Tuesday June 21
Now the trip begins in earnest as we have seen the last of family until on our way home from Alaska. We are on our way directly across North Dakota on Interstate 94 our first Interstate in several days. Trying to continue to hold it down to not over 60-62 MPH even though the speed limit was 75 to test how good an effect it will have on mileage. Well, we continued to do well and got 9.23 mpg about the same as the last tank in Wisconsin. Will try to keep it there from here on.
North Dakota is a beautiful state with highly productive farmland. The eastern 2/3 is about as flat as any land we have ever traveled. While we normally prefer not to travel interstate highways as we travel so that we can see the small towns that make up America, I-94 seemed the appropriate route and went directly from Valley City to Medora the town outside the southern section of Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP). The TRNP is split into two separate and distinct sections about 90 miles apart in the National Grasslands of ND. About 5 or 6 miles east of Medora the scenery abruptly changed as we broke over the hill and into the badlands of western ND. We stopped at a visitor’s spot that had a great overlook into the colorful canyons that exposed layers and layers of different rocks in many shades of brown, gray and red. We took photos there and saw our first bison, a solitary bull that was on a bluff within the canyon below and across from the visitor’s center (Bison is dark spot about and inch from lower right corner).
Continuing on to Medora we located the entrance to the TRNP and Pat obtained her Golden Eagle Passport that will provide us with a half off on the entrance fees and many other expenses in any of the US National Parks for the rest of her life. It will even get us a 50% refund when we get to Denali NP in Alaska where we made reservations before she was eligible for the Passport. Dick will get his next year.
We camped in the campground in the southern portion of the park in site #27. Unfortunately while pulling into the site Dick cut it a little too close to a tree with course branches and we put a substantive scrape high along the passenger side of the RV. It will take a lot of rubbing to try and eliminate that one!
One of the highlights of Medora is a long running musical show that is held in an outdoors amphitheater featuring Western singing and cowboys. The show is revised each year and also in conjunction with the show there is a steak BBQ/fondue where the steaks are cooked on the tines of pitchforks over a hot fire and served up in a buffet with all the trimmings.
The event is a ritual and many people we met there had been to the western fondue and show many times over the years. It was a delicious meal of the steak, baked potato, beans, salad and coleslaw topped off with a death by chocolate brownie. Again we took photos and videos. The weather was warm and cooperatively pleasant as we entered the amphitheater. Many folks had jackets and blankets expecting the night to get cold as the sun set but we were in short sleeves and rather comfortable. The show did not disappoint anyone and the amount of stage settings moved on what appeared to be railroad tracks was amazing. Nearly a whole western frontier town front and of course one of the actors/musicians played the role of Theodore Roosevelt. TR had lived here in the Medora area and worked on a ranch, eventually he bought a large ranch in the area and he credited his time there as developing his spirit and strength that he displayed as a Rough Rider and as President. Today, being the summer solstice is the longest day of the year and the sun set late. The owners of the show couldn’t have paid to have a more beautiful large orange harvest moon appear over the setting just after the skies finally yielded to twilight It was spectacular. We returned to the RV to sleep in near total silence, void of any traffic noises for the first time on the trip!
Now the trip begins in earnest as we have seen the last of family until on our way home from Alaska. We are on our way directly across North Dakota on Interstate 94 our first Interstate in several days. Trying to continue to hold it down to not over 60-62 MPH even though the speed limit was 75 to test how good an effect it will have on mileage. Well, we continued to do well and got 9.23 mpg about the same as the last tank in Wisconsin. Will try to keep it there from here on.
North Dakota is a beautiful state with highly productive farmland. The eastern 2/3 is about as flat as any land we have ever traveled. While we normally prefer not to travel interstate highways as we travel so that we can see the small towns that make up America, I-94 seemed the appropriate route and went directly from Valley City to Medora the town outside the southern section of Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP). The TRNP is split into two separate and distinct sections about 90 miles apart in the National Grasslands of ND. About 5 or 6 miles east of Medora the scenery abruptly changed as we broke over the hill and into the badlands of western ND. We stopped at a visitor’s spot that had a great overlook into the colorful canyons that exposed layers and layers of different rocks in many shades of brown, gray and red. We took photos there and saw our first bison, a solitary bull that was on a bluff within the canyon below and across from the visitor’s center (Bison is dark spot about and inch from lower right corner).
Continuing on to Medora we located the entrance to the TRNP and Pat obtained her Golden Eagle Passport that will provide us with a half off on the entrance fees and many other expenses in any of the US National Parks for the rest of her life. It will even get us a 50% refund when we get to Denali NP in Alaska where we made reservations before she was eligible for the Passport. Dick will get his next year.We camped in the campground in the southern portion of the park in site #27. Unfortunately while pulling into the site Dick cut it a little too close to a tree with course branches and we put a substantive scrape high along the passenger side of the RV. It will take a lot of rubbing to try and eliminate that one!
One of the highlights of Medora is a long running musical show that is held in an outdoors amphitheater featuring Western singing and cowboys. The show is revised each year and also in conjunction with the show there is a steak BBQ/fondue where the steaks are cooked on the tines of pitchforks over a hot fire and served up in a buffet with all the trimmings.
The event is a ritual and many people we met there had been to the western fondue and show many times over the years. It was a delicious meal of the steak, baked potato, beans, salad and coleslaw topped off with a death by chocolate brownie. Again we took photos and videos. The weather was warm and cooperatively pleasant as we entered the amphitheater. Many folks had jackets and blankets expecting the night to get cold as the sun set but we were in short sleeves and rather comfortable. The show did not disappoint anyone and the amount of stage settings moved on what appeared to be railroad tracks was amazing. Nearly a whole western frontier town front and of course one of the actors/musicians played the role of Theodore Roosevelt. TR had lived here in the Medora area and worked on a ranch, eventually he bought a large ranch in the area and he credited his time there as developing his spirit and strength that he displayed as a Rough Rider and as President. Today, being the summer solstice is the longest day of the year and the sun set late. The owners of the show couldn’t have paid to have a more beautiful large orange harvest moon appear over the setting just after the skies finally yielded to twilight It was spectacular. We returned to the RV to sleep in near total silence, void of any traffic noises for the first time on the trip!
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