Minot

After dry camping for a week we needed to stop to empty our tanks, do some laundry and hit a grocery store.  Minot seemed like a good stopping spot.

We found a beautiful park in the middle of the city where we could take a bit of a hike over the hills of this part of the country.  It was a lovely walk on an overcast, warm, windy day.  And you know me, I had to take pictures of prairie flowers.

Lewis & Clark State Park

Moving on we traveled a short distance to this the Lewis & Clark State Park just outside of Williston. Fort Buford, a 1885 trading post on the Missouri River, is a total reproduction of the original based on sketches of one of the soldiers stationed there.  The original fort was torn apart and used to build other forts and stations along the river such as Union Fort.   Fur traders used to stop here to trade with the local Indians, re-provision and then move on.

Union Fort has a few buildings still standing and some reproductions just to show how a military fort would have been laid out and how the buildings would be used for housing and officers quarters, etc.

Enchanted Highway

Just outside Medora is a county highway lined with giant metal sculptures.  Every 2-5 miles a different vignettes appeared. Deer, giant grasshoppers, fish, pheasants, a farm family and a knight fighting a giant dragon would cause us to pause, snap a picture or two and then move on.  It was a long drive that we don’t want to repeat anytime soon.

We also paused to take in the beauty of the Painted Canyon, a part of the National park.

TR National Park

Theodore Roosevelt also known by the locals as ‘TR’, lived hunted and raised cattle in this area.  In honor and memory of this great president the park was named for him.

We have a reserved site inside the park in the Cottonwood Campground and as we were driving the 6 miles to the campground from the town of Medora we encountered our first sighting of buffalo.  I should have said the first of many sightings, including one within spitting distance behind our RV.

Our first full day in the National Park we drove the loop road taking in all the beautiful sites of the Bad Lands of North Dakota along the Little Missouri River.  Rain kept us in the campground that afternoon. We drove into the town of Medora on the edge of the park that evening for dinner and a show.  Medora is like a mini Branson with lots of shops, bars, restaurants and musical shows.  For dinner that night we enjoyed dining on prime rib before learning all about TR through a lecture presented by a character actor of President Roosevelt himself.

As a young man TR enjoyed hunting and was intent on bagging a trophy bison.  During that expedition he fell in love with the North Dakota Territory and returned there often.  But when he lost his wife in childbirth and his mother on the same day, he found solace in the wilderness.  Eventually he bought cattle, started a ranch and then was called back to Boston where he cared for his daughter and got involved in politics.  He would return many times to North Dakota and eventually declared it a National Park along with many other parks in the United States. Of course he covered the war in Cuba and how a stuffed bear became known and Teddy’s Bear then a TeddyBear.

The next night I was so excited to go to the Musical Show of Medora held on an open air stage and amphitheater under clear skies and an almost full moon. The back drop of an old west Medora moved often to reveal the beautiful hills behind the stage and to allow horsed and a truck to go past.  It was a moving show with some familiar tunes, patriotic productions and songs relating to only Medora. 

Bismarck

Time to move on.  We have a reservation in a national park with three days before we need to be there so we stopped in Bismarck, the capital of ND.

Of course, when you are in a capital you must stop to visit the state capital building. North Dakota joined the Union in 1889.  The current building was constructed in 1934 after the original building burned down.  Due to financial constraints they opted to build an Art-Deco style skyscraper of 20 stories.  We could see this building from almost anywhere in the city! 

Local and other marble are used in the decor of the main floor and second floor.  The Tower elevator doors are decorated with bronze  sculptures.  The first floor hallway was a tribute to famous North Dakotans and the second flood held the legislative chambers and Supreme Court.  From the 18th floor we had a 360* view of the city.

Next door to the capitol building is the ND Heritage Center and State Museum where they have a collection of dinosaur bones, a gallery dedicated to the earliest peoples of ND, some from over 13,000 years ago. Elsewhere in the museum was the more recent history of ND. 

In downtown we walked around a 1909 Northern Pacific steam locomotive and the Church of the Bread of Life built in 1880. This Episcopal Church held the first non-catholic service in the city.  The site also held a building which served as officers quarters for Camp Hancock infantry post from 1872 -1877.  Both buildings were moved here from other sites.

We also took an afternoon tour of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park located on the west side of The Missouri River.  The most interesting feature of the park are the earth lodges once used by the Mandan Native Americans.  Using the rings on the tree trunks used in making the mud lodges, it has been determined that On-the-Slant Village was occupied from1650-1750.  When Lewis and Clark expedition came through in 1804 the village was already in ruins and the Mandan had move about 60 miles up river.  It is thought that over 75 lodges made up the village.

In another part of the park is the house, barracks and horse barn used by the American Army under the command of George R.Custer circa 1875.  We got there too late to tour the home but we could peek in the windows.

Now on to the national park.

St. Cloud

We left Garfield nine days ago and drove a whopping 60 miles to St. Cloud. We already need work done on the coach.  One job was installing tire sensors on the towed pickup truck that will be monitored in the RV, this we knew would happen. The other was checking the alignment and balancing the front wheels.  This need was discovered on our 60 mile drive.

Due to some medical issues, Amazon deliveries and mail delivery we stayed in St. Cloud longer than anticipated.  But we made good use of the time by riding our bikes on a couple of Rails-to-Trails (one was the Lake Wobegone Trail) and some nice walks along the river and in a prairie. We also found some nice places to dine including an authentic Irish pub.

Garfield and Alexandria

For the past week we have been moving into our new coach while also trying to learn how everything works.  The really hard part of the move is trying to figure out where to put everything as the drawers, cabinets and compartments are all so different from our old rig. John had to puzzle out how to load the storage compartments and I am trying to organize my kitchen.

But we are also struggling to learn how to run the control panel which  turns everything off and on and I mean EVERYTHING!  Not only is there a main panel, each ‘room’ has its own panel too.

There must be a hundred lights to turn off and on, day and night shades for all the windows, water systems, heating and A/C, power from solar to generator, floor heat, vent fans, and  TV. I have to relearn how to use the microwave & dishwasher, John has to relearn how to use the coach’s driving and computer system.

But it wasn’t all work.  We also checked out the museum in Alexandria and a winery and brewery. A Mendards trip was necessary several times and of course stocking up the frig and pantry.