Jamestown!

 

Yesterday was Travel Day...

from Bismarck ND to Buffalo River SP, not far over the border into Minnesota. 

Lots to see... the rolls of Hay lessened, the fields of Corn remained, and the Sunflowers increased.

We planned a stop at Jamestown, ND to visit Frontier Village

and hopefully see a white buffalo.

 

I called ahead to be sure that they had RV parking.  If I hadn't called ahead and verified that, we would have panicked a bit when we arrived.  This didn't look very hopeful for parking or turning around.

 

But they told the truth... around the corner was a large parking lot.

 There was a herd of Buffalo near the fence, but none of the white buffalo were nearby.  The woman in the museum said they were out there when she had come in the morning... shucks!

 

 



 

Frontier Village had everything one would need...

 

 

 

 

 

We had quite the experience ourselves...

 



We visited the school house... but it is Summer, so school was out.

 

We found a good church...

I read some Scripture, we sang a hymn,

and Jeff had opportunity to preach a fire and brimstone message.

Then like every good church goin' person would do...

We went to the local Saloon for a brewsky, and played us some poker...

but then Jeffrey got himself thrown in the pokey!

 



They couldn't hold him long... there wasn't a lock on the jail door!

So we had time to continue our tour of the village.

 





 

I guess that whole jail experience left Jeff a little flustered... he didn't quite know his place...

So that's it for our stop at Jamestown, and visit to Frontier Village!

 

Like I said in my post last night, we stopped for the night at Buffalo River SP in Minnesota.

 

 

Now we are on the road again, making our way to Duluth, MN where we will settle in for a few days.

We're stuck in a long line of traffic right now, on Hwy 210.  Yay.



Fort Lincoln SP, ND

3 Years ago Today...

...was our first night on the road in our new Big Country fifth wheel!  We pulled out (a bit nervous) from the Heartland Service Dept in Elkhart, IN and spent our first night in Milwaukee, WI at the Fairgrounds.  What a kick-off that was, backed up to a roaring roller coaster! (and for $65!)  We visited the Harley factory and museum.  Our Big Country has been very good to us for living in it for 3 years... only a few very minor things we've had to fix or replace.

 

 

But back to present day...  Fort Abraham Lincoln SP

We had such a wonderful stay at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park in Mandan/Bismarck, ND.  It's a very beautiful well-kept park with lots of history and on the Missouri River. 

 

 

So what did we do?

 

We rode our bicycles all over their trails and paths, and visited the historical areas on site....

Fort Abraham Lincoln was once an important infantry and cavalry post. It was from this fort that Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh cavalry rode out on their ill-fated expedition against the Sioux at the Little Big Horn. Portions of the military post, including the Custer House, have been reconstructed.                  

 Custer's House

 

Old Fort Lincoln

Remains of many Officer's Quarters

 

 

Stables

 

That's as far as I got, getting on the horse.  Fortunately, it was a real patient horse.

 

Slant Indian Village
 

Earth lodges occupied by the Mandan Indian tribe from 1670 - 1750
 

 

 

Museum

The museum contained artifacts from the Lewis & Clark Expedition, the Mandan Indian Tribe,

and the Civilian Conservation Corps.

 

 

 

After a lot of bicycle riding and site seeing, we went into Mandan and Bismarck.

They had a Harley dealership, so had to go there...

 

 

They had a brewery, so had to go there.

Laughing Sun Brewing Co. was a small brewing establishment that offered some great brews,

and friendly people, but the only food they offered was pretzels.

 

 

Next door was a shop that looked as if it would have our incense... which it did.  But when I turned around... I guess after all those years riding hogs, Jeff finally turned into one!

 So THIS is where we can get that pig mask we've always wanted!

 

 

We returned to the park in time to put our Kayaks in to the Missouri River!

 

After the bicycling and the Kayaking... I can say I don't miss having the Harley with us at all.
My wrists and arms sure are sore though!

I have so much more to Show & Tell of our travels and stops today... but it will have to wait for tomorrows post!

We have settled into Buffalo River SP in Minnesota for the night.  The price was quite high for a State Park we thought... and we really thought that when we got parked and found out it was Electric only... No Water!  If they had told us, we certainly would have put water in the tanks on our way in.
So Lesson Learned... Don't Assume... Always Ask if the site has water hookup!

 We had another great day... so more to come tomorrow!

 

Home Sweet Home... North Dakota!

354 mile drive...

Home Sweet Home in Bismarck, North Dakota. 

Isn't it great to drive roads you've never driven, and land somewhere you've never been, yet in a few minutes... It is Home Sweet Home!

We left Keyhole State Park in Wyoming at 10:30 this morning. 













We drove into South Dakota, then into North Dakota. 
This is our first time to North Dakota, and just the first of many States we will be visiting for the first time on this trip.  We're so excited for this trip that we started this morning. 

We have 2 1/2 months to travel before we have a reservation at a park in Florida.  I think the only place we will be visiting that we have been before is Elkhart, Indiana.

We settled into Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park in Bismarck, ND this evening.   We didn't plan to drive this far, but we couldn't find anywhere else that we wanted to stay, and the drive was going well.  We thought we could arrive by 7:00 this evening, but then we passed the sign that told us we were crossing the line into Central time zone... so there went another hour!

Most likely, we will stay tomorrow night as well, since we arrived too late to see anything this evening.

I would expect that I will be doing blog postings often while we travel.  If for no other reason, for our own travel record.  We enjoy looking back at where we were and what we did in our past travels. 

But for those of you that do read our blog... thank you!  It's nice to know that someone else is interested.

The kayaks have done well so far on the rack we built... YEAH!

Utah to Wyoming

At last post, we were in search of a hosting job, North of Moab Utah near some water.  We found that place and left Moab on July 11th for Keyhole State Park near Moorcroft, Wyoming.

We planned our route so that we could visit friends along the way. 

Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Our first stop was Glenwood Springs, CO  to visit friends,

Jim and Berne, whom we met hosting at an Oregon State Park.

 

 

They set us up in the church parking lot across the street from their house.  It was quiet, convenient, and FREE is always good!

 

 

They took us to Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

 

Glenwood Springs is beautiful, and we could have stayed busy for a few days...

but we had a camp hosting job to get to... and other friends to see first.
 

 After a delicious breakfast at Jim and Berne's, we set out for a 350 mile drive to Torrington, WY.   The days drive was very enjoyable... we drove to an elevation of over 11,000 feet,
and drove through the Mile and a half Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel.
 

We stopped for fuel in the afternoon, and a thunder & lightening storm hit.  The timing was great.  We just stayed put until it passed.

 We started by sitting outside under the awning, watching the lightning.  But then it poured!  So we moved inside to watch.  It wasn't long before we had a flowing river out our front door.

By the time we got back on the road, we found ourselves tired of driving.  We couldn't imagine driving another 3 hours, so we looked for a place to stop for the night.  Just a few miles over the Wyoming border, we saw a Welcome center with a big parking lot.  So we took the exit and were thrilled that they had no problem with us staying overnight!  We rolled our slides out and kicked back!

We rolled into our friends place in Torrington, WY in the morning, with plenty of time to visit and play.  They have a bit of property, so they had space for us to park.

Friends, Don and Dona, with visiting friend, Carol.

On the 14th we arrived at Keyhole State Park, where we had a camp host job

 at their Pronghorn campground. 

It's a beautiful campground on the lake. 

We're surrounded by Pine trees and thunder & lightning showers every day or night.

Problem is... they don't have much of anything for us to do! 

We stock and wipe down the vault toilets, and pick up litter... but that's it!

Consequently, we've found ourselves really getting bored. 

 

Gillette is the nearest city at 45 miles away.  We went there shortly after arriving, to do some shopping and look around, but the drive took longer than seeing the "city".

 

Devils Tower National Monument is within sight of the park, and only 21 miles via back road from the park.  So we took the dirt road and visited Devils Tower.

 

Back Road Sites

Devils Tower

 

A closer look...

 

An even closer look...

Can you believe these guys?



 

 

 

 

 

Last week, on the slow mid-week campground days, we went on an overnight trip to

Deadwood, South Dakota...

an old historic town, which you may have heard of in stories of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. 

 

Wild Bill was shot playing poker in a saloon here.  Both Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried in the Mt Moriah cemetery here.

We drove home via Sturgis, SD... where the annual rally is set to begin in a week.  We visited the Full Throttle Saloon... now famous for its tv show.  

 

We wont be going to the Sturgis Rally this year, even though we are this close, for 2 reasons.  

#1 We can't handle crowds...

and there are crowds in the hundreds of thousands in this small little town during the rally.

 

and reason #2...

 

What's wrong with this picture??

 

We sold the Harley the day before we left Moab!

 

Yep... we had advertised it for sale, to simplify our travels East. 

Then when we found out we would first be spending a month in Wyoming, we decided to hold on to it and try to sell it later. 

But the day before leaving Moab, a guy called from New Mexico, saying that he was on his way with the cash... he wanted the bike. 

And he did... He came, paid us the cash and rode it away.. 

So now we are pulling around an empty Swivelwheel trailer, and trying to sell it!



We had to settle for this in Sturgis this year.
 

 

East Coast or Bust!

We're really getting excited for our travels East.  We're looking forward to seeing new places.

We have the route planned, just not the exact timing... which is fun traveling that way. 

We will travel around the Great Lakes, into upstate New York and the New England States,

then down the East Coast, cutting over to Tennessee, then to Florida for the Winter.

That's the plan... and its getting closer!