra sulfur diesel instead. One of the pumps had a piece of duct tape on the top of it with a magic marker hand written sign that said "diesel #2". I should of used that one. It will be interesting to see what kind of performance my truck will be giving. Oh well.

No lines at this theater.

There is nothing to do here. Abosolutely nothing. There are no hiking trails. There is not enough room to pedal a bike in any direction. There are no Geocaches to look for. Although I did find out from a local there is a municipal golf course a mile North of here. Maybe I can get a round in before I move on.

Last night another storm moved in. The weather turns so fast around here. It was smothering hot for most of the day and then it cooled quickly and a storm cell came through. I don't remember so many storms of such great intensities when I lived in the midwest as a kid. This was just another one. Luckily, it didn't have the winds and hail the previous storm had. It just had the usual lightning and thunder.


According to the weather reports, it should be more of the same for the next day. I'll be moving out of here Monday morning. I can't wait.

NoDak!

It turned out to be a great decision not to travel yesterday. The local news reported there were trees down all over the place in the direction I was going. There was a lot of hail damage too. Golf ball sized hail and 85 mph winds. That would do it for sure. I was lucky because I was evidently near the Southern limits of the storm. Only nickel sized hail and no downed trees. I did find the blocks I used under my stabilizer jacks had blown away. I found them in the nearby bush. The rig really rocked - no kidding!

But the travel day today went okay. There were no obstacles and it was a nice pleasant 4 hour drive to Hillsboro, NoDak. I arrived at about 3:00 pm. The temp read 77 on my truck thermometer. But, it felt like 1,000! Man, was it hot outside!

I had to settle for this little town of 1,200 - 40 miles North of Fargo. Fargo and Moorehead had no RV Parks listed in my books and there was nothing on the Internet. I find it hard to believe there are no RV Parks near there. The truth is, if a park doesn't have some sort of Internet presence, it really doesn't exist. There really is no excuse for not advertising in some simple manner.

My other - and preferred option - was to book a few days in the Detroit Lakes area East of here, in Minnesota. The RV Parks I contacted, and I talk to a bunch of them, all had no vacancies for the weekend. I think the parks are experiencing the result of high gas. They only get local business and only on weekends. It makes it tough on us Pro's! That may be only common in the Northern states, because I didn't see it in Arizona or Utah.

I will be staying here for three days. Through the weekend. Monday I plan on heading to the Devil's Lake area. I talked to a local in Granite Falls and he highly recommended this area. I'll check into it for sure. I think I will have all kinds of time on my hands. After all what can you do in Hillsboro, NoDak?!