North Dakota

LOOOONG day!

We left Glendive by 9:30 this morning, heading east on I-94. Stopped for fuel at the Flying J at Beach, ND, just over the border. Diesel was $3.99/gallon...ugh. Especially since yesterday's arduous journey saw us get less than 8 MPG. That's not good at all! Hopefully by the time we fill up next, today's leg of the journey will have been kinder to us!

The picture above shows the landscape we encountered travelling through Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It's called the Painted Canyon, and it seems to go on forever! It's too bad we've got such a tight schedule heading east, because it looks like it would be awesome to see!

We also blew past one of the entrances to the Enchanted Highway, which claims to host the largest metal sculptures in the world. This one of the geese certainly fit the bill of being large!

The next thing we saw was what has to be the world's largest Holstein. I had to take a picture of it just for Sandy and Jess (and their parents, of course!). Her name is apparently Salem Sue. I zoomed in as close as I could -- if you want to see a larger picture, check out my Flickr feed from the trip.

After going through Bismarck and seeing the Missouri River in all its (flooded) glory (can't imagine what those poor folks in Minot are going through!), we continued down I-94. Near Streeter, we passed many fields under water, some so much so that the highway was down to one lane in each direction. There are pics of that in the Flickr feed as well.

By the time we hit Fargo, we were really glad that there was only just over an hour left of the trip. We passed into Minnesota, and the first thing we saw was a rest stop that was all closed up. Ger wondered why, and then I remembered that the Minnesota government had shut down the other day because they couldn't pass a budget. Oh, my... We saw another rest stop later on that was also closed. However, the local constabulary (State Troopers) were still out there, looking to nab people who went over the 70 mph speed limit. I told Ger they were probably trying to raise some money so they could get paid!

We finally pulled into the Prairie Cove Campground and RV Park around 7 p.m. Central time. Because I'd booked ahead, the folks here were ready for us, and we pulled in, ready for a break. A nice glass of wine, and some pasta and chicken for supper, a good night's sleep, and we'll be ready for the Mall of America tomorrow!

Goodnight!

Big Sky Country

Okay, so now I know why they call Montana "Big Sky Country."

We spent today travelling across Montana from Great Falls to Glendive, near the North Dakota border. We took State Hwy 200 because it looked like it would be a considerably shorter trip than travelling down to I-90 at Billings and then going across. What I failed to learn in my research is that although Hwy 200 is designated a 'truck route' it is just barely that in many sections. No shoulders along significant stretches of road, and work being done on many areas meant it was a tiring drive for Gerry. It didn't help that the wind was blowing like crazy out of the southeast. What's with that? What happened to that west wind that was supposed to help our mileage in this hotel room on wheels?

However, before I go on about today's drive, I do have to tell you about our afternoon/evening in Great Falls. We got into the city at about 2:30ish; not bad, coming from south of Calgary. We already knew we couldn't get a spot in the RV parks in town, so we planned on spending the night at the Walmart 'campground.' The Walmart in Great Falls does allow RVs to overnight in their parking lot, so we knew we weren't going to get towed away. We had to get groceries because I didn't want to risk losing 'forbidden fruits' (and meat and eggs) coming across the border, so all I had were staples. We also picked up a cheap phone that will let us call home (and home call us *hint, hint* Kenny) without exorbitant Telus roaming charges. Seems odd to be using a dinky little phone like that instead of my Blackberry, but to save $3/MB, I'll forgo the updates to Facebook and checking my mail for a bit. And yes, even texting the kids.

After we put all the groceries away and got the phone set up, we set out to find Eddie's Supper Club because a friend had recommended it highly. The placemats on the tables said the place had been run by the same family since 1944, and the decor looked like it! But the service was wonderful, and the food was very good! I had a campfire ribeye steak that was yummy! Ger had prime rib which he said was good, but he's also very biased towards Leto's in Lacombe, Smugglers in Calgary, and the Keg. So yeah, I agree with Pat, if you're in Great Falls, you have to check out Eddie's.

After dinner, we found a Starbucks so we could get our 'net fix, and then headed back to the motorhome. By the time we got there, several other units had pulled in, and we talked with one guy who was on his way to Lacombe! Such a small world! After a nice little visit, we headed into the motorhome. But we forgot one thing...it's July 4th weekend down here.

There are vendors selling fireworks all over the place! And obviously people are buying them because they were going off all over the place around us. I looked out the front window of the MH and could see them a block away, and on the horizon...seemed like everyone was setting them off! The kicker was the one that went off at 7:00 this morning. I'm sure that was just the fireworks vendor in the Walmart lot telling all us squatters to get the hell out so someone other folks could come stay and buy fireworks. Maybe not, but it's a good story!

So we got up, got dressed, fired up the MH and headed to the Flying J to fuel up. Of course, breakfast at Denny's was a must, and then we were on our way. As I said, it was a very long drive, but there was some amazing scenery. I don't think I've every seen so many badlands as on that trip today! We stopped at a rest area near Mosby to grab some lunch, and I took some pictures of the historical signs there. I also took a lot of pictures on the way, often bouncing from one side of the MH to the other. I'm trying to get them loaded on Flickr, but the wireless here isn't cooperating all that well, so I'll have to post the link to the collection later.

(The wireless *was* good enough that we were able to Skype with Brenna earlier tonight and sign Happy Birthday to her -- that was fun!)

Tomorrow, we're going all the way across North Dakota, via Bismarck, to Ashby, MN. It's all Interstate, so it should be relatively uneventful. There was some flooding around Bismarck a couple weeks ago, but there doesn't appear to be any warnings out now. Keep your fingers crossed, 'kay? We'll have 'net access again, so we'll see how uploads go then!

Uh-oh...there go the fireworks again!

The Start of Summer 2011

On the road again! Yay! My first year at the new school came to a successful conclusion yesterday. So today we embarked on the trip we were supposed to take last summer! We're on our way to Ontario to visit my brother and his wife. But rather than drive across the southern parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which may or may not be still suffering from the ravages of Mother Nature's gift of too much water, we're going to scoot down to Great Falls, MT and head east from there.

As I did on our last trip two years ago, I'm going to upload all my photos to Flickr, and post links and travel commentary here. Feel free to comment on my musings -- after all, blogs were designed to invite commentary! (weren't they?)

Tomorrow, Great Falls!