North Dakota helped form Teddy Roosevelt’s love of rugged, untamed nature; and, through him, our National Forest and National parks. Where better celebrate our trips into this beautiful country, than at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota. Okay that’s about all the history I can take.
But seriously, this rugged, wild land is beautiful, our first day into the park we were rewarded with beautiful vistas and plentiful wildlife. Buffalo, prong horn and mule deer, wild horses, coyote, black billed magpie, golden eagle, turkey and prairie dogs all in a couple days and experienced our first buffalo jam.
We spent several days in Medora, ND. It is the tiny city that is the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National park. We hiked a trail in the Painted Canyon and a quick walk into the Petrified Forest. Both hikes were quick trips because Nala is not welcome in either place.
The weather is cold but clear. This is still not our final destination. Thanks for checking in on our adventures. Headed to Montana next. We hope you’ll share our adventures there,
South Dakota was a bust for us. We have been before. We took my Mom there a couple of years ago. It was a great trip and we were excited to travel back through. South Dakota May 2018.
Fast Forward . . . . I had picked a couple of sites to boondock at while in the neighborhood. Because of our larger rig, I have to research to make sure we can fit in these “freebie” sites. Our first site didn’t work out timing wise. We would have had to stop too early in the day. So we pushed forward confidently headed for our second choice. Well this Texas girl again didn’t consider the weather this far north in the “spring”.
We got about a half mile up a narrow mountain road: clay, iron ore and snow covered. Then the truck couldn’t pull the rig up any farther. We weren’t getting bogged down. The tires were just spinning on top of the sludge. There was mountain on one side and dropping slope on the other. The road was not wide enough to turn the rig around. So Mark had to back down the road, a bit of slipping and a bit of sliding, for about an eight of a mile. My task was to get out and give backing instructions; all the while watching the truck get closer to the edge of the road. I was terrified, but Mark handled it well. We did get kudos from some local guys that were headed up our road, and had to wait on us. They were “like wow, I can’t believe you did that” And then more kudos when Mark mentioned that he had backed down the road. I’m pretty sure we were talked about around a campfire somewhere that night! After that experience Mark decided to drive straight thru to North Dakota; we both had enough fun in South Dakota.
If Kansas welcomed us with open arms, then Nebraska gave us the cold shoulder. When we left Crater Lake last year, we traveled through Nebraska on our way to Kentucky and it was the first place we encountered the fresh snow of the winter. Nebraska, on this trip back north; decide we liked it so much the first time, it wanted to try snow again. We were “treated” once again, to a few days of the lovely white stuff (and the accompanying cold).
We stopped by Hastings, Nebraska to see the birth place of the Mr. Kool-Aid man. A hero from my childhood, Kool-Aid was a “soft drink” that my Mom would buy for us.
Lake McConaughy lured us onward. Anything with the name McConaughy should be checked out. And the lakes with its wide sand beaches were very sexy . . . . . until it snowed. We actually camped at Lake Ogallala which is Lake McConaughy’s smaller friend (just below the dam). It was a beautiful area and we used it as a base camp for visiting the small town of Ogallala. We saw a huge numbers of Sandhill Cranes and pelicans moving through the area. The Petrified Wood Museum was also incredible. Twin brothers spent years collecting petrified wood pieces and sawing them in to tiny pieces to make sculptural pieces. The museum also has a great collection of art pieces and petrified items. The petrified pine cones were beautiful and my favorite.
Nala loved the snow and cold; I did not. It was lovely in short bursts but I was definitely not up to hiking/outdoor activity, in this kind of weather.
On the first “warm” day, we moved on to the Scottsbluff area and Chimney Rock. The landscape was inspiring to me. But I couldn’t help but think of the first settlers watching these rock formations looming in the distance and how disheartening to must have been to know they would have to travel through or over all this. Chimney rock is the most mentioned landmark in all journals and dairies of the westward movement pioneers. It is on the back of the Nebraska quarter.
As our parting glance of Nebraska, we stopped at Carhenge. It’s a quirky homage to Stonehenge.
Thanks for checking on our adventures. We hope to see you next week and we continue our trek towards Montana.
Our next stop was Kanopolis State Park, near Marquette Kansas. While we enjoyed several hikes on the property and at Mushroom Rock State park, we spent more time in the surrounding small towns. Nala had to wear her shoes for some of the hikes because the thorns and stickers were abundant. She was NOT a happy camper but I think she figured it was worth it, because she loves her walks
Mushroom State Park
Marquette is a tiny town of around 600 but, they gave us a welcome the size of Kansas. This small town boasts a world class motorcycle museum, the Kansas Motorcycle Museum, which can rival any other; and one of the oldest old fashion soda shops still in operation in Kansas. The ladies at their grocery store were the first welcome committee; they helped carry out our groceries and pointed out several places of interest. We visited their distillery and the local bar and restaurant, walked the pioneer trail and visited with several of the locals. The library had internet so I spent time there to post a blog. Did I mention all this is in a town of 600, and it’s run mostly by volunteers. While visiting with one of the locals, we found out he knew some of the same people we knew back in Texas. You know it’s a small world when you can meet a stranger, some 600 miles from home, in a tiny town and you know people in common. We went back several days to walk through the town. We also discovered Swedish potato sausage while there. It is the Swedish equivalent to Cajun boudin sausage, all be it’s much milder. It is a pork and beef sausage, but with shredded potato instead of rice; and it was locally made.
We dropped by the city of Lindsburg while in the area. It began as a Swedish settlement and we really enjoy the beauty and pride the folks here take in their community. The City Park was incredible. The Playground they created was a masterpiece. Mark and I would have liked to attend an evening concert at the open air amphitheater there, but we didn’t see anything scheduled yet. Nala enjoyed the park and we enjoyed walking around the downtown area. This side trip made for a fun afternoon.
Kansas has been awesome! It is so much more than the flat prairies I had expected. Though we did pass by Laura Ingles’ Prairie, we also found rolling hills, beautiful lakes, quaint town with big personalities, beautifully preserved architecture from another time and wild rock formations.
Thanks for following our adventure. I hope to “see” you next week in Nebraska.
We headed westward and Kansas beckoned us on and welcomed us with open arms. We landed at Pomona State Park on Pomona Lake. The RV sites in the park are more spacious than we’re used to, and it was a nice change. The park has two walking trails for Mark and Nala. The forested area where they did their walking was home to many Honey Locust trees (their thorns have thorns), and there are no waterfalls or caves at the end so….Not for me! LOL
This area of Kansas; is a transition between prairie land and forested lands. We walked quaint small towns with beautifully preserved Old Downtown areas. We passed fallow fields of amethyst wild flowers with grain silos standing guard over little farms houses and big ole tired barns. And experienced some interesting traffic jams! ; )
Our tour of the area included the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. This place is what is on back of the National Parks quarter series for Kansas. This is a beautiful area that is preserving the last 3% of native tallgrass prairies that once covered 170 million acres of North American. This is one spot where the deer and buffalo still graze as they did 100 of years before settlers set plow to the open prairie. They have a group of historic buildings (an old ranch complex) loving cared for by the park service. They have pod cast and cell phone guided tours.
We enjoyed time in Ottawa, Kansas. It has one of the best preserved old Downtown areas in the state. Mark and I really enjoyed walking these lovely streets.
Thanks for checking in on our adventures. I hope you are enjoying the blog.
You might remember we spent some time in Springfield, Missouri last October. Well since then our daughter accepted a job in Missouri and we hung out to help with the move. Branson is close enough for her to commute and it has lots of opportunities for us to explore.
While Branson, Missouri is well known for its shows and family attractions it has some awesome natural options as well. We stayed at Branson Jellystone R.V. Park and it was incredible. Though it is early season for them and many of their daily calendar events haven’t fired up yet, the grounds are beautiful with three hiking trails right in the park. Nala, Mark, and I made good use of these trails.
Our daughter arrived the day after we did. We took that time to set up the garage area of Rufous (the RV), to be her bedroom. While the “garage” is a garage for hauling Mark’s bike (Wanbli 2), during travel days or short stops; it can also convert in a dining room, or two queen sized beds, with a powder room of its own. We converted it in a private room last year for a visiting friend, but because Ranna is our daughter, she had the top bunk queen and we invaded her space every night for dinner. We set up the bottom as a dinning room, under her bed. She stayed with us for 9 days commuting to work each day while we played in the wilds of Missouri. We enjoyed the bonding time together, though I’m not sure she enjoyed waking up and adulting while we played each day!
We hiked the trails at Lakeside Forest Wilderness Area and to a bat cave in Drury/Mincy Conservation Area. We didn’t see Batman or Robin, but it was a nice hike with a naturally terraced trail.
We did take time to do a walking tour of Branson and eat local at the Landing in Branson. We heard about College of the Ozarks and restaurant, from a fellow camper at one of our Arkansas stops. The college is in Hollister, Missouri which is only minutes away from Jellystone. The college is also known as Hard Work U. It is a Christian based college where the student body can work on campus, as part of their tuition and education. They run a 15 room award winning hotel (closed for Covid this year) and the beautiful Dobyns restaurant, a creamery and bakery among other handcrafted items. We chose to reserve a table there for a celebratory dinner with our Daughter for her new job.
Once the new apartment was ready to move in, Ranna had already started her new job and only had 3 days off. We drove 10 hours to Houston, slept a few hours at my sister and brother-in-law’s house, picked up a U-haul, grabbed her husband, who had stayed behind to finish up life there, loaded up their apartment, slept a few more hours, drove back 10 hours and slept a few more hours and unloaded. WOW!! But we got it all done and they are in a new town and looking to start another chapter in their life. We wished them all the best. And then we rested, BUT not for long!
Leaving Missouri we couldn’t help but spend a night at the Arcadian Moon Winery & Brewery. It was supposed to be a just a stop along the way, but it turned out to be an excellent destination. We received a warm welcome and enjoyed an awesome dinner of wood fired rustic pizza with wine for me and an in house made IPA for Mark. Then we were surprised by live music after dinner. The grounds covered 75 acres and 4 ponds. We had a front row space to the whole of it.
Thanks for checking in on our adventure. See you next week, another state and another adventure.
Our adventures in Arkansas were, again, limited by time. We took time to enjoy some beautiful sunny but cool weather.
Our first stop was in Greenwood, AR. We stayed on a lovely piece of property called Dragonfly Pond. It was right in the heart of a tiny town. We walked around the quaint, small town Downtown area and found our way to a Coal Mine memorial and a heritage park with walking trail. Another guest that came to Dragonfly Pond told us about Crystal Bridges Museum, in Arkansas and the College of the Ozarks, AKA School of hard work, in Hollister, Missouri. We put those on our “to do list”. We chilled a couple days here and even made time to practice our instruments in the quiet of the evening.
Greenwood, Arkansas and heritage park:
We spent two days in Greenwood and then moved on to Fayetteville. We took time off to tour an aviation and military museum.
Crystal Bridges is a free art museum with beautiful manicured walking trails. It is part of the Walton family’s art collection intermingled with borrowed and donated art items. They even have a Frank Lloyd Wright house that has been moved to the property. It is sponsored by Walmart, so free to the public and absolutely awesome. And, of course there is always time for a drink at a local bar! 😉
And to make the day perfect, we got to take a road trip on the Bike
Thanks for checking on our adventure. Leave us a comment and let us know what’s happen with ya’ll. See you in Missouri
We cut across Oklahoma pretty quickly, trying to get out of rough weather and the crazy winds.
We did take the time to enjoy an overnight stay at an alpaca farm with a pair of Great Pyrenees as company. Nala had her first meeting with the alpacas and had hard time understanding why these “big dogs” didn’t want to play. The alpacas were shy, but curious creatures, with silly hairdos. The Pyrenees were big cuddly bears of a dog that couldn’t get enough love.
Our host took us around the farm and let me feed some of the ‘paca babies that were brave enough to come to a stranger for food. He educated us on their hair quality and explained a bit about beautiful yarns that are spun from their hair. I bought some hand knitted alpaca open finger/mitten gloves (made from his yarn). And the next couple of days I got the chance to enjoy just how warm and comfy those gloves are. Oklahoma has so much more things of interest, things that called to us; but it was time for us to move on. However, we will be back for more.
Thank you for checking in on our adventure. See you in Arkansas next week.
Okay we’ve picked out the best in the first week and a half but, the truth of the matter is this past week or so has been really difficult.
We left Houston with the intent to do some sightseeing to Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico and then drift into Colorado to see Mesa Verde and Canyon of the Ancients. We were force to change plans because of treacherous cross winds, in those areas. We veered over to central Texas and we ended up in Capulin, New Mexico. We did a couple hikes there and then up to Trinidad, Colorado with the thought of doing the hike to Simpsons Rest but the road leading to the trailhead was in pretty bad shape so we bummed around downtown Trinidad instead.
The winds were still hounded us, so we decided to head to Palo Duro Canyon for a couple day (you may remember previous posts on that). However, in Palo Dura, life got real. We had booked two days at the rim for hiking the canyon. The morning we were supposed to leave the winds were high enough that we didn’t feel save traveling with the rig. So we decided to stay another day (decision was helped by a job offer) …. And yes friends; that was the afternoon in which two tornadoes spawn near the canyon and tore up the visitors center and damaged several RV’s that were in our Park. Ours could have been destroyed as well but for the fact that we had to move to a different site since we changed our reservation. Thankfully no one was hurt in this event. To say I was terrified would be an understatement. We were doing some work for the RV park owners. It was raining, with a bit of hail; and we were closed up in a metal building, that was their work shed. We didn’t get the word that the park was evacuated to the storm shelter in the canyon and we watched, helpless, as two tornadoes danced around the park and our trailer with Nala alone inside.
The Lord watched over us and we came through unscathed but, are much more respectful of the power of wind. The owner asked us if we felt “bulletproof” after all that. Mark told him we felt scared but, extraordinarily Blessed. I think maybe God is trying to teach us to be flexible. Though there was heartbreak for some of the campers, no one was injured and that in itself is a blessing.
Thanks for stopping by and checking on our adventures. We are still doing well and moving forward with our plans.
The winds blew us out of New Mexico, almost literally. Since we hit the east Texas area, they had been blowing constantly; and were often gusting over 30 mph. Apparently, the high plains (northwest Texas is on the bottom edge) areas of the US are windy and really explain why there are windmill farms everywhere out there. In an effort to get out of those winds; we changed directions and decided to head back to the east. Palo Duro Canyon is an area we have been interested in seeing for years, but had never made the time to visit it.
We landed in a privately owned RV park that was just before the state park entrance. The owners have worked on keeping the park updated and there are several cute small cabins onsite. Onsite are also some awesome ziplines that goes out over parts of the canyon; and they are working on building out a food truck. We had time to visit with the owners and they are good people. This park is the only place that is real close to the State Park, and it can handle a big rig like us. There were also other activities nearby; jeep tours and horseback riding.
We hiked a couple trails in the canyon and got to see a “cave” on one of them. The cave was more of an overhang that was formed when some of the rock face eroded out, but it was a nice feature. The day was partly overcast and so not too hot. After the hikes, we spent the rest of the day in the park.
The next morning, Mark was out walking Nala and spent time visiting with one of the owners. He had remodeled the house and that comment turned into a short job offer. We had no firm travel plans, other than being in Branson Missouri, by the middle of March. So Mark helped on the food truck being built out and I worked on recovering some seat cushions, on their passenger wagon. We ended up staying there for five days and it gave us a much needed break from travel days.
Thanks for checking in on our adventure. We still moving towards our summer destinations, Please check back when you can.
